Page 50 - Print21 May-June 2020

Finishing
‘Hands-off’
Horizon finishing line
Every four years, the world’s premier trade show, drupa, presents the printing industry with the next big innovation in printing. Before it was postponed this year, Horizon, a Japanese manufacturer of finishing equipment, planned to demonstrate a watershed moment in automated print production. Its fully computer-controlled and robot-enhanced print finishing production line for digital and offset printing promised to revolutionise the industry. Bernie Robinson got to see it last year in Japan.
Horizon was early off the mark in addressing the digital revolution in printing. While others were building bigger
and heavier finishing equipment, the Japanese company recognised there were new requirements for converting digital press output
into saleable products. It matched finishing equipment to the digital presses and in the process became the industry benchmark for flexible modular equipment. Specifically designed to meet the demand from printers taking finishing in-house to go along with their new digital press, Horizon print finishing gear is the leader in using new automation and robot-assisted production.
the robots played an integral role
in the company’s proposed drupa exhibit, which, alas, we will now not be able to see until April next year.
Bernie Robinson, managing director of Currie Group, the long- term ANZ Horizon agent, is one of the few outsiders to have seen the robotic process line working. During a visit to Japan last year, he was given a preview of the technology.
“I saw the Horizon line in operation in Japan last year where they had one operator controlling the complete process. It was very impressive and shows how the future of finishing will be. At the start of the process
a robotic arm picks from a tray of printed sheets to transfer to the folder. From there the folded sheets are automatically sent to the collator to be gathered in sections before again being transferred automatically to a perfect binder or slit liner. A three-knife trimmer before the completed books were again picked by a robot to be packed into boxes for dispatch. The whole line was checked by barcodes on every item and on the boxes,” Robinson said.
Although we won’t get to see the complete operating line in Australia, Currie Group is able to supply all parts of the process for local printers. 21
Responding to the need to automate at a time when efficiency was vital to cut costs and speed productivity, part of Horizon’s strategy was to develop equipment able to be operated by non-skilled personnel. The result is a range
of equipment that addresses
the growing shortage of trained operators, setting the bar for automation and ease of operation.
Above
This involves the integration of robotic product handling in order to reduce the number of human touch points in a production line. In fact,
50 Print21 MAY/JUNE 2020
Smart factory: Bernie Robinson, (left) managing director, Currie Group, at the event
Perfecting binding: Horizon
Left
in Japan with (l-r) Dayne and Shannon Nankervis