October 18, 2018
From September 30th to October 2nd, nearly 17,000 print industry professionals converged on Chicago for PRINT 18. Now condensed into a tighter three day format, the show saw Standard’s booth bustling with visitors and conversation from start to finish, a reflection of a show-wide 38% increase of unique visitors per day. In its 50th year, the event clarified its focus to provide a snapshot of the present and a glimpse of the future of the ever-evolving landscape of print.
With an emphasis on real-world applications and smarter workflows, the Standard booth was packed with equipment featuring new technologies and enhanced automation. Show-goers were invited to explore a wide range of specially designed workflows demonstrating format flexibility, short-run capability, and smooth setup and changeover- all the tools print service providers need to adapt and prosper in a fast-changing industry. In addition, as part of a special tour that included a stop at the Standard booth, Standard’s Director of Strategic Alliances Mark Hunt and WhatTheyThink’s Trish Witkowski collaborated to offer attendees an exclusive look at advances in finishing automation and how they can streamline bindery workflow.
Welcoming visitors at the front corner of the booth was the StitchLiner Mark III, the latest introduction in Horizon’s acclaimed line of saddlestitchers and a 2018 “RED HOT Technology” selection. The Mark III features expanded booklet size and increased productivity up to 6,000 booklets per hour, and can produce a wider range of applications, including landscape-size booklets, 12” by 12” calendars, and pocket booklets as small as 4.5” by 3.5”. Setup is fully automated, with no manual adjustments required for book thickness at the trimmer, resulting in higher quality booklets with greater efficiency, even for variable stitch length and variable page count booklets.
A highlight in perfect binding, the Horizon BQ-480 sets new standards in automation and efficient, high quality production. The BQ-480 tops its class in several key areas, including setup and changeover for variable book production, where it reaches a maximum speed of 800 books per hour for book of one production, supporting book thicknesses from 0.04” (1 mm) to 2.56” (65 mm). The BQ-480 was shown alongside the HT-1000V Variable Three-knife Trimmer, which trims up to 1,000 books of variable thickness and format size per hour.
At the center of the booth, Hunkeler’s 2017 “MUST SEE ‘EMS” Award winning Generation 8 was presented in two unique solutions at PRINT 18. A Roll-to-Fold Solution, ideal for direct mail, featured the Horizon T-566 Folder, as well as the Hunkeler DP8 Dynamic Perforator, WM8 Web Merger, and CS8-II Chip-out Rotary Cutter. The second line was a combination solution showing Gen8 Roll-to-Stack in-line with the Horizon StitchLiner 6000 Saddlestitcher. Both configurations demonstrated the hallmarks of Gen8: greater automation, a wider range of formats and paper weights, and increased speeds (600 fpm) and web width (22.5”).
PRINT 19 is scheduled to be held in Chicago from October 3-5, 2019.