Industria Grafica T.Sarcuto: automated die-cutting process with Valiani Omnia 100
Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto is a historic company from Agrigento (Sicily – Italy), which in over 70 years of history has transformed itself from a small bookbinding to a modern company with offset and digital departments, while always maintaining skills and craftsmanship.
Below we report, in full version, the interview published in the article number 03/2022 of Italia Publishers with the representatives of Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto.
By reading it you will discover the beautiful story of this company and how Valiani Omnia 100 has allowed it to better satisfy the die-cutting requests of its customers, passing in a few minutes from the printed sheet to the approved prototype, at the start of the final processing.
Read the full interview.
Published in Italia Publishers n. 03/2022
Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto: die-cutting at the speed of the web with Valiani Omnia 100
With the automatic digital cutting in B1 format, the Sicilian typography improves its online printing workflow, enhances paper converting and opens up to new businesses.
The story of Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto began in 1948, when Tarcisio Sarcuto founded a small bookbinding in Agrigento. It was the beginning of a family business now in its 3rd generation, which in almost 75 years has seen the succession of son Settimio with his brothers, sons Federica, Tarcisio and Marco, and grandson Salvatore.
In the 1960s, on the wave of the Italian economic boom, the business expanded to typographic printing, flat and flat-cylindrical. Then, in the seventies, the company moved to its current 2,000 m² headquarters.
From movable type to Linotype, from screen printing to lithography, Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto makes an uninterrupted evolutionary path, and gives life to modern offset and digital printing departments.
Although projected into the future, the company has handed down craft skills and analogue machinery for generations, and carries out every typographic process internally, from punching to embossing and die-cutting.
« We jealously preserve our know-how, our movable types and typographic machines, thanks to which we are still able to carry out processes that most printing companies have abandoned, » says Marco Sarcuto, production manager of Industria Grafica T Sarcuto. « In addition to being a source of pride, it is a strategy that allows us to stand out and create unique products with higher added value ».
Last January, the Sicilian printer expanded its post-printing department, becoming the first company in Italy to install the Valiani Omnia 100 digital cutting and creasing system.
The challenge of the web and on-demand productions
Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto counts among its clients public administrations, health and tourism facilities, food and manufacturing companies. While embodying the archetype of regional typography, the printer has never stopped adapting his offer and model to a rapidly changing market. Thus, since 2018, the company is also present on the web at stampaonline24.it.
« Online printing has order fulfillment times of 24-48 hours at most, and requires you to manage hundreds of items in varying quantities, with always impeccable quality, » says Sarcuto.
The product catalog ranges from business cards to stamps, art catalogs, brochures, books, packaging, forms, up to materials for setting up and promoting events. Almost all of the products are made internally. Paper converting is one of the most promising segments, in which the company offers graphic consultancy and printing of folders, postcards and customized and ennobled packaging for local producers and retailers.
The need to reorganize and digitize production
To keep up with the frenetic pace of the web, Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto had to reorganize its production flows. In addition, the changing needs of customers have forced the company to manage both long runs and micro-quantities with the same effectiveness.
«The customer today is better prepared. It no longer focuses on large quantities to optimize costs, but requires smaller quantities with constantly updated content and design ”, explains Sarcuto. « We do more and more reprints during the year, and for this we had to equip ourselves with digital ».
A 360° production capacity
Among the reasons of pride of Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto is the substantial productive self-sufficiency.
In the offset printing department, the company uses an Agfa Apogee prepress flow with CtP, as well as Heidelberg Speedmaster and Shinohara pluri-colored machines in 70×100 and 35×50 formats, as well as UV machines for the finishing of printed matter. The bookbinding department is equipped with Muller Martini folding machines, Stahlfolder folders, Polar paper cutters, perfect binding systems, thread and staple sewing, lamination and die-cutting.
A Xerox Versant 2100, Mutoh digital printers, Flexa lamination, and Summa and Roland iMark carving systems are installed in the digital area.
« Our main bottleneck was the die-cutting of small runs, » says Sarcuto. « We didn’t have a flatbed cutting machine, and we didn’t want to settle for a manual feed machine. »
Marco Sarcuto
Production Manager of Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto
« We didn’t have a flatbed cutting machine, and we didn’t want to settle for a manual feed machine. »
The era of digital die cutting
For the owners of Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto it is not easy to identify an adequately qualitative, compact digital die-cutting system, compatible with the paper formats used in the company, and in line with one’s budget. For months they evaluate European and Asian machinery offers, until a supplier tells them about Valiani Omnia 80, an automatic digital cutting system in a 600×800 mm format.
“We saw some videos, and it seemed to us that Omnia had all the right features. The only drawback was the format, slightly lower than the B1 « , says Sarcuto. »As soon as Valiani revealed to us that version B1 would be out shortly thereafter, however, we signed up without even seeing a demo ».
Thanks to the automatic feeder, which houses stacks of materials up to 200 mm in height, and the conveyor belt, Omnia 100 can feed and cut sheets of various sizes, up to 750×1.050 mm. The camera for reading QR codes and detecting registration marks, then, allows you to upload the correct cutting files and make job changes without manual intervention by the operator. On the two-position multi-tool head it is possible to mount a cutting tool and a creasing tool at the same time.
The flexibility of Omnia and the benefits of the B1 format
Completed the installation, after two days of training for the operators, Omnia 100 went into production, and was immediately subjected to intense work rates, confirming the initial impression of reliability and solidity.
« We could not satisfy some requests due to the tight deadlines and the uneconomic nature of traditional die-cutting, » Sarcuto remarks. « Omnia 100, on the other hand, allowed us to pass in a few minutes from the printed sheet to the approved prototype, to the start of the final processing ».
If the initial idea was to digitally die-cut very small quantities, the company team had to revise its plans. The reliability and productivity of the machinery, especially on the simplest die-cut paths, has encouraged the printer to use Omnia 100 even in the die-cutting of hundreds or thousands of pieces.
In addition to tangential cutting and creasing, Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto also uses Omnia 100 for shaping PVC forex, multi-wall corrugated cardboard and other plastic materials.The flexibility and multifunctionality of the system allow the company to easily switch from paper converting to the production of shaped materials to multi-material displays. Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto has also purchased the collection of Valiani V-Suite applications, which allows you to view and modify die-cut paths, and to create animated renderings, complete with graphics. Inside the suite there is the M3Art library, with hundreds of models of boxes and displays ready to use and modify.
“We were already designing our own dies, but now we have the advantage of being able to give customers instant answers” concludes Sarcuto.
Three months after installation, the printer is using Omnia 100 on an extended shift and is already reaping tangible benefits. In addition to having eliminated the times and costs of making the dies, the Valiani system allows you to perform short runs that would otherwise be impossible, and significantly reduce the impact of labour force during setup and job change.
Discover Valiani Omnia 100
We hope that you enjoyed this interview and that you have been able to draw numerous insights from it. If you want to know more about the machinery that helped Industria Grafica T. Sarcuto to achieve the great results just described, click on the button.
