ANDOVER, MA – Standard Finishing Systems will showcase 4,800 square-feet of post press and paper handling solutions in Booth 1923 at Graph Expo in Chicago. Rounding out its already robust portfolio of perfect binding, folding, saddlestitching, creasing, inspection systems, and continuous-feed print solutions, Standard will unveil its revolutionary line of Horizon Rotary Die Cutters to the North American market. The company will also demonstrate “Smart Feeding and Finishing” in action, with a focus on integrated systems that go from white paper roll or cut-sheet to a variety of finished products in one process. Advanced automation, innovative features, and JDF-driven workflows from Horizon and Hunkeler take center stage to illustrate the finishing possibilities of digital and conventional print. 

Live Demonstrations

Standard will be producing a comprehensive range of finished products, highlighting the short-run capabilities of individual systems as well as complete end-to-end workflows. Nearly 50 live applications will include personalized direct mailers with variable coupon perforations, greeting cards, variable short-run books, PUR perfect-bound photo books, full-color/full-bleed booklets, labels, creative business cards and many other die cut products, and a variety of unique folding applications. “Attendees come to the show to see the equipment running,” says David Reny, Executive Vice President, Standard Finishing Systems. “Standard will have its full portfolio of solutions operating throughout the show to demonstrate real-world production efficiency in a hands-on setting. We want attendees to see firsthand how they can improve their workflow and become more profitable.” 

New Finishing Capabilities Unveiled – MUST SEE ‘EMS Award Winner

Standard makes its entry into the die-cut market with its new line of Horizon Rotary Die Cutters specially designed to meet the growing demand for short-run die-cut product. The Standard Horizon RD-4055, a 2014 MUST SEE ‘EMS Award Winner, and RD-3346 can die-cut, crease, perforate, slit, hole punch, and round corner in one process for digital and offset printed sheets. Both systems feature easy change-over and simple operation via intuitive touchscreen controls, and vacuum belt feed with powerful air separation for consistent feeding performance. Die-cutting and Kiss-cutting can also be performed at the same time to produce stickers and labels. And, a repeat register function allows multiple-up applications from a single-up die to minimize costs. Two models are available for varying speed, paper size, and stock requirements. Creasing is also available for applications that require additional folding after die-cutting, such as boxes, pocket folders, and greeting cards. The RD-4055 feeds, die-cuts, and separates waste in one pass at up to 6,000 cycles/hour and accepts sheet sizes up to 15.74" x 21.65" at a thickness up to .5mm (.019”). The RD-3346 runs at 5,000 cycles/hour on sheet sizes up to 13” x 18” at .35mm (.013”) thick. These systems will be producing a wide range of die-cut materials at the show including specialty packaging, CD holders, pop-up business cards, stickers, presentation folders, door hangers, and tri-fold table stands.

The new Standard Horizon CRA-36 Creaser will make its North American debut, offering superior mechanical creasing with automated feeding to eliminate cracking on digitally-printed applications. A new generation intuitive touchscreen enables easy setup, changeover and fine adjustment without a skilled operator. The system can handle up or down creasing in one pass as well as spine, hinge, and flap creasing for perfect bound book covers. Up to 10 crease lines can be created in one pass. Perforation can be performed by a simple replacement of the creasing unit. Rotary perforation, edge trimming, and gutter cutting are also available as options. The CRA-36 accepts a wide range of coated, uncoated, or laminated stock from 24 lb. bond to 18 pt. on sheets up to 14.3” x 34”, and can crease or perforate up to 5,000 sheets/hour. At the show, the CRA-36 will be creasing 3-up calendars and brochures. Alongside the CRA-36 will be the proven CRF-362 Creaser/Folder – producing restaurant menus, greeting cards, book covers, brochures, and other marketing collateral – creasing and folding at a rate of 5,000 sheets/hour.

Standard will also premiere the Horizon TBC-200L Top and Bottom Trimmer as part of an in-line solution with the Horizon SPF-200L Landscape Bookletmaker, CR-400 Creaser/Bleed Trimmer, and HOF-400 High Speed Sheet Feeder for digitally collated output. The in-line solution will be producing professional quality, three-knife trimmed financial booklets, brochures, and calendars at the show at speeds up to 4,000 booklets/hour. The TBC-200L can also serve conventional offset print needs when combined with a collating tower, or can be used offline. A user-friendly 10.4” intelligent color touchscreen provides advanced set-up automation, intuitive operation, and centralized control for professional quality booklet production at all skill levels. The system features format flexibility including 8.5” x 11” landscape capabilities, ideal for producing landscape brochures, photobooks or calendars. Additionally, a saddlestitching configuration will feature the Standard Horizon StitchLiner in-line with collating towers, producing true saddlestitched booklets with full bleed trimming at speeds up to 11,000 two-up booklets per hour.

In the folding arena, Standard will introduce the new Horizon AF-406F Small-Format Folder, which will be folding pharmaceutical pieces and small inserts at the show. This fully automated 6-buckle folder offers pile feed and suction head with an optional 6-buckle second unit that can be added straight or cross-wise, for sheet sizes from 1.9” x 3.1” up to 16.9” x 25.5”. Small folds down to .78” can be performed, providing application flexibility for the insert, outsert, and pharmaceutical markets. A user-friendly 10.4” intelligent color touchscreen provides fully automated set-up (including auto-positioning of score rollers) and intuitive operation. The AF-406F is equipped with 6 fold plates, which allow a wide variety of fold patterns in a minimum amount of floor space, at speeds up to 30,000 sheets/hour. 

Also showing in the Standard booth will be the Horizon SmartStacker. This innovative system will be processing B2-size sheets (20”x29”) into as many as 28 full-bleed cut sheets with intelligent accumulation and stacking. The SmartStacker can be used in-line with the HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press, or offline. B2 output printed on the HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press will be finished on the SmartStacker to produce a variety of greeting cards and blocks of 3 different book titles with fully-automated, JDF-driven changeover between jobs. Book blocks will be finished on a Standard Horizon perfect binder and three-knife trimmer, with all necessary setup data sent from the HP SmartStream Direct2Finish workflow. A complete range of perfect binding solutions will be shown, featuring interchangeable PUR and EVA glue tanks, book-of-one production capabilities, and in-line variable three-knife trimming. 

Continuous-Feed Smart Finishing Solutions 

The Standard Hunkeler DP6 Dynamic Perforating Module will be operating in a Roll-to-Roll configuration with the Hunkeler UW6 Unwinder and RW6 Rewinder, producing unique and dynamic perforating patterns on the printed roll that vary from sheet to sheet in 2-up mode. The Hunkeler WI6 Web Inspection System will also be capturing high resolution color images of the full web for in-line verification, quality inspection and integrity analysis of the printed roll. This solution is ideal for transpromotional and transactional applications including coupons, reply cards, and convenience checks. 

In a true demonstration of finishing flexibility, Standard’s key manufacturers, Horizon and Hunkeler have partnered to develop a tightly integrated Roll-to-Booklet/Roll-to-Stack combination solution which also accepts digital cut-sheet. Designed to run in-line with continuous feed print engines, process booklets from a printed roll, or finish pre-collated cut sheet output, the solution can deliver saddlestitched books, straight stacks, or fully separated book blocks depending on the job requirements. The Hunkeler UW6 will be unwinding a printed roll into the CS6-II rotary double cutter for offsetting and stacking in the Hunkeler SE6 separator and LS6 stacker. Output from the LS6 stacker will either be diverted in the Hunkeler TS6 transfer station as straight stacks or books blocks for finishing on Standard’s nearline perfect binder and die cutter, or bypass directly to the in-line Horizon StitchLiner 6000 Digital saddlestitcher to produce up to 6,000 high quality finished booklets/hour. The optional HSF-30 Sheet Feeder from Horizon allows feeding of pre-collated digital cut-sheets for stand-alone saddlestitching, matching roll-to-sheet speeds of 600 feet/minute. The changeover from continuous-feed roll production to digital cut-sheet input takes just a few minutes.

In another technology integration between Horizon and Hunkeler, Standard will show variable book production on the Smart Binding Solution. A Standard Hunkeler UW6 unwinds a 20” wide roll which is sheeted in the Standard Hunkeler CS6-HS Cutter and signature folded in the Standard Horizon AF-566F Digital folder. Individual signatures are then accumulated and pressed into book blocks in the intelligent PSX-56 stacker, before being conveyed to the operator input station of the near-line BQ-470 perfect binder. Bound books are delivered via conveyor for three-knife trimming on the HT-1000V variable trimmer. The HT-1000V offers zero make-ready and completely variable production for up to 1,000 books of variable thickness and format size per hour.

Digital Print Partnerships for Integrated Solutions

Standard will once again partner with key digital printer manufacturers to bring highly integrated feeding and finishing solutions to the show floor. In the Ricoh booth, the InfoPrint 5000 Inkjet Printer will be equipped with a Standard Hunkeler Roll-to-Cut/Stack Solution, delivering book blocks and 20”x28” oversized posters. In the Xerox booth, the Impika eVolution will be running in-line with the Standard Hunkeler Roll-to-Roll solution capable of speeds up to 833 feet/minute. Various roll and cut-sheet applications from Canon, FUJIFILM, HP, Ricoh, Xerox and others will also be demonstrated live on the Standard booth.  

Vision Based Inspection Systems

The “VIVA” suite of vision-based inspection systems – custom-designed for document integrity, quality control and verification in production environments – will be shown at Graph Expo too. VIVA cameras for sheet-level and set-level integrity checking will be mounted on the Standard Horizon HOF-400 Sheet Feeder paired with the SPF-200L Bookletmaker. VIVA software will also be checking book block and cover matching on the Standard Horizon BQ-470 Perfect Binder. The VIVA line can be deployed across a broad range of Standard solutions to ensure quality control, integrity, tracking, and complete document reporting. 

For more information on these Horizon and Hunkeler solutions, visit Standard Finishing Systems (www.standardfinishing.com) at Booth 1923. Graph Expo attendees are invited to arrange a private equipment demonstration tailored to their application requirements by pre-registering for the Standard VIP Program at http://www.sdmc.com/graphexpo.