Minuteman Press Cut Above the Rest

Minuteman Press have started the New Year in great shape with the addition of a Valiani flat-bed cutting table purchased from Morgana Systems.

The Italian manufactured Valiani cutting table has a working area of 1,230mm x 2,520mm.

The key feature of the Optima V cutting tables are the patented tool change mechanism allowing tools to be changed in less than 30 seconds, meaning that the user can move from cutting to creasing, perforating, embossing, plotting, or writing and drawing very swiftly, a new fold-away clamping mechanism, and the ability to deal with multiple sheets. A range of software and hardware accessories allows each cutting machine to be customised for different production requirements.

The machines minimise waste and are suitable for a wide variety of applications, including frame mount-board cutting, boxes and displays, contour cutting, embossing, stickers, as well making prototypes, marketing products and mock-ups.

Speaking about the investment decision, Dave Dixon, Sales & Marketing Director at Minuteman Press Bath, said: "We needed something that was going to provide us with a quality short-run in-house cutting facility. Sending such work out just adds time and cost to a job, in addition to the fact that you lose control over production. We visited Drupa last year to see products that could fit the bill, and after visiting the Valiani factory in Italy, the Valiani Optima V 250 ticked all of the boxes for us.

"Short-run packaging, shaped business cards, folders and flyers, plus signage work were the initial areas of work that we had in mind, but we are already discovering a host of other possibilities. Almost immediately we picked up a job requiring cut tabs within a report and cut lettering from rigid PVC - the Valiani was able to handle that very quickly and very easily. In the packaging market we are talking to a number of companies about test cartons that they want to produce. The Valiani gives us a very cost effective solution to producing such ultra-short "proofing" runs.

"The potential of such a product is limited only by the imagination - and our in-house design team have very vivid imaginations!"

Blades for cutting and heads for creasing and perforating can be used, and materials from thin card through to rigid PVC can be handled by the unit. The larger sized cutting table at Minuteman Press is ideal for working with larger sized sheets, or ganging up to 15 x SRA3 sized sheets to cut in one pass.

Minuteman Press Bath, a Xerox Premier Partner, prints with a variety of Xerox digital presses, including the Xerox 1000i, as well as HP Latex and HP Inkjet wide format machines. Longer run two-colour work can be produced on an AB Dick litho press.

Commenting on the purchase, Ray Hillhouse, Vice President Offline Business at Morgana Systems said: "We are delighted that Minuteman Press Bath has become the first UK business to see the potential offered by the largest format Optima 250 cutting table. These machines offer a whole host of possibilities for printers and their customers. Graphic designers get very excited about the possibilities that are on offer, and the young team at Minuteman Press are already coming up with new and interesting applications."