HardingPoorman Group recently installed a POLAR P.A.C.E. 137XT fully automated cutting system with robotic loading and stacking and Compucut automatic presetting in its recently expanded Indianapolis, IN facility. 
 
“The new system has taken over the lion’s share of our commercial print cutting work, which includes anything and everything from finish trim to posters, signatures, and diecut sheets,” said Steve Anzalone, COO. “It’s also our first piece of postpress equipment with presetting connectivity. We can take the cutting file directly from our prepress layout, resulting in significantly reduced makeready time.”
 
The P.A.C.E. (POLAR Automation for Cutting Efficiency) system replaces two existing standalone POLAR machines. It now operates alongside the company’s remaining POLAR 115 EMC cutter, which the company reserves for smaller jobs. Even minus two cutters, Anzalone said, “We’re much more productive and have no problems keeping up with the workload.” 
 
The time-saving automated setup, preparation of the cutting material via stacklift and jogger, and unloading via Transomat mean that HPG’s cutter operators are spared the wear and tear of repetitive bending and lifting. POLAR Autotrim automatic waste removal further improves performance by removing cutting waste during the cutting process, eliminating the arduous manual picking of waste strips.
 
HardingPoorman based its choice of the POLAR 137XT cutting system on its previous experience with the POLAR brand. Said Anzalone, “We had exceptional uptime and reliability with our older machines and every reason to expect more of the same this time around. In fact, we rarely needed service because the machines were virtually never down.”
 
“Frankly,” he added, “we weren’t originally looking to acquire this level of automation, but we’re really glad we went ahead with it. The ROI is in line with expectations and the benefits have been outstanding.”