What does the Horizon VAC-Turbo 100 collator do?
It takes pre-cut sheets and puts them into a given order that has obviously been pre-programmed. In our case, most of what we do is for books, so for them we pop pages into the correct sequence.
Why did you choose this particular machine?
It was down to its speed and versatility. Ease of use was a factor as well – because it’s all touchscreen. The machine really sets itself and all you have to do is input the sheet sizes and parameters for the job.
Did you look at any other similar machines?
No, because we went from other businesses’ recommendations that this was a good collator. So the research into that we should buy was focused on other companies I knew in the trade.
What features do you particularly like?
As I’ve mentioned, the touchscreen is great for ease of use. The error detection is also good. When a problem occurs it will actually tell you what the error is and tell you what part of the machine the error is at.
What features do you dislike or wish it had that it doesn’t have?
It struggles to go below an A5 sheet size, but that isn’t a problem because we bought it knowing that. A lot of what we do is high-volume A3 to A5 work geared to the calendar market, so it suits that purpose.
How fast is it?
We can do 4,000 to 6,000 passes an hour. The machine itself has quite high specifications, but obviously what you’ve got to take into the equation is that a person is actually running it as well.
Are you happy with its quality?
Yes – it’s on a par with our other collator, a Setmaster, but the speed is about six times faster, so the capacity we can do in a shorter period of time allows us to be a lot more competitive. In such a competitive market you have to firstly compete on a timescale that is short and secondly, be true to your word.
So exactly how much time and money has it saved?
To quantify it into time, on run against run we are twice as fast now. That means our labour costs are halved, but how much is saved depends on who is operating the machine.
Has it won you new work?
Yes, without a doubt. We are now able to compete in a higher level volume marketplace than before, so we can quote jobs of up to 40,000 whereas, in the past, anything over 10,000 started to be non-competitive. It wasn’t the fact that we couldn’t produce, it was our timescales that we lost out on.
Were there any difficulties experienced during installation and after?
No, we received a half-day training session and it didn’t take us long to get up to speed.
What about the service?
It’s been great. We have what I would term as an online help telephone number. Any problems, even just minor teething ones, are excellently dealt with over the phone by a GAE technical advisor. That way, we can rectify things on site without having to wait three days for an engineer to arrive.
In conclusion who do you think the machine is right for?
It suits serious print finishers but I can see that this could be used in smaller council-type operations. It is very versatile in the fact that we took four stations of 10 bins, so we’ve got a 40-bin capacity. But because it’s modular you just have one station if that’s all you need.
CONCLUSION
User’s verdict
Speed 5/5
Quality 5/5
Reliability 5/5
Value for money 5/5
Supplier’s response
“The feeding system on the VAC-Turbo 100 collator is a suction-based rotating drum, which is very similar to the feeding mechanism on larger folding machines,” says GAE marketing manager Vic Fletcher. “So it’s very fast, but it’s also forgiving on different stock thicknesses and qualities. Users find they have to make very little adjustments between jobs, and for a trade finisher that is typically beneficial as they can never really qualify what sort of substrate they are going to get.”
Price Around £13,500 per tower, £55,000 for a four-tower configuration
Contact Graphic Arts Equipment 020 8997 8053
