The company paid around £200,000 for the machine after a positive experience with another Zünd G3, which it has operated for the past four years.
The new machine's 3.2m bed size will enable the firm to cut prints in wider widths more easily. 3 Sixty installed the new Zünd in late November with a 1kW router spindle to enable routing on hard substrates such as acrylic and aluminium.
“Only around 5% of our work is printed on paper and board,” said managing director Richard Inkin. “We often do jobs on metals, acrylics, magnetics and plastics, so we need cutters that are up to a variety of jobs. We don’t want to be pigeonholed.
“The new Zünd fits in seamlessly with the rest of our technology portfolio, and our positive relationship with the company is why we chose this machine over alternatives. We have been serviced very well by Zünd over the years.
“Until we installed this Zünd, the largest cutter we had could only take up to 1.6m. With the 3.2m capacity, it has opened up a lot of new avenues to us and it is much easier to cut those bigger jobs properly.”
The G3 digital cutting system has been designed by Zünd so it can be configured in various ways to suit the needs of the user. Handling systems, modules and tools can all be upgraded and swapped depending on a company’s needs.
3 Sixty specialises in window displays, internal and external signage, point-of-sale graphics and national installation rollouts. Based in Cardiff, it also manages and coordinates projects through the creative, print and installation processes as per its “audit, print, install” mantra.
With a team of 26 staff, the firm turns over “just shy of £3m”, according to Inkin. Its portfolio includes three EFI Vutek superwide-format printers and a small-format Canon machine. Inkin said there are plans in place to purchase a new superwide machine in 2018.
