Slate Group Increases Productivity, Efficiency with Heidelberg’s POLAR Cutter N 115 and Stahlfolder TH 82

Brad Phinny, COO (left), and Don Denny, owner of Slate Group, with their new equipment.

Slate Group of Lubbock, Texas, installed a Heidelberg (Booth 10143) POLAR Cutter N 115 and Stahlfolder TH 82 to provide the company with higher flexibility and quicker turnaround times to help meet their customers’ growing expectations.

Focused on publication and signature-oriented work, Slate Group needed to upgrade its folding technology in order to keep up with higher productivity demands. Combining higher throughput and excellent flexibility, the Stahlfolder TH 82 with stacker provides high-quality folding at 12,000 sheets per hour.

“With the Stahlfolder TH 82, we are able to double our capacity without adding any additional manpower or labor,” says Brad Phinny, COO of Slate Group. “With the addition of the stacking unit on the Stahlfolder, our operators are able to complete our production needs in shorter time periods.”

As a modular machine, the Stahlfolder TH 82 enables Slate Group to expand its range of specialized applications, to enter new areas of business, and to add more customized value as needed.

According to Phinny, “We choose Heidelberg equipment due to the durability and reliability of the equipment. We know we are able to upgrade the equipment, and we’ll receive the support needed to maximize this investment. The Stahlfolder and POLAR cutter ensure that Slate Group will continue to be successful.”

With an extensive history using POLAR high-speed cutters, purchasing a new POLAR N 115 was an easy decision for Slate Group. Currently, the new cutter will sit next to three additional POLAR cutters — a POLAR 78 and two POLAR 92s. According to Phinny, “I’ve used several competitive cutters during my time in the printing industry, and there isn’t a single piece of equipment that can be compared to the POLAR cutter. They are simply the most dependable cutters in the industry.”

Thanks to the intuitive and operator friendly interface, the POLAR N 115 offers the shortest makeready time and is the most efficient cutter on the market. Standard on the POLAR Cutter, the OptiKnife extends operating life and allows quicker knife changing times. The POLAR-Positioning-System-DPS gives the greatest cutting accuracy for its 45" format.