Adding an Esko (www.esko.com) Kongsberg C finishing table to its cutting department, Sina Printing (www.sinaprinting.com) has doubled its capacity, while relying on the Kongsberg C for more difficult materials and specialty folds.
Sina Printing is a family-run trade printing business formed fifteen years ago to service clients in the Toronto area, at Markham, Ontario. The company began with a small storefront and a two-colour press. Over the years, by offering a high-quality product and exceptional customer service, the company grew quickly.
Today Sina Printing, along with its online division, SinaLite.com, has established itself as the number one trade printer for thousands of print resellers all across the United States and Canada. The company has several high-end presses, a full in-house bindery and employs over 110 dedicated staff members within its 60,000 square foot facility.
SinaLite offers a wide range of products including traditional printing, signage, promotional products, direct mail, packaging, labels and office materials. In fact, 90 percent of Sina’s orders come online. Their advanced ordering system allows customers to see pricing for thousands of print products instantly on their Web site. Customers can check pricing and place an order within two minutes. Sina Printing’s philosophy is to embrace technology and to maximize production efficiency. This has allowed them to reduce costs and offer very competitive trade pricing while maintaining the high quality product.
Sina was operating a digital cutting table, but as orders continued to grow, they decided they needed a second cutting table. “It was the amount of work. We knew we would continue to use our older machine, but wanted to at least double our capacity,” remembers Mike Meshkati, President, Sina Printing Inc.
After some research, they decided to invest in a Kongsberg C60 digital cutting table. “Basically, we knew that there are more Kongsberg tables in the Toronto area than any other table,” explains Meshkati. “We also know that there are two or three service techs in the area, available to help companies when needed. To be honest, availability of the machine was an important factor. We got it on the floor when we needed it.”
Speed was also an important consideration. “Not only do the Esko specs suggest it was faster than our existing cutter, it was faster according to our own observations,” says Meshkati. “We do not have to slow it down.”
Sina has been operating its Kongsberg C cutting table for five months. Sina Printing had been operating Esko i-cut Suite workflow software even before it owned a Kongsberg table. The solution sent a PDF file to the printer RIP, and a corresponding file to the finishing machine for cut marks.
“One of the reasons that a Kongsberg table made sense was that we use i-cut layout and it made sense to finish jobs on a machine that had an i-cut vision system. Because the Kongsberg table is more coordinated with i-cut Layout, it’s creating cut marks faster,” explains Meshkati. “The Kongsberg table can read the bar code that is printed along with each sheet, and automatically pull cutting instructions for that sheet. We love i-cut Suite. It is one of the only solutions that can create an effective, nested layout for each sheet.
“Some of the packaging work we do is completed better because the Kongsberg C has a larger—and faster—scoring wheel. “It’s also very fast. Of course by having two machines we have doubled our capacity. We finish about 300 to 400 sheets a day. However, we are also able to streamline our process. All of our flatbed sheets are sent directly to the Kongsberg C.”
While customers do not have a window to production, they are benefiting by the turnaround. “Before we offered two to three day service. Now, we have next-day service,” remarks Meshkati. “Our U.S. clients are very happy because they have noticed we are shipping faster.
“We have a customer who always orders a packaging job that is printed on one side and customized. Before, when we used the other machine, the client always returned with negative comments. The past two times, when they have been cut on the Kongsberg table, the customer has not objected. We have noticed that the larger scoring wheel has provided a much better fold. In fact, we now offer a new product because of the scoring wheel: customized business card boxes. Our customers can brand their business card boxes with their logos and addresses. We print and cut the boxes for them.”
“The Kongsberg table is extraordinarily fast,” concludes Meshkati. “And because we use i-cut Layout, it ties unto the workflow much more smoothly. In the future, we will explore an investment into Automation Engine to support i-cut Suite.”
