The brainchild of David Currie, who encouraged HP Indigo and Horizon to work together to produce a viable inline booklet production system, is awarded a Print 21 Technology Hot Pick.
Linking a HP Indigo 7900 digital press to a Horizon Bookletmaker may seem to make perfect sense but it’s taken a number of years for the project to come together. It took Currie Group, under the persistent prodding of its chairman, to enable the two technologies and get the line running in real time on its PacPrint. The inline automated booklet production is just part of the one of the most advanced technology displays at PacPrint 2017.
Always a major presence at the show, Currie Group, which is celebrating 68 years in business, has an exhibition stand that’s choc-a-block with digital printing equipment. The world 1st booklet production line fits in very well with the overall theme of automated printing.
According to David Currie, chairman, the drive towards digitalisation of printing is as strong as ever with HP Indigo volumes in the region continuing to break records. Last month saw it pass 160 million sheets. He expects output to top 180 million by November, always the busiest period of the year. “You must remember there’s a lot more larger sheet sizes in there now. We count them all as A4 so the total is actually a lot higher,” he said. “It’s been a steady increase every year.”
To emphasize the point the largest item of equipment on the stand is the B2-size HP Indigo 12000. Adhering to the theme of automating print, the press is part of am automated production line utilising a stacker robot to transfer cut and folded sheets from a Horizon SmartStacker to an adjacent Horizon BQ-480 perfect binder and a Horizon HT-1000V three-knife trimmer. The end product is a perfect bound book produced in one process without any touch points.
With sales breaking $2 million on the first day, Phil Rennell, sales and marketing director is confident all the major items will find new homes before the end of the show. This includes the HP Indigo 8000 label press that is wearing the label ‘Sold to Peacock Bros.’
The first showing of the Scodix Ultra Pro digital enhancement press is attracting a lot of attention from visitors. Eliminating the need for dies, plates, moulds and other elements the digital engine is transforming industry expectations. Again, Rennell, smiles when asked where it will end up after the show. He says he’s quietly confident it will find a good home.
Easily one of the most popular stands at this year’s PacPrint, the Currie Group’s comprehensive exhibition of digital equipment sets the tone for the whole industry. Hard to believe that it was only at PacPrint 2001 that the Indigo company approached David Currie to take on the agency. At that show Currie had four Shinohara offset presses on display. He recalls there was over 600 such presses placed by the company into the industry at the time. While Currie group continues to support those machines and customers with spares parts and service, there is no sign of offset printing on the Currie Group’s stand at PacPrint 2017.
To mark its success, Currie Group is dedicating one percent of the sales of all equipment at the show to the Australian Rhino project. The project is to help save the endangered species by establishing breeding herds.