West Caldwell, NJ – Visiting an automobile dealer after Labor Day is usually a good time to trade for a newer vehicle, what with next year’s models arriving and taking up space. Ridgewood Press owner Bob Modelski used the same philosophy to swap paper cutters. In September, he completed a trade with Colter & Peterson by giving up an old 32-inch Polar for a new 27-inch PRISM® PC with Microcut®. By all definitions, he’s very happy with the deal.

“It is a beautiful cutter, like having a new Porsche. It’s been spot-on and has done everything we expected of it and more,” remarked Modelski, whose Ridgewood, NJ commercial printing and copy center business employs 10 people. “With the PRISM’s reliability, our stress level is almost nothing. It is the most important piece of binding equipment we own - every department uses it.”

Reliable also aptly describes Ridgewood Press. A local landmark for over 35 years, the shop is a go-to source for all types of business printing, promotional products and printed apparel. Serving a wide range of clientele, they also produce fast turnaround black and white and color copies and direct mail color printing.

A 2-color Ryobi 3302 plus a trio of A.B. Dick 9800 series presses, including a pair of 2-color units and one for envelopes, handles all of the printing. Since plans call for Modelski to expand his business in the first half of 2018, he may be back in the equipment market soon.

“I wish we had a second PRISM cutter right now, given the amount of work it is doing. We’re busy all the time throughout the year,” said Modelski, whose operation runs five days a week.

Modelski has known and worked with Colter & Peterson for years, a huge factor in his decision to trade-up. But the primary consideration for choosing the user-friendly and small footprint PRISM PC was based on the type of customer work Ridgewood Press is known for.

“We bought it to just cut paper, specifically 26-inch by 40-inch parent sheets down to 11-inches by 17-inches or 12-inches by 18-inches. The Polar was an older, rebuilt machine we had for many years and had reached a point that it needed to be replaced,” recalled Modelski. 

“The PRISM PC is a bit smaller but that’s okay for the sheet sizes we trim. The Microcut program is making a difference from a productivity perspective with the new efficiencies, faster set-up and instant job recall. And the attached airbed is really nice; it’s much easier and quicker for the operator to turn and trim a load of paper.”

Safety features on the new PRISM PC and service capability were other considerations Modelski said were high on his list.

“The old cutter didn’t have many safety features, just two push buttons. The PRISM PC has electric eyes that will shut down the machine if the operator is too close,” informed Modelski. “That’s important because this machine is very quiet. You never hear it. It also came with a great warranty. We’ve had their service guys in once or twice for small issues that were fixed right away.

“Service was another huge factor for us. We’ve known the repair guys for years. Over the years if we made a call, we always got a fast response. It helps that Colter & Peterson’s office is only 30 minutes from us. When we talked about buying the PRISM PC, we were invited to their place for a test drive. They demonstrated the machine and we had the opportunity to ask questions. Everything worked out nice.”