Finishing & Screen Printing

Minnesota University Enhances Safety with New POLAR Cutter from Heidelberg

Wednesday 09. July 2008 - With a steady stream of student assistants working Winona State University’s in-plant print shop, safety is certainly a top priority.

The university realized that a 30-year-old cutter that lacked modern safety features was an accident waiting to happen. The shop updated its prepress and press operations last summer with a Quicksetter 300E imagesetter and 2-color Printmaster QM 46 press, and determined that upgraded postpress with a POLAR 78X cutter was the next logical step. “We hire a lot of part-time student help, and there were a lot of safety issues,” Print Shop Supervisor Greg Johnson said. “The old cutter, which was not a POLAR cutter, did not have all the safety features that the POLAR has.” The shop runs brochures, pamphlets, posters and promotional items for the university, and even prints lab manuals, letterhead and envelopes. Johnson, who has been at the shop for 30 years, is part of a combined publications office staff of five full-time employees and eight part-time student workers. He uses Heidelberg Saphira perfect dot blankets on the press, plus Heidelberg Saphira chemistry and plates. The new POLAR cutter is working out well for Winona’s print shop. “So far, I love it,” Johnson said. “It’s exactly what we needed.”