KENNESAW, Ga. – September 23, 2004 – Sun Inc., a full-service commercial printer located in Orangeburg, S.C., has increased postpress production more than 100 percent and driven greater efficiency into its bindery with a recently installed 54-inch POLAR 137 cutting system. Heidelberg’s POLAR 137 system has three programmable high-speed cutters that are employed for precise cutting paper, paperboard and cardboard, plastic foils. It is ideal for rapidly expanding printing companies like Sun Inc., offering maximum throughput with minimal labor. The automation of the Transomat loading system allows for a single operator to produce mass quantities without being overwhelmed by the workload. The cutter also includes a stack lift, integrated scale and a jogger with air removal, easing the workload on the operators. Sun Inc. is part of a growing industry trend in which printers increasingly are looking to their postpress departments as growth areas. By upgrading from older equipment and automating the postpress process, printers are able to drive costs out of their business, improve overall quality and turn around jobs faster than ever. In Sun Inc.’s case, for example, the company has reduced dedicated labor in its bindery by 50 percent since installation of the POLAR 137. This has enabled the company to use its workforce in other areas of the shop and further grow the business. But the move to further automate its bindery with the POLAR cutting system was not made lightly and was met with some initial resistance. “Adding the POLAR cutting system was not something we were sold on right away,” said Sun Inc. Owner Andy Cook. “Initially my production manager advised against it, saying it was too expensive for the benefits it had to offer.” But Cook did some research and made inquiries to other print shops that had made similar upgrades. The feedback was positive and against his production manager’s advice, Cook decided to install the system. “The installation was completed at 10 a.m. on the day of delivery and by noon,” Cook said, “my production manager was telling me that it was one of the best purchases I’d ever made.” To be sure, the new cutting system has taken Sun Inc., to the next level. With demand in the area ever-growing, Sun and Cook has recently retrofitted his 45” POLAR Cutter with a Transomat in an effort to maximize its performance and mimic the 54” systems efficiency and consistent quality-of-cut on a smaller scale. Ironically, the shop has grown by specializing in not having a print specialty at all, as Owner Andy Cook likes to say. By handling print jobs of all types, from artist prints to company brochures, Sun Inc. has been able to thrive. Today, Sun Inc. employs 194 people in Ohio, Arkansas and Minnesota and is an all-Heidelberg shop – a far cry from the small, four-person storefront shop that first opened in Orangeburg 21 years ago.