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GraphExpo Show Daily September 14 2015

Universal Wilde Partners with Standard Finishing for Improved Productivity Universal Wilde is a full-service provider of marketing services, from Thought to Distribution. A leader in technology-enabled, personalized marketing solutions, this company, located in the Greater Boston Area, has roughly 475 employees and generates approximately $120 million in annual sales. Universal Wilde operates in multiple facilities consisting of about 400,000 square feet of production space. Offering both offset and digital printing, Universal Wilde has seven web presses, eight sheetfed presses, and 18 digital presses, plus an extensive bindery equipped with a stable of Horizon finishing equipment and Hunkeler pre/post solutions from Standard Finishing Systems (Booth 831). According to Jeff McFadden, VP Manufacturing Technology and Production, “More than 80% of the work we do on the digital side is on-demand and requires an efficient workflow, all the way through to the bindery. About 70% of our impression volume is going to some type of booklet while the other 30% is direct mail.” “Our latest upgrade was driven by our move from Canon (Booth 1213) Océ ColorStream 3500 inkjet presses to the faster 3900 model,” McFadden explains. “We needed inline finishing with increased speed as well. And we decided to also upgrade our sheetfed operation.” Universal Wilde had an existing and productive relationship with Standard Finishing, and through them, with Hunkeler and Horizon. These trusted partnerships led to the recent purchase of a second Standard Hunkeler Roll-to- Stack solution and an upgrade to its existing line (which was previously running with the ColorStream 3500). Both finishing lines now consist of a Hunkeler UW6 Unwinder, CS6-II Double Cutter, WM6 Web Merger, SE6 Offset Stacker, and LS6 Non-stop Stacker running in line with two new Canon Océ The Standard Hunkeler Roll-to-Stack solution, pictured here with Lead Operator Paul Vargas, runs inline with the Canon Océ ColorStream 3900 at Universal Wilde. ColorStream 3900 presses. McFadden says, “The relationship has been great and the support is excellent. These folks have been very open to out-of-the-box thinking, and their cooperation with Canon Solutions America made the installation of the 3900 lines smooth.” McFadden is very satisfied with the sophistication of the inline finishing solution. “Makeready is easy, and we can quickly switch between modes. Jogged book blocks and finished sheets are then completed nearline with stitching, perfect binding, or whatever else is required. That’s where our Standard Horizon perfect binders, trimmers, and bookletmakers come in. All of these books and booklets can have variable page counts within a run. The system simply reads marks to automatically set up the machine on the fly.” For one large opportunity, according to McFadden, much of the work was instructional booklet kits that were created in several different offset press runs and hand collated at the back end by them or by the client. “Now they are integrated into one single print stream,” he says, “using our SPF-200A Horizon bookletmaking lines with the VIVA Inspection Software, automatically matching covers to booklets. We have multiple variable-page booklets in a single stream, and we can automatically turn stitching off or on for each book. Every single booklet is unique, and we have virtually eliminated hand collating.” Even better, McFadden says, “With the new process, the client user experience went through the roof. The unit cost of the kits increased, but so did the value. This product had been declining and is now experiencing 20% to 30% growth. That’s been huge for us and for our client.” Universal Wilde’s new configuration has improved overall productivity. McFadden comments, “With the more reliable inline configuration, we have been able to run the line with one operator, eliminating the need for a helper. In terms of nearline, we have been able to virtually eliminate our manual quality control process because VIVA is doing the checking instead of a human. These acquisitions were a great decision for us!” Independent Dealer and Industrial Printing Luncheon Explores the “New Print” Print continues to change, and is expanding from the office to the industrial space. This is the theme of this year’s Cannata Report’s Independent Dealers and Industrial Printers Luncheon, an invitation-only event to be held Tuesday, September 15, from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. The aim of the luncheon is to offer to approximately 50 leading dealers information that will encourage them to explore opportunities in industrial printing. The event will featuring a presentation entitled “New Print” by Frank Romano, as well as additional presentations that address how this segment of the business can be approached and become a significant contributor to their overall growth and profitability. These presentations will also explore marketing strategies, leading products that are on the show floor, financial programs specifically designed to support the dealers, and legal considerations, and there will be a question-and-answer session with all speakers. Relevant equipment manufacturers will also have representatives at this event, but the entire event is intended to be vendor/machine-agnostic, and will facilitate or engender an informed interest in exploring those topics that are of paramount importance to dealers. This invitation-only event will be held in Room S102a, McCormick Place South. AlphaGraphics Kansas City Invests in IMorgana AutoCreaser f you believe the stories that suggest print is on its way out and printers are struggling along in these days of competition from the Internet and smartphones you need to talk with Haley and Matt Haar. The Haar’s purchased an existing 25-year-old Alpha- Graphics franchise in Kansas City, Missouri, hired new employees, moved to a new location, and turned this operation from a $400k company to a $1 million turnover business in just five years. One of the keys to the turn around was investing in the right new technology to take the business forward productively Matt Harr, Alphagraphics, Kansas City (left) with Billy Iberra, Styers Equipment Company, Overland Park, KS, the local Morgana dealer. and profitably. Typical of the equipment now in use at AlphaGraphics, Kansas City is the Morgana (Booth 2448) AutoCreaser Pro 33. “We can now produce products in-house much faster and with much better quality,” says Matt. “Previously, we were subletting that work. We can also score 80lb text, which we were not able to in the past. It all makes for a better quality job for our customer.” Having started out with a hand creaser before subletting the work, the AlphaGraphics team appreciates the accuracy of registration and the reliability of the Morgana to help reduce the turnaround time of jobs as they pass through the postpress department. AlphaGraphics Kansas City staff also sings the praises of the Morgana user interface: “The color display provides for a great user interface: easy to understand and easy to operate.” The AutoCreaser Pro 33 is an easy to use paper creasing machine for digital printers, employing a unique creasing rule that eliminates paper tearing and therefore, cracking. The intuitive 7" SmartScreen that controls all the main functions of the AutoCreaser Pro 33 makes finishing simplicity itself. Just key in the sheet length (popular sizes are pre-set), touch the fold type for the finished product and press the green button. The AutoCreaser Pro 33 creasing machine will automatically calculate where the creases need to be and set them accordingly. Any minor changes to the crease position can be made by touching an on-screen arrow in the relevant direction. The productivity of the latest AutoCreaser Pro 33 has been improved by a massive 50% increase in speed with no loss of accuracy. The unit is now capable of running at 8,500 letter-sized sheets per hour. 8 September 14, 2015 | GRAPH EXPO Official Show Daily | PrintingNews.com


GraphExpo Show Daily September 14 2015
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