Case Study: Art & Negative Graphics Invests in Hunkeler/Horizon Roll-Fed Finishing to Support Transition to Inkjet

From left: Jim Myers, executive vice president, and Jason Wilburn, COO, stand with their new Hunkeler/Horizon Roll-to-Fold system, which is the newest of three roll-fed finishing lines operating at the company.

Art & Negative Graphics was founded in Maryland in 1981 by Adrienne and Tom Myers as a pre-press business making film negatives from art boards – hence, the company name. Today, Adrienne remains President of this woman-owned business, running it alongside two of her four sons, Jim Myers (EVP) and Jason Wilburn (COO).

As film migrated more towards computer-to-plate, Art & Negative decided to enter the printing space in 2001. They acquired a 30,000 square foot building and purchased printing and bindery equipment from Heidelberg. As the business grew, Art & Negative expanded to 60,000 square feet of space, adding mailing services, which is its primary business today, and employing about 50 team members.

Jim explains, “About four years ago, we decided to get into digital printing with a Screen Truepress JET 520HD, and now we have just installed our second inkjet press, a Screen Truepress JET 560HDX. Since we had been a sheetfed operation, and the Truepresses are roll-fed, we needed to make investments in our bindery to handle the roll output.”

Art & Negative had some experience with Standard Finishing, installing a Horizon BQ-270 Perfect Binder several years ago that is still operating today. This experience, coupled with Screen’s partnership with Standard, led them in the direction of Hunkeler for their roll-fed finishing.

Brothers Jim and Jason started evaluating Hunkeler equipment during a virtual demonstration hosted by Standard at Standard’s National Demonstration Center in 2020. More recently, Jim had the opportunity to visit the showroom in person. “It was very informative,” he says. “I learned a lot about the equipment we were looking to purchase, as well as some equipment which wasn’t even on our radar.”

Shortly after, Art & Negative began the process of updating their bindery with a strategic mix of Hunkeler/Horizon equipment to process their roll-fed output. They started with the Hunkeler Roll-to-Cut/Stack Solution which they use to produce inserts and direct mailers. “The Roll-to-Cut/Stack line has really streamlined our mailing operation,” Jim says. “Before, for a postcard, for example, we would print them offset, go to the cutter, and then to inkjet addressing. The beauty of this configuration is that we can now do variable data on press, move the rolls to the Hunkeler line, where we cut it, stack it, tray it, and it’s all sorted and ready to go, which has reduced our turn time by at least 50%.”

This purchase was followed by a Roll-to-Booklet Solution consisting of a Hunkeler UW8 Unwinder and CS8 Cutter that feed into the Horizon StitchLiner Mark V Saddlestitcher. The system produces calendars as well as personalized health care open enrollment packets which are verified via barcode reader for accuracy and quality assurance.

Most recently, they installed a Roll-to-Fold line to round out their roll-fed business and increase their productivity even more in the mail space. “We had a competitive cut/fold/stack solution in house for a time, but it did not live up to the vendor’s promises,” Jim explains. The newest solution features Hunkeler unwinding and cutting integrated with Horizon automated folding and has been producing variable-data direct mailers as well as a variety of folded inserts right out of the gate.

Jim continues, “Because our work is so diverse, we configured all the finishing offline to avoid any bottlenecks. This allows us to take printed rolls from each Truepress to the appropriate finishing line, depending on the application being produced.”

Art & Negative’s local Horizon dealer, Atlantic Graphic Systems, has also been trained by Standard to support the new finishing lines, which provides an additional point of service. Jim concludes, “Overall, the installation was seamless, the training went well, and we were up and running in no time. We haven’t had any issues at all which is why we continue to partner with Standard. Their technical support is excellent, and they have been great to work with, available to us on an as-needed basis.”