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DRUPA, Day Three – Cutting Remarks
June 8, 2008
It’s easy while “shopping” at DRUPA to get caught up in the excitement of the multi-million-dollar presses, the newest devices that wow the crowds. It’s not so easy for me to get really excited by bindery equipment. But my colleague Ken Macro does exactly that. We were searching for great new equipment, and he had an agenda. Folders, cutters and bindery equipment are his specialty, and there were more than enough at DRUPA to please the most sophisticated
plieur.
The big news: Müller-Martini has changed the color scheme of their combination gathering-stitching-trimming machines to “laser blue.” The equipment is now also fully JDF capable, allowing the various M-M devices to get instructions from a JDF job ticket. This, of course, is the ticket to the important trend in improved productivity, reduced waste, and more profitable printing.
MBO’s folders feature sound-dampening covers (probably not new, but I was pretty excited by that). They also feature a turret arrangement so that several folding set-ups can be stored and reused quickly and easily. This is really great. Set-up time is so great in bindery equipment that anything that helps to reduce the time consumed in making a machine ready to work is worthwhile.
At one point in our exhausting journey (DRUPA is tough on your feet) I found Ken involved in a highly animated discussion with the representative from Polar. The two were discussing the vastly improved capabilities of the new Polar cutter offerings. It was similar to watching two soccer fans discuss their favorite teams. The blade change process is simplified; the programmability is easier and more visual, and the cutter accepts JDF information for each job. With this beautiful paper cutter, the most difficult task – changing the blade – is done in a very short time with tools that are stored in a kit on the side of the machine.
Ken Macro, Cal Poly professor and world traveler, examines the Polar cutter. With loads of automation, programmability and the ability to read and respond to JDF instructions, the cutter will help to improve productivity in the industry.
It is the JDF capability that makes this new cutter stand out from the crowd, or at least from its predecessors. Taking instructions from a JDF job ticket, and pre-setting the program to do cutting according to the master plan is the key to making paper cutting more efficient and accurate. And with that efficiency, productivity increases.
So, with these cutting remarks, I leave DRUPA 2008 behind and jump on an ICE train for Stuttgart, passing through the city of Heidelberg en route. There is no point stopping in Heidelberg on this journey because they are all in Düsseldorf. I’ll come back again sometime to see the Pressenfabrik.
Posted by Brian Lawler on June 8, 2008 | Comments (3)
