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 Tyler, Trent, and Taylor 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 workout 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 with 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 products 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 setup. Now we are ready to go in 10 or 15 minutes.”
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