ABOX Packaging Has Grown to Love Its Heidelberg Die Cutter

Operators at ABOX Packaging in Kaufman, Texas, are thrilled to be putting the company’s Heidelberg Dymatrix 106 CSB (integrated cutting, stripping and blanking) die cutter through its paces. 

When the new die cutter was installed in late 2009, company president Keith Thompson weighed in with positive comments about the outstanding user-friendliness of the machine that was responsible for an overall increase in productivity of around 25 percent. The Dymatrix die cutter runs from 500 to 2000 sheets faster per hour, depending on substrate thickness, than the plant’s existing competitive die cutters, both of which required offline blanking. With the Dymatrix 106, Thompson said at the time, “we can die cut, strip, and blank, and go direct to the gluer. There’s no more manual scrapping or offline blanking. The Dymatrix 106 CSB is incredibly efficient.” 

Gains like that are crucial for ABOX as it strives to keep its productivity in step with the year-to-year growth in sales volume it has achieved since Thompson acquired the company in 2003. Other desirable features include the Dymatrix’s DySet photo-eye registration, class-leading flat sheet path, automatic non-stop pallet feeding and delivery, minimal downtime, and flexibility in handling substrates up to 2,000 gsm paperboard and 4mm corrugated. 

Now ABOX operators—all of whom had worked on competitive die cutters for years before being introduced to the Dymatrix—are having their say. 

“I had run competitive die cutters all my life, so the Dymatrix was a big change for me,” said first shift operator David Harris. “At first, I was uncomfortable with the Dymatrix because of how different it was, but after a couple of months I got used to it. Many of the automated features make setting it up and running it much easier. Now that I understand the machine and appreciate how easy it is to use, I like it better than our other die cutters. We didn’t know what we were missing until the Dymatrix arrived.” 

Shorter runs, frequent job changes and exacting demands on product quality call for flexibility, ease of use, and the potential for high profitability, no matter how small the run. Heidelberg’s Dymatrix die cutting systems are designed to answer that challenge, offering impressively fast makeready times, optimum net outputs and outstanding quality. But don’t take our word for it. 

“Before the Dymatrix was installed, we did our blanking offline, which added time and labor to the process of moving the diecut forms to gluing and assembly,” reported second shift operator Mike Giles. “The integrated cutting, stripping and blanking features of the Dymatrix help us work more productively and efficiently.” Furthermore, Harris added, “Our existing die cutters lacked computerized control, which was a whole new thing for us. The user interface on the Dymatrix is incredibly easy to work with and the controls are easy to understand. Now that we’re used to it, we strongly prefer the Dymatrix over our other die cutters.” 

That may be because Heidelberg designed the Dymatrix die cutters with real people in mind, a fact not lost on the operators at ABOX. “We no longer have to bend over or stand on tiptoe, and the access windows are nice and large,” Giles said. “All the controls are easy to reach and arranged so that the operator has a clear view of what is happening.”