Horizon Printing and Mailing Hits the Sweet Spot with RMGT 9 Series Press

By Lauren Searson

For Austin, Texas-based Horizon Printing & Mailing, UV print capabilities are one of the things that set them apart from the competition. The shop installed their first UV press 13 years ago and were the first and only commercial printer in Austin offering this advanced print technology. When the time came to increase capacity, the RMGT 920 8-color LED-UV with perfector (PRINTING United Booth 9551) was an obvious choice.

“We’re growing,” says Harold Carter, General Manager for Horizon. “We needed more capacity, and we wanted to get into the perfecting market. This new press will give us a competitive advantage, with not only the perfecting capabilities, but the LED-UV technology.”

Based on their legacy of printing UV for more than a decade, upgrading to LED-UV technology was going to have huge advantages. “There was never any doubt for us — we knew when it was time to put a new press in, it was going to be an LED-UV. It was a no-brainer. We’re going to have shorter production times with this press, and quicker turnaround times, which in turn will allow us to bring in a wider range of customers, for both short- and long-run jobs. We are projecting growth of 25 - 35% by the end of this year with the RMGT 9 series once we are fully up and running.”

Carter notes that when it comes to the LED-UV technology in particular, it wasn’t just the higher quality and faster drying times that made this press stand out. He notes that the LED-UV has lower electricity costs versus the traditional UV they had been running, which will in turn help the shop improve the bottom line. The fact that the press packs a large amount of power into a compact footprint, as well as the ability to run jobs on a wider range of substrates, also contributed to the decision to go with RMGT.

At Horizon, Carter notes that they are seeing run lengths get shorter over time, a trend that is echoed by many across the industry. However, while Horizon does have digital equipment, Carter notes that the RMGT 9 series will actually be getting some of the short-run work moved back to offset from the digital side.

“When you look at the cost of the plates and other materials, along with how fast it is to change the plates on this press, we realized we could do shorter runs economically on this press and still have cost savings versus a longer digital run,” says Carter. “We will still do the really short runs on digital of course, but depending on the type of piece, we will be moving a number of jobs over to the RMGT 9 Series.”

Carter further notes that for Horizon, 85% of the revenue is still coming from the offset side of the business, making the investment in the RMGT, which can handle a much wider range of jobs than most digital or offset presses, a good fit for the business. “Not to mention,” he says, “while the quality of digital is pretty good these days, the quality of offset is still better. That will always be part of the equation as well. You are limited in terms of what you can do for things like solids on the digital equipment, whereas with offset we just have more control over that.”

“What’s exciting about this installation is that this is the first RMGT 9 Series with a perfector being installed in the Southwest United States,” says Kian Hemmen, Director of Sales, Print & Finishing Solutions, the RMGT Distributor for the region. “Horizon Printing is the type of shop that we really like to see these machines go to because of their commitment to quality. We know that the press is going to shine and will continue to help them grow as the top-quality printer in Austin. It has been an honor to work with Mike Spann, Harold Carter and the team at Horizon Printing. We are so grateful to be partners with the 28-year-old company that shares the same goals and values that we do: quality, commitment and expertise.”