Nottingham-based graphics company John E Wright has replaced its ten-year-old PN L-2500 machine with a G3 XL-3200 system from Zund to increase its efficiency and capacity.
Previously, the company had a manual workflow whereby operators had to edit clients' artwork. The new Zund G3 is fitted with Prepare-it software to automate workflow, thus cutting studio time preparing files for ripping and cutting.
"Better nesting saves money, as there's no manual guessing. What took hours now takes minutes as there's no physical cutting or preparing," said Alan Edwards, John E Wright's technical director. "There's virtually no manual cutting in the building at all now."
Recent investment in printing equipment expedited the requirement for the cutter upgrade. "We replaced our HP flatbed printer with an EFI Vutek and the increase in speed resulted in a backlog in the cutting department," explained Edwards. "Zund cutters are solid, reliable machines, built for heavy-duty work so we decided to stay with the manufacturer and chose the G3. Our workflow has sped up to the extent that we now have capacity for another new printer."
In addition to the print-to-cut workflow software Prepare-it, the machine was supplied with Zund Cut Centre software, plus a range of tooling including the 1KW router, V-cut tool, universal cutting tool, creasing tool and kiss-cut tool for vinyl.
The G3 has enabled John E Wright to keep more work in house and to use thicker substrates. The company now uses more Dibond and 10mm acrylic in its display graphics work, which includes production the of banners, posters, POS and roll-ups – plus, recently, disposable furniture.
Zund also supplied Packz software with the G3, giving John E Wright the opportunity to offer its clients an alternative product: packaging mock-ups. These are achieved “in a matter of clicks”, said Edwards.