AG/CAD Provides Prestigious Printer With Cutting Table

With a proud history spanning over 100 years at the prestige end of the packaging industry, Clarke Rubicon is truly a unique manufacturer of paper over board bespoke presentation packaging and products. However, like any manufacturer steeped in tradition, transferring highly skilled processes into the modern manufacturing era requires investment.

At Clarke Rubicon, the company prides itself on its investment levels in new technology whilst also maintaining traditional and specialised skill-sets that enable the company to deliver a truly prestigious and unique range of packaging products. As part of the company's acquisition trail to continually introduce new technology, Coalville based Clarke Rubicon has recently invested in a DYSS X5 1310T digital cutting table from AG/CAD.

Acquiring the AG/CAD machine at the Packaging Innovation Exhibition earlier this year, Clarke Rubicon's Production Director Mr Phil Kendall highlights why the company opted for the DYSS machine: "We currently have two ageing plotting tables, so the exercise of going to the exhibition was to investigate the new technology and the benefits provided by the main suppliers of die-less cutting tables. Instantly we were impressed by the robust build quality of the DYSS. We wanted a machine that would be comfortable in an industrial manufacturing facility rather than located in an office type environment. Whilst we looked at other vendors, the quality and capability of the DYSS stood out. Furthermore, we have worked with AG/CAD in the past and their exceptional service and support was a key factor in our decision making."

The original plotting machines at Clarke Rubicon were not able to cut through board more than 0.7mm thick and this resulted in secondary hand finishing. Now, these plotters are dedicated to cutting paper whilst the robust DYSS X5 is primarily used for cutting heavy rigid board to eliminate time and labor-intensive hand finishing. In addition, the older plotting tables are single tool machines whereas the DYSS X5 has a pen tool plus two auto-depth controlled tool slots that enable Clarke Rubicon to cut, crease, score and kiss cut jobs in a single operation.
Whilst enabling the ISO: 14001 registered manufacturer to efficiently cut board and improve quality levels and simultaneously reducing labour-intensive secondary operations; these factors were not the key reasons behind purchasing the DYSS. As Mr Kendall continues: "With the complexity of our work, we do a lot of customer samples, prototypes and design concepts.

Our niche is the constructional design of packaging and how the packaging works, so the ability to supply high quality samples is a necessity. The DYSS was purchased primarily for these concept projects and to manufacture pre-production approvals as well as short production runs and the results have been very impressive."
To undertake these tasks previously, Clarke Rubicon was either using presses with cutting dies that were made externally with a lead time of several days or the work was cut on its existing plotters with extensive hand finishing with a knife. The arrival of the DYSS X5 has eliminated the hand finishing process; and for concept and prototype jobs it has cut the lead time by over two days whilst also taking out the cost of externally supplied cutting dies.

In addition, the sample quality has improved for the 80 employee business with the fittings and associated components for its products now all being cut by the DYSS. The result is improved quality and consistency with the company now providing its customer base with more precise fittings within its conceptual samples.

"As a manufacturer of prestigious product lines for customers in the publishing, cosmetics, DVD and music sectors to name a few; our customer base is very high-end and the products we manufacture must be aesthetically pleasing with an equally impressive construction quality. The DYSS enables us to achieve these quality levels with our samples and this is enabling us to win additional business," continues Mr Kendall.

With the largest sheet of board cut at Clarke Rubicon being 800 by 1100mm, the company opted for the X5 1310T, as its 1000 by 1300mm cutting bed is ideal for the company's needs. However, the company did specify a heavy duty vacuum motor to guarantee that its 2-3mm thick rigid boards can be clamped firmly with no movement when conducting high speed cutting. Furthermore, Mr Kendall also specified AG/CAD's 'touch and go' tool calibration system that enables the DYSS to automatically check and set its tool heights. This innovation has enabled Clarke Rubicon to maintain consistent cutting and scoring depths and cut quality on each and every board whilst simplifying the setting up process.

Concluding on the acquisition of the DYSS, Mr Kendall says: "We have been delighted with the DYSS cutting table. By significantly reducing the need for hand cutting we have not only increased our throughput, but also reduced potential health and safety issues like RSI or injury from working with knives. It has enabled us to minimise lead times on samples and prototypes whilst reducing the external cost of subcontractors. Furthermore it has improved the quality and consistency of our design concepts, which critically is enabling us to win more business.”