The Egham, Surrey-based firm installed its first digital flatbed cutter, which cost just shy of £100,000, at the beginning of February, as an addition to its current fleet of finishing equipment.
It was initially brought in to assist with an influx of project work for large financial institutions, delivering architectural graphics, which are printed using Signbox’s two HP Latex 360 machines and then cut using the Zünd.
Signbox managing director Mark Bartlett said: “We were hand-finishing hundreds of metres of vinyl every day and the graphics team were just getting frazzled. The graphics manager approached me and said, ‘What would be an absolute gift to me would be to have a [flatbed] digital cutter’ so we investigated and made the necessary investment.
“It’s only when you get the output or capacity you need to invest in a digital cutter that you actually ask yourself why you didn’t do this ages ago, it’s been an eye-opener for us in many respects as it has just alleviated so many of the capacity issues we had.”
The 1.8x1.2m cutting table is driven by Zünd’s Cut Centre software suite and can be extended with the addition of routing and creasing tools. It has tandem operation, which allows loading and unloading at the same time, and fully-automated sheet handling.
Bartlett extolled the virtues of the cutter and said he was pleased with its ability to cut through vinyl that has been laid on the back of acrylic yet still produce a clean finish.
“We produce lots of different types of media here, from soft media, wall coverings and vinyl right the way through to direct-to-surface acrylics and we can print large sheets on our Durst that can then be put straight on to the Zünd,” he added.
With the influx of new work, Signbox is now considering bringing in another Zünd cutter, this time a G3, and Bartlett will be visiting Fespa 2017 in Hamburg to examine the latest digital print technologies.
£4.5m-turnover Signbox also runs a 2015-installed Durst Rho P10 160, along with its Latex machines and two Summa cutters. It has 40 staff and is looking to hire a new project manager.
Last year, it carried out a 12-month install of signs both internally and externally on nine fire stations around London.
