New Cutter Makes Life Easier for Texas HHS

After putting up with some very old and slow cutting machines for several decades, Texas Health and Human Services (HHS) Printing Services recently upgraded to a new Heidelberg POLAR 92 XT guillotine cutter with a jogging unit, scale and lifts.

“It just makes things go a lot quicker,” says Paul Kida, manager of the 51-employee in-plant, located in Austin, Texas. The cutter’s touch-screen programming simplifies job setup, he says, and thanks to the scale, there are fewer miscounts now.

“And when they do occur, we can now find out where they occur and correct them,” notes John Moses, assistant print shop manager.

Not only has the POLAR 92 XT increased productivity, it has made life easier for operators.

“Our operators are especially happy with the material handling peripherals, which we didn’t have before,” remarks Moses.

“There’s a lot less bending and manual lifting,” adds Kida. “You can slide sheets right off a skid into the jogger.”

The new cutter is also safer for operators to use, with a self-monitoring light curtain, a two-channel hydraulic system with knife upstroke control, finger protection at the pressure clamp and two-hand cut release.

Printing Services, which was founded in the 1920s as a multigraphics shop supporting the State Department of Health, now boasts more than 10 sheetfed and web presses, along with Océ digital printers. A year and a half ago, the operation moved into the computer-to-plate world by adding an Agfa Acento II, which makes plates for 10 different press sizes, up to 29˝. The in-plant produces everything from forms and brochures to booklets and training manuals for the public, in quantities up to several million at a time. Last year it boasted annual sales of $9,892,000.