With future investment in mind, Koenig & Bauer invited trade professionals to its Radebeul facility in Germany in the second half of March to learn more about the benefits of rotary die-cutting on the Rapida RDC 106 for packaging, label and commercial production. During the course of each one-day workshop, up to 20 participants were able to test the claims made about the innovative rotary die-cutter for themselves and gained a first-hand impression of its performance capabilities.
The Rapida RDC 106 handles printed sheets both efficiently and precisely, whether it’s folding cartons, labels or business stationery. With production speeds of up to 15,000 sheets/hour, makeready savings of 40% and more, and up to 65% higher efficiency, the Rapida RDC 106 is a genuine game-changer compared to traditional flat-bed die-cutters. Different equipment variants for the individual units enable several processes to be combined in a single pass through the machine – die-cutting/kiss-cutting, hole punching, creasing/embossing and stripping. The Rapida RDC 106 is a single machine handling five technologies for three market segments.
During the workshops, the visitors witnessed high-speed die-cutting production and fast job changeovers. The demonstrations were tailored to the interests of each group and ranged from pencil boxes, cartons and pharmaceutical packaging to banderoles, self-adhesive stickers and a diversity of labels. The two demo machines processed not only 60 µm inmould label films, but also 260 gsm board.
Alongside the practical presentations, the workshops offered ample opportunity to explore the technical details of the Rapida RDC 106. Technicians and operators willingly opened guards and covers to allow the visitors a close-up view of the die-cutting units, where they could familiarise themselves with the high-precision adjustments such as setting of the die-cutting pressure in 1 µm steps, separately for each side and follow the process of fast forme changing.
With its high production speeds, the Rapida RDC 106 is ideal for long runs, but thanks to the fast job changeovers equally economical on short runs. The times when two die-cutters were necessary to keep pace with the print output from a sheetfed offset press are a thing of the past with the Rapida RDC 106.
Early adopters and further prospective users of the rotary die-cutter Rapida RDC 106 are already to be found in Germany, Denmark and France, and even as far afield as Brazil and Japan.
