J Thomson Colour Printers is replacing a Wohlenberg guillotine with a Polar 137 N Plus which is due to arrive in March. An existing Polar system will be retained as back up.
The Scottish quality colour printers runs two Speedmaster XL 105s, a 12-colour perfector and a six-plus-coat, and so the company is investing to ensure its finishing keeps pace.
"Our Heidelberg presses are very efficient and therefore we have shifted our focus to the prevention of bottlenecks in finishing," says managing director Kevin Creechan. "We did look at various guillotine options but the Polar is robust and was the right system for our mix of work. The materials handling around the guillotine will keep our staff safe and increase output. The market is tough and companies have to run as efficiently as possible in all areas. The Polar will help us do just that."
The materials handling specified by J Thomson Colour includes a pile hoist lifting device, a jogger to align sheets for a perfect cut and a Transomat downloader to remove finished work.
Staff who will run the new machine will receive training in-house, focusing on the greater automation of this latest generation of Polar technology with its intelligent operational guidance, programmability and slick Optiknife knife changing device. The Polar will run 24/6 to meet the demands of the company's customer base.
J Thomson Colour Printers holds ISO 9001 quality an ISO 14001 environmental certification.
