Finishing & Screen Printing

Thimm invests in a modern CorruCUT rotary die-cutter for more production capacity

Monday 12. June 2023 - With a working width of 2.8 m, the rotary die-cutter complements the existing corrugator by enabling large-format and highly-used sheets to be processed. The equipment within the new rotary die-cutter makes it ideal for the further digital processing of pre-printed sheets.

Thimm Group is continuing the expansion of its plants and is commissioning a new rotary die-cutter at its Bavarian site in Wolnzach. The high-performance CorruCUT from Koenig & Bauer delivers a significant increase in production capacity of high-quality packaging. Thimm has invested around 5.5 million euros in the new plant and in additional machine peripherals.
The CorruCUT is particularly impressive due to its high processing speed: with a maximum production output of 12,000 sheets per hour, the line sets new standards for efficient and at the same time high-quality packaging production. As Kornelius THIMM, CEO of THIMM Group, explains “This modern high-performance system forms part of the planned and ongoing expansion of our Wolnzach site. Our objective is to achieve an additional production capacity of at least 30 million square metres per year in 3-shift operation. This will enable us to offer our customers even more high-quality die-cutting capacity with short delivery times.”
One of the pivotal factors behind the high production speed is the highly-automated and fast job changes on the system. This means that Thimm is perfectly equipped to produce the small order sizes required by customers. This has been achieved by a second punching cylinder on the system, which can be prefitted during ongoing production, significantly reducing machine downtime. Despite the high speeds the machine ensures high quality and is therefore suitable for the production of both simple and delicate packaging. Kornelius Thimm highlights: “The system has numerous quality assurance functions that ensure an optimum printing and punching result, even for more complex packaging designs. This is extremely important so we can ensure our customers have a smooth packaging process for their products. A non-crush feeder and an innovative vacuum sheet transport guarantee maximum precision when feeding and transporting sheets into the machine without crushing. This means we can use significantly lighter-weight paper without any loss of stability. This saves resources and also contributes both to our own sustainability and to those of our customers.” Automated quality monitoring prevents errors in the production process and also prevents waste. However, incorrectly punched sheets are automatically ejected.
With a working width of 2.8 metres, the rotary die-cutter perfectly complements the existing corrugator by enabling large-format and highly-used sheets to be processed. The equipment within the new rotary die-cutter makes it ideal for the further digital processing of pre-printed sheets. This is a great benefit, especially for more complex print images. For accurate punching results with preprint, an innovative print-to-cut system aligns the digitally pre-printed sheet in front of the die-cutter with register accuracy, resulting in high production stability with little waste. “Using digital printing we can produce packaging with a wide range of print images and formats without minimum order quantities. Packaging can also be personalised and customised at short notice. For example, each print image can be provided with an individual, consecutive code. This supplies the processing machines with relevant data for order processing and automates production processes. It can also provide end-customers with interesting information about the product which can be retrieved by scanning the code. High-performance, state-of-the-art systems like CorruCUT from Koenig & Bauer are an important part of our digitalisation vision of the Internet of Packs,” says Thimm.
In addition, two integrated flexo printing units and one sheet cleaning unit ensure high-quality, single-colour or two-colour post-print printing results. The new rotary die-cutter at the site has been complemented by modern machine peripherals including a prefeeder, pile turner, palletising robot and a cross-machine dust removal system.