Thimm Group is continuing the expansion of its plants and is commissioning a new rotary die-cutter at its Bavarian site in Wolnzach. The high-performance CorruCUT from Koenig & Bauer delivers a significant increase in production capacity of high-quality packaging. Thimm has invested around €5.5m in the new line and machine peripherals.
With a maximum production output of 12,000 sheets per hr, the line sets new standards for efficient and at the same time high-quality packaging production.
Kornelius Thimm, CEO, THIMM Group, explains, “This modern high-performance system forms part of the planned and ongoing expansion of our Wolnzach site. Our objective is to achieve an additional production capacity of at least 30m sqm per year in three-shift operation. This will enable us to offer our customers even more high-quality die-cutting capacity with short delivery times.”
Kornelius Thimm, CEO, THIMM Group.
One of the factors behind the high production speed is the highly-automated and fast job changes on the system. This means that Thimm is equipped to produce the small order sizes required by customers. This has been achieved by a second die cylinder on the machine, which can be pre-fitted during ongoing production, reducing machine downtime. Despite the high speeds, the machine ensures high quality and is therefore suitable for the production of both simple and delicate packaging.
Thimm adds, “The system has numerous quality assurance functions that ensure an optimum printing and punching result, even for more complex packaging designs. This is important so we can ensure our customers have a smooth packaging process for their products. A non-crush feeder and an innovative vacuum sheet transport guaranteemaximum precision when feeding and transporting sheets into the machine without crushing. This means we can use significantly lighter-weight paper without any loss of stability. This saves resources and also contributes both to our own sustainability and to those of our customers.”
Machine in detail
Automated quality monitoring prevents errors in the production process and also prevents waste. However, incorrectly die-cut sheets are automatically ejected.
With a working width of 2.8m, the rotary die-cutter perfectly complements the existing corrugator by enabling large-format and highly-used sheets to be processed. The equipment within the new rotary die-cutter makes it ideal for the further digital processing of pre-printed sheets. This is a great benefit, especially for more complex print images. For accurate die-cutting results with preprint, an innovative print-to-cut system aligns the digitally pre-printed sheet in front of the die-cutter with register accuracy, resulting in high production stability with little waste.
“Using digital printing, we can produce packaging with a wide range of print images and formats without minimum order quantities,” says Thimm. “Packaging can also be personalised and customised at short notice. For example, each print image can be provided with an individual, consecutive code. This supplies the converting machines with relevant data for order processing and automates production processes. It can also provide end-customers with interesting information about the product which can be retrieved by scanning the code. High-performance, state-of-the-art systems like CorruCUT from Koenig & Bauer are an important part of our digitalisation vision of the Internet of Packs.”
In addition, two integrated flexo printing units and one sheet cleaning unit ensure high-quality, single-colour or two-colour post-print printing results. The new rotary die-cutter has been complemented by modern peripherals including a pre-feeder, pile turner, palletising robot and a cross-machine dust removal system.
