Recently the Tübingen-based Handelsdruckerei Müller + Bass started using a POLAR high-speed cutter N92 PRO. This is the 8,888th high-speed cutter installed in the central sales area of Heidelberg Germany.

The company has a long-standing tradition and is located in a back yard near the city center. Covering a production area of merely 450 square meters, the site of the Tübinger Handelsdruckerei Müller + Bass is not exactly spacious. The full-service printing house has placed its trust completely in Heidelberg technology. The printing section is equipped with two offset machines (SM 52 and PM 74) and a Linoprint digital printing press. Finishing is carried out by a POLAR high-speed cutter N 92 PRO with automatic jogger. 

Due to the excellent experience made with the previously used POLAR cutting machines, Müller + Bass decided to purchase the pioneering N PRO model.  The original intention was to replace the existing 92 XT with an automatic jogger, but the top-of-the-range PRO model not only features a large, clearly-arranged touch screen, but also a hold-down clamp in front of the knife which offers interesting ways to facilitate work on the guillotine-type cutter. 

For instance, the hold-down clamp in front of the knife prevents cut labels from sliding out of place or jumping out, especially when small formats are processed. The movable rear-table guard allows quick access to the knife from the behind for removing adhesive residues etc. A reduction in make-ready time was achieved by linking the high-speed cutter to prepress with Compucut®. The jdf files containing the digital sheet data are transferred directly to Compucut® which generates the cutting programs and sends them directly to the N 92 PRO machine. Time-consuming programming on the high-speed cutter is no longer necessary. 

Employing the automatic jogger not only improved the cutting quality, but also effectively reduced the physical stress on the operators. Material preparation is now much easier and more ergonomical than before, which in turn boosted productivity.