Koenig & Bauer Offers Insights Into Rotary Die Cutting

Under the motto “Ready for the next step!”, Koenig & Bauer invited trade professionals to its Radebeul facility in the second half of March. The event was to explain more about the benefits of rotary die-cutting on the Rapida RDC 106 in 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 brings printed sheets into final shape both efficiently and precisely, whether labels, business stationery or folding cartons. With production speeds 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.

At the same time, different equipment variants for the individual units enable several processes to be combined on a single pass through the machine: Die-cutting/kiss-cutting, hole punching, and extraction, creasing/embossing, stripping – everything is possible. 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 and pharmaceutical packaging to banderoles, self-adhesive stickers and a diversity of labels. The two demo machines processed not only 60 µm in-mold 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 (e.g. setting of the die-cutting pressure in 1 µm steps, separately for each side) and follow the fast forme changing with their own eyes.

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 in which 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.