Cutter Brings Safety, Productivity Benefits to Marist College

Print Production Specialist Deirdre Marsh operates the MBM Triumph 5560 cutter at Marist College’s Digital Publications Center.

One of the major reasons Marist College’s Digital Publications Center replaced its older cutter with an MBM Triumph 5560 cutter in 2016 was to create a safer working environment for the in-plant’s four employees. The cutter’s IR light beam safety curtain ensures that operators’ hands are not in the cutting area during operation, for example.

But the benefits of the new machine went far beyond that, says Alexander Podmaniczky, assistant director of the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., college’s Enterprise Solutions Group.

“The MBM Triumph 5560 cutter has a slightly wider cut length than our previous cutter, the digitally set back gate is quick and convenient and the ability to have both standard and custom presets are all feature improvements,” he explains.

In addition, the 21⅝˝ cutter’s digital interface and presets are much faster on jobs that require a series of cut changes. The in-plant’s previous cutter, Podmaniczky adds, did not have a laser projected cut line on the stock, which he says, is a helpful addition for confirming the cut location.

Familiarity with MBM equipment was another primary reason for adding this model.

“One reason we went with the Triumph was because we have several MBM machines, and we like our service support team,” Podmaniczky says. “The service has always been reasonably priced and effective. Since we have had the cutter we have had no problems with it.”

The in-plant at the private liberal arts college produces the low-volume marketing and collateral materials for the college, such as admission reception invitations, inquiry cards and 16-page glossy full-bleed booklets. Other projects include personalized name badge inserts, envelopes and posters.

The MBM Triumph 5560 cutter was a welcome addition to the in-plant and was added after the in-plant moved from a 900-sq.-ft. room on the second floor of an academic building, which it had occupied since 1978, into a larger 2,200-sq.-ft. facility. The extra space has allowed for much freer movement of in-progress work around the shop, making the production process faster, safer and more efficient.

The in-plant tries to run all of its work multiple-up on 12x18˝ sheets, which allows the shop to run mostly everything full bleed.

“Our cutter is always in use cutting printed sheet to finished-sized documents,” Podmaniczky says. “For example, I recently ran name badge inserts that were 12-up on Hammermill 80# Digital Color Cover. I needed to keep the names per reception location together so having the pre-set measures that step-down the cutting sequence for the back gate made the job a relative snap.”

Podmaniczky adds that the MBM Triumph 5560 cutter’s ability to complete work sooner and with greater accuracy is also a major plus.

“The touch-pad control panel is light years ahead of our previous model,” he praises. “I am not sure if we could live without it now.”