Digital technology has been advancing rapidly, and we are always considering what changes are necessary and which direction we should take. We must remain flexible in order to adopt and make the changes that the market demands. Recently we have been aware that the technology in our print market is changing even more rapidly than in the past. Based on the new market trends we have selected our new theme as "Change the Focus".

What do we mean by this? We recognize that there has always been change and change will continue to effect the world infrastructure and future innovations for generations to come. We understand that the rapid changes in technology in all areas creates challenges and opportunities for the print industry, how to make the technology work for you. We as a manufacturer must also ask ourselves the same questions. So when we say "Change the Focus" we are not only asking this of you, but it is a challenge to ourselves as well.

It is generally recognized that the first industrial revolution was driven by the invention of the Steam Engine and that the second revolution was driven by the advancement of electricity, while the third major revolution has been the evolution of IT technology. Today it is widely believed that we are in the middle of the fourth major industry and world change, which is recognized as IoT or "The Internet of Things". Simply put this means that many things in our industry and daily life are becoming more interconnected through technology. As a manufacturer of solutions for the print industry, we recognize that it is our responsibility to provide solutions that will allow our customers to take advantage of this trend. Interconnected, seamless solutions will be the key to success in our industry going forward into the future.

Print 4.0 has been stated as a major trend for drupa 2016. With this, we feel that the technology for JDF Workflow, which we have been promoting for sometime, will have greater focus than in the past. To meet our customers demands we will not only be providing new advancements in equipment, but complete integrated solutions. To continue to provide the market with innovative solutions we will continue to pay close attention to market trends and challenge ourselves to keep evolving and improving our technology and solutions.

At drupa 2016, we will present our Finishing Solutions tied to the pre-press to insure an efficient imposition to improve the equipment efficiency. Please focus on each of these applications and pay attention to the imposition for each. We hope that you will easily see how an efficient imposition can positively effect the total process, including finishing equipment productivity and efficiency.

The concept of “Focus on Post-press, as the key to production efficiency” will be shown through our Solutions Presentation at drupa. Six live presentations will be hosted daily on the Horizon Stand in cooperation with leading vendors from workflow, prepress and press segments of our industry. The presentations will feature three Horizon Finishing Systems.

The 1st system is a Roll-to-Booklet Solution, the 2nd system is a Smart Finishing Solution of a smaller scale, featuring short run and book-of-one production, and the 3rd system is a hybrid Smart Binding System which will deliver finished books in one process from continuous-feed and cut-sheet digital print or folded signatures, with variable finish size, paper stock and page count. The presentation is approximately 15 minutes and will focus on finishing from the point of job creation, to ensure efficiency through each step of production, reduce waste, and minimize touch points.

Digital technology and communication is rapidly advancing and human communication is becoming less. However we believe human commination and interaction is necessary and important if we are to take advantage of Technology to improve efficiencies and productivity, while reducing labor costs and improving the quality of printed products. At drupa 2016, we will present newly developed end-to-end solutions along with a wide range of highly automated finishing systems. We hope to see you on our stand at drupa 2016. Please note that we have increased our footprint at drupa 2016 and relocated from Hall 13 to Hall 6 for your convenience.

The Horizon booth is relocated from Hall 13 to Hall 6 with a larger size foot print (1460 square meters “16,000 square foot” booth.) The theme at the show is “Change the Focus" The theme is selected based on recognizing that the technology in our print market is changing even more rapidly than in the past. Twenty-four working systems – including the world premiere of a new perfect binder and folder – will be organized into various zones featuring perfect bind, stitch, fold, and digital applications. Live presentations will also highlight four innovative Smart Finishing Solutions, each one capable of processing conventional and digitally printed outputs.

Six live presentations hosted daily in the Horizon booth will focus on finishing from the point of job creation, to ensure efficiency through each step of production, cut down on waste, and minimize touch points. In this presentation, Horizon will feature 4 systems. 1st system is an integrated Roll-to-Booklet solution featuring the Horizon StitchLiner 6000 Digital Saddlestitcher. Pre-printed rolls will be processed into finished booklets with variable sheet count. 2nd system is a Smart Finishing Solution of a smaller scale, featuring short run and book-of-one production. Pre-printed rolls are signature folded and then accumulated to create book blocks and perfect bound with the BQ-470 perfect binding system and three knife trimmed in variable format.

The 3rd system is a hybrid Smart Binding System which will deliver finished books in one process from continuous-feed and cut-sheet digital print or folded signatures with variable finish size, paper stock and page count. The demonstration will also feature an offset printing flow with 16 page signatures and a continuous-feed digital print flow. Two newly developed key features are demonstrated in this system. A new folding technology enables changing the fold pattern on the fly to minimize blank pages. A new book block feeding device enables feeding cut sheets into the binding system. These two new features will increase the flexibility of this system and bring the system to the next level.

The 4th system is the SmartStacker which intelligently cuts and stacks from a B2 printed sheet. Book blocks which are processed from B2 sheets by the SmartStacker are delivered to the Smart Binding System for binding of the books. With these new solutions, various applications which require short run or book of one production such as catalogues, educational books, magazines, photo books and publications can be efficiently produced. These system will be demonstrated in corporation with various vendors which include, Canon, FujiFilm, HP, Hunkeler, Komori, Ricoh, Screen, Tecnau and Ultimate. Collaboration with these vendors covers the total workflow including, pre-press, press and post press will be demonstrated to simulate real production capabilities.

Three newly developed products will be introduced at drupa 2016: BQ-480 Variable 4 Clamp Binder. The newly developed BQ-480 four clamp Perfect Binder features the quickest set-up and superior quality. To meet the demand for efficient book-of-one production, a newly developed automation technology achieves up to 800 books per hour for variable thickness book production. The binder also offers advanced automation through a movable, color touchscreen including adjustments for roller height, nipping height, and amount of side glue. All of these setting are set automatically according to book thickness for easy setup. Specially designed to meet the requirements of PUR book binding, the BQ-480 includes a gentle elevator delivery system with a mere 5mm drop for gentle book handlings.

The AFV-566T6F folder features advanced automation which brings automated setup and operation to the next level. Building upon Horizon’s already proven automated fold technology, the AFV-566T6F includes scoring navigation that can be done automatically through the touchscreen panel, automatic double-sheet detection to minimize waste, improved registration by vacuum belt, under 80db quiet operation and easier sheet loading. Optional dynamic folding is also possible to change the fold pattern on-the-fly for variable signatures with minimal or no blank sheets.

Digital printing quality has been dramatically improved and the gap between digital and offset printing is getting closer. The demand to combine the benefits of digital printing which can print variable data and the capability of offset printing which can reduce the cost on higher volume printing has been increasing. To meet this demand, an intelligent feeding system has been newly developed.

Loading the digital printed sheets on the HOF-400 digital sheet feeder and offset printed sheet in the VAC-600 collator, the intelligent feed system enables combining of the digital printed sheets with offset printed sheets which is picked from selected bins. The digital printed sheet has a barcode which is read at the digital feeder, the barcode information includes the pickup information for the collator bins, which is sent to collator through the intelligent feed system to mix the digital and offset print sheets. The set is then converted to a booklet at the SPF-200A bookletmaking system. This system is suitable for high volume variable applications.