McNeil Printing, a family-owned business located in Orem, Utah, was founded in 1990 as a packaging and fulfillment company and has since evolved into a commercial printing operation. Brothers Taylor and Tyler McNeil manage the business and its 42 employees, a number that includes several other family members.

“Our relationship with Standard Finishing was a game changer from the outset,” Tyler said. “Twenty years ago, we purchased a Horizon SPF-20 Bookletmaker from them after seeing it at Graph Expo, and it became our first piece of automation in the bindery. We had been hand-stitching everything, and the SPF-20 – which is still operating today, by the way – made a huge difference in our productivity.” As the business grew, the company added a Horizon SPF-200L Bookletmaker with VAC collating towers, which improved bindery productivity even more. “We use both machines in order to get the work out during busy periods,” Tyler adds.

Another transformative addition was the Horizon CRF-362 Creaser/Folder, acquired by the company in 2016. “We had been outsourcing scoring in order to get good quality scores on cover stock,” Tyler explained. “Now we can crease and fold on the same machine, all in-house, and for me, it’s all about throughput. We have good outsource partners, but it’s still faster and more profitable if I can do it in house.”

Over the years, McNeil expanded their automated bindery even further with a Horizon RD-N4055 DMC Die Cutter w/Card Stacker, which simplified the production of applications such as rounded corners on playing cards and business cards, as well as a Horizon AF-408F Small Format Folder. “Folding those small pharmaceutical booklets is a challenge,” Tyler noted. “The small format folder saves us so much time compared to our older pharmaceutical equipment that could take as much as two hours to set up. Now we are ready to go in 10 or 15 minutes.”

“”With our Standard Horizon bindery, we now have better control over our destiny, we almost never have to say no to a job, and we’re not only getting more work from existing customers, but also acquiring new ones, especially when they need a rush job!”

Tyler McNeil
COO, McNeil Printing

Most recently, McNeil was one of the first printers in North America to install the newest perfect binder from Horizon, the BQ-300, which they saw at PRINTING United. They worked with their trusted Standard Horizon dealer, PDS Equipment, to acquire and install it, and PDS continues to service and support the binder along with McNeil’s other Standard Horizon equipment.

“A perfect binder was the one piece of equipment we always wanted but that took the longest to acquire,” Tyler commented. “We didn’t like the glue options on the early perfect binders and had been outsourcing that work, which forced us to say no to a lot of jobs, especially rush jobs. With this new equipment, the glue technology has really advanced, and the PUR glue is more flexible than traditional EVA; the adhesion quality is better, especially with coated and digitally printed sheets. The books are not as stiff; they open nicely and lay flatter.”

With the BQ-300, Tyler explained, they simply turn on a preset to warm the glue, run the books and walk away. It shuts down, and that’s it. “So, there’s no reason to outsource perfect binding,” he added. “It’s easy to set up, and it’s the smallest perfect binder I’ve ever seen – important when your bindery is space constrained. The operator stays in one position instead of having to move back and forth to load and unload, making him more efficient. We use our collating towers to collate signatures from our offset press and just use pre-collated book blocks from the digital printers. We’re averaging about 400 books per hour, and the binder is also very efficient for smaller runs of 50-1000 books, which we often get.”

Tyler concludes, “With our Standard Horizon bindery, we now have better control over our destiny, we almost never have to say no to a job, and we’re not only getting more work from existing customers, but also acquiring new ones, especially when they need a rush job! And PDS and Standard have been fabulous partners to work with!”