Print Manufacturer Buys CNC Cutting Table
When the UYR Group started as a home based design agency over 15 years ago, the directors couldn't have envisaged the success that would follow. Within a few years, the agency evolved to print brokering and pushed onwards to its current niche as a full design, print and production service.
Increasingly successful, UYR was designing, printing and creasing card up to 400GSM for night club chains, colleges, police forces and local government agencies, which led to the company moving to a 38,000sq/ft facility little over two years ago. The additional space enabled the company to acquire its first AGFA Anapurna M4F large format printing machine for printing direct to media. The ability to print Point-Of-Sale (POS) designs on a wide variety of media soon developed new markets for the Pontefract company. Despite having the ability to print on most materials, UYR could only hand cut simple forms and shapes with complex shapes being subcontracted to external suppliers. This all changed when UYR acquired a KASEMAKE KM727A cutting table from AG/CAD in November 2012.
Recalling the decision to purchase the KASEMAKE KM727A, UYR Studio Director, Mr Dan Prescott comments: "We were cutting our A3 work internally with platens but all our large board printing was being cut externally, so we investigated the available CNC cutting tables. Simultaneously, we realised a need for an additional large format media printer as our AGFA quickly got to a point that it was running at full capacity. It all came to a head when we won a large contract from Ideal Standard for POS designs that had to be manufactured from Corex. We calculated the external cost of cutting 500 POS designs that incorporated three individual boards per design would be in excess of £30,000."
The 44 employee business concluded that AG/CAD offered the ideal solution with its KASEMAKE KM727A , so the company had the cutting table and its second AGFA Anapurna, a M2540FB, delivered simultaneously. With a major contract looming, UYR wanted the machine delivered urgently - and AG/CAD duly obliged.
As AG/CAD's Sales Director, Mr Andrew Boulton comments: "The UYR team investigated the potential of the KASEMAKE KM727A. We did trials on a Wednesday, a decision to purchase was made on Friday, an order was placed on the Monday and by Thursday the machine was on-site and in full production. Enquiry through to full production took from the 8th to the 15th November, probably our fastest install in 28 years!!"
The rapid installation enabled UYR to offset the £30,000 cost of subcontracting out the cutting for the major project against the purchase of the new cutting table. However, the purchase of the machine was a strategic decision that went beyond a single contract, as UYR's Mr Prescott continues: "Our design and print work for the retail sector is growing, so purchasing an entry level CNC cutting machine in situ with a large project provided us with the perfect opportunity to instantly put the machine to work in a production environment. Manufacturing the 1500 parts in-house delivered a cost saving of £5000, which was instantly offset against the machine cost."
The flexibility of the KASEMAKE machine ensures that all of UYR's large format printing is now cut on the CNC machine. This has improved accuracy, quality and consistency of production. "The CNC cutting table offers us the flexibility to manufacture anything from prototypes through to larger production runs like the Ideal Standard project. We have significantly reduced the work that is externally processed and this ensures we have greater control over our quality, processes and above all we are not reliant upon outside companies, so our lead-times have also improved."
Since its installation, the gantry type cutting table is continuously cutting Corex from 3 to 6mm thick, Perspex up to 5mm and numerous types of foam centred and foam rigid boards. The ability of the cutting table to accurately route through Corex on its rigid machine bed has improved edge finishes and eradicated any secondary hand finishing that was previously required. Additionally, by routing half way through the Corex boards with specialised cutting tools, the creasing and folding of Corex 3D POS projects is no longer beyond the capabilities of the prestigious company. Folding 3D POS assemblies is now a simplistic process for UYR.
"The flexibility of the machine and the associated KASEMAKE V10 CAD software has brought in a wealth of new work," continues Mr Prescott. Some of this influx of new work includes designs for night clubs, bowling alleys, bollard covers, 3D POS projects and hanging mobiles. "Some of the hanging mobiles include star and seasonal snowflake shapes that we couldn't have made without the KASEMAKE machine and the CAD software. This has given our sales team the potential to sell more services and offer capabilities previously beyond our remit."
UYR Makes a Kase for CAD Software
Highlighting the benefits of the KASEMAKE CAD Software, Mr Prescott believes the software has opened up a realm of opportunity. "As a design studio we create our files in Adobe Illustrator. We send these files to the KASEMAKE machine that automatically converts these files into the CAD system for production. Additionally, KASEMAKE allocates the correct tool for the material and application."
"The KASEMAKE CAD Software brings a whole new dimension to our business. The CAD Package has an innovative Parametric feature that automatically provides the forms for 'off-the-shelf' boxes, POS stands and other templates that we can adapt. This enables us to select the required design, insert the dimensions to suit the customer requirements and the software calculates the corresponding dimensions. The software eliminates the need for manual construction of templates with Illustrator, providing considerable time savings."
As an example of the time savings achieved from the KASEMAKE CAD Software, a box design that previously took up to four hours to design with Illustrator is now compiled in 10 minutes. In the two months since the machine installation, UYR is already saving up to two days of staff time each week, a saving that will increase as the company's workload on the KASEMAKE machine evolves.
KASEMAKE CAD Improves Sales Potential
As a company that employs a sales team regularly travelling the country to present design prototypes to potential customers, the KASEMAKE Software has slashed costs significantly and cut prototype turnaround times by 75%. The 3D rendering feature of the CAD Software enables the design team to apply a graphic design to a 3D model. This model can be manipulated on-screen to demonstrate how the graphics are wrapped around the box or POS design. The software ingeniously demonstrates the finalised prototype by enabling the customer to rotate the design in all axes and it also plays a video file that shows the design being folded. By showing the potential customer a full visual of their prototype via an email, the travelling conducted by the sales force to customers is drastically reduced.
"Typically a prototype will take up to 10 days from concept through to final component demonstrations. With the Parametric feature slashing design times and the 3D modelling feature enabling us to electronically send customers final designs, the savings are significant. Firstly, by giving the customer a full visual of a couple of design concepts, we don't have to produce a prototype of every design - cutting our prototype production and associated costs. When we receive approval of a concept, our sales team can visit the customer with a completed prototype. This enables our sales staff to make one cost effective visit rather than repetitive, costly and time consuming trips to national customers. We can now have an on-line concept design available for a customer to view within 1 day as opposed to 10, or it can be physically delivered within 3 days thanks to the AG/CAD package."
Cutting Costs & Streamlining Production
The lead-time reduction and staff time savings in the design studio at UYR credit to the KASEMAKE CAD system are already astounding. Further cost reductions and productivity improvements have also been noted on the shop floor. As Mr Prescott continues: "The production process has now been streamlined. As opposed to taking jobs from the printers and palletising and packing for delivery to an external supplier for cutting, we now have a production line. Our jobs are taken straight from the AGFA printers, put onto the KASEMAKE machine for cutting and are then ready for delivery to the customer. This cuts overall lead times, improves workflow and allows us to efficiently allocate our staff to production as opposed to packaging and delivering to subcontractors."
As the CNC cutting table is die-less, cost reductions have been made with regard to die production and the use of platens. Complex card forms at UYR were previously created with platens that were professionally manufactured by an external company. Again, this required constant trips to the supplier to oversee the form geometry and dimensions as well as collecting the boards. Now, UYR only uses boards for high quantity runs up to A3 size, all larger work is cut on the KASEMAKE machine. This has significantly cut the cost of board production as well as the time and effort expended upon creating the boards. Furthermore, accuracy has been improved over the platen process.
In conclusion, Mr Prescott comments: "With the season for Easter Egg boxes approaching, we will be making boxes that are small complex shapes that have to be perfectly aligned. Using platens we would rely on the hand to eye expertise of the operator and accuracy would be to within 10 to 20 thousandth's of an inch. With the KASEMAKE we can cut the boxes down to one or two thousandth's and this makes a massive difference when assembling boxes. Furthermore, the cutter will work out more efficient for short production runs."
"We have been delighted with the KASEMAKE machine, it has provided significant cost savings whilst delivering efficiency, accuracy and the potential for new markets that will support our future growth."
