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Print & cut, meet Mutoh's alternative dual-device print and cut solution!! It's a concept extremely suitable for automated signs and sticker production. Window displays, labels, vinyl stickers, vehicle graphics, car stickers, point of purchase, packaging, funny bumper stickers, safety signs, billboards, … Mutoh made contour cutting easy !
Manufacturers often offer you a single-device solution. Mutoh resolutely does not !
Mutoh has re-thought this workflow, considering all possible steps, the typical machine requirements and the total ease of use.
Mutoh offers you a unique concept; a balanced method of working for full-colour sticker and signs production consisting of
- specially developed software
- a Mutoh Ultima (contour) cutter
- a (Mutoh or not) printer
- and last but not least a unique workflow controller, namely the CutServer.
Why Mutoh chooses for a dual-device solution?
- Unique features of Mutoh's dual-device Print & Cut Solution
- Full automated workflow
- Mutoh's contour cut workflow : step-by-step
- Why Mutoh's dual-device Print & Cut solution is better than the rest !
Why Mutoh chooses for a dual-device solution?
A printer and a paper cutter have a different economic life-cycle. Whereas the average economic life-cycle of a printer is 3 to 5 years, a cutter can be used up to 10 years. Combining both units in one integrated machine will drastically reduce the functionality of the cutter.
Moreover, when taking a closer look at the user-friendliness of a single-device solution, we noticed some practical inconveniences.
Firstly, after printing your stickers on self-adhesive media, you will often let them dry out and stabilize to avoid shrink behaviour. Maybe you will even laminate them. Only a couple of hours later, you can cut the stickers, meaning that in the meantime your single device solution can't be used for any other job. This also implies that constant oversight is necessary.
Secondly, the cutting part is an operation that has very little in common with the printing operation:
- You do not want the machine's transport wheels to run all over the printed stickers.
- The time to cut the stickers is usually less than needed to print them.
Therefore, Mutoh built a workflow without compromises and where one operation does not fractionize nor slow down the other (related) operation.
For optimum user-friendliness, Mutoh defined a workflow that will practically reduce operator errors to zero.
Unique features of Mutoh's dual-device Print & Cut Solution.
Mutoh's high-performance print and cut solution bundle does not eat up hours for printing & cutting. It's a dual-device solution! You can (contour) cut & print on two units simultaneously, full-time!
Printing and contour cutting with Mutoh equipment is e.g. possible when combining Mutoh's Ultima SC-850D and the Rockhopper 38 eco-solvent ultra printer. With this productivity combo, you will not only be able to print and cut SIMULTANEOUSLY, but you will moreover have a cheaper and more functional solution compared to hybrid print & cut solutions !
By means of the specially developed Print & Cut workflow software (EasySIGN, Onyx or SAi) you can create, RIP, print, cut, contour-cut and print and cut from one software package.
Full automated workflow:
- Automatic bar code generation for each individual sign
- Automatic bar code registration system : Mutoh's Epos ® electronic positioning technology
- Automatic transmission of contour-cut data to the Mutoh workflow controller (CutServer)
- Automatic job retrieval via the Mutoh CutServer
Mutoh's contour cut workflow : step-by-step
Here is how it works:
- Sticker design comes in from a foreign (CorelDRAW®, Illustrator®, …) design package or is created in Mutoh's workflow software.
- The printing and cutting data are created simultaneously and every single job gets its own, unique BAR CODE.
After printing, the operator can choose to build-in a drying time, to laminate or to immediately cut the stickers.
- All the contour-cut data of the stickers are collected in a hot folder that is monitored by the cut server. The cut server continuously is in "listening mode" until the Ultima cutting plotter collects the job.
- The printed stickers (roll or sheet) (front or backside first) are loaded into the Ultima and the signal is given to start the job.
- The Ultima will read the BAR CODE and recall the contour-cut data from the CUT SERVER which will pick the corresponding job from the hot folder and send it to the Ultima cutting plotter.
- The Ultima uses the preprinted reference box to exactly position, scale and skew the vector data and accurately contour-cuts the stickers.
Why Mutoh's dual-device Print & Cut solution is better than the rest !
- Two devices for a lower price than an integrated print & cut device
- Printing and cutting at the same time
- No shrinking of stickers - time to let the output dry
- Reliable contour cutting with a unique job recognition feature
- Ready for any contour cutting software
- The multi-purpose Ultima cutting plotter (SC-850D or SC-1400D) can be bundled with any Mutoh (or not) large-format printer.
- No constant oversight required.
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