Page 54 - Print 21 Magazine March-April 2019

Wide Format: Finishing
Cutters with
serious chops
Whichever way you slice it, automated flatbed cutting tables are at the leading edge of finishing technology. With a range of companies all taking a stab at being the sharpest knife in the drawer, it can be hard to carve through the hype to make the right choice — so Jake Nelson asked manufacturers some incisive questions to shave away the confusion.
Automated flatbed cutters are getting smarter by the year,
and manufacturers such as Zünd, Esko, Aristo, Summa, and Océ are constantly fine- tuning and updating their products to keep up with the demands of customers and their clients. Each has its own selling point to offer the market, meaning printers looking for a flatbed finishing solution have plenty of options on the table.
Zünd cost savings
Flexibility can be a key concern when looking for a new cutting table – it is no good investing in expensive new kit if, six to 12 months down the line, it cannot do the jobs you need it to.
Zünd cutters, supplied in Australia by Starleaton, help overcome this problem with a modular design which means you can upgrade your cutter without breaking the bank, according to Ian Cleary, industrial sales manager at Starleaton.
“It is not a new table or a new model – it is an upgrade path for customers, new or current, that allows them to be assured that their investment is protected,” says Cleary. “Tomorrow, when someone comes in with a weird and wonderful application that hasn’t been addressed before, they don’t have to invest in a new table – they can buy a new module knowing Zünd is behind them.”
One new development in Zünd cutters is the addition of the overcut camera, which aids in registration of unusual cutting projects, says Cleary.
“When you’re cutting a job on any machine you need a registration point, and when you have more speciality jobs or special substrates such as fabrics or expensive media, you need more dots to register and get an accurate cut.
“The camera sits above the bed and drags all that data in a single snapshot, as opposed to having a camera on the cutting head which needs to register every single dot.
This essentially halves your cutting and processing
time,” he says.
The Swiss manufacturer has also released a new version of
its Cut Centre software with data analytics, which Cleary says will boost efficiency and flexibility for users.
“You can log into it remotely via any web browser, which allows you not only to monitor the current jobs and arrange your workflow on a day to day basis, but view analytics such as how many boards are being cut with one blade, is it the right blade, am I keeping enough stock on the floor to make sure that there’s no downtime on the machines,” he says.
End-to-end with Esko
Graphic arts solutions provider Esko offers more than just its range of Kongsberg cutting tables: it creates end-to-end solutions with advanced automation, says Scott Thompson, regional marketing and channels manager.
“With the depth and breadth of the Esko software and hardware solutions, Esko is positioned as the only provider of a complete end-to- end solution for all your design and finishing requirements,” he says.
The manufacturer’s robotic material handler couples with its Kongsberg cutting tables to load and unload directly from the pallet, cutting out the need for intermediate loading and unloading, says Thompson.
“With the introduction of
the robotic material handler,
the Kongsberg platform now
offers a highly productive pallet
to pallet automated digital
finishing solution,” he says. “To
gain maximum benefit from this solution we offer today a complete production cell which includes the Kongsberg C66R platform, the robot arm/gripper, and a sophisticated safety system.”
Above:
Integration with workflow: Océ ProCut
Below: End-to- end solutions: Esko Kongsberg
54 Print21 MARCH/APRIL 2019