After reorganizing their company, Goetz + Müller in Berlin are again on the course for growth. POLAR cutting systems made a major contribution to this development.

With a staff of 55 Goetz + Müller are producing high-quality labels, mainly for manufacturers of proprietary goods. According to Managing Director Christopher Gabel, about 2.8 to 3 billion labels are produced every year.

Currently the spacious Finishing hall houses three POLAR cutting systems and one jogging system. The label stacks cut on these machines are die-cut on two die-cutting systems, i. e. a counter-pressure and a stand-alone die-cutter. Soon, the infrastructure will be optimized and the operating paths shortened. Within the scope of this renovation each of the existing cutting systems will be furnished with a chip marker and pressing station, resp. In this way, productivity and quality of the label stack production will be further improved.

"We have recently attracted new, international customers and are now playing in a much higher league than a few years ago", says Gabel. "And the cutting solutions provided by POLAR have helped us very much. While the five previously used cutting systems from another manufacturer were cutting about 6,000 sheets per machine / hour, we have now increased our productivity by more than 100%. And the new machinery is extremely reliable. Currently we have the same cutting output as about five years ago, but we need only half the staff."

By investing into a chip marker and a pressing station the firm hopes to accomplish major production increases in cutting. At the same time, Goetz + Müller intend to link the high-speed cutters to the prepress with Compucut, the P-Net application offered by POLAR. Production processes are optimized by generating the cutting programs automatically with Compucut.

"Most of our clients are manufacturing proprietary goods. Owing to their ambitious demands we are frequently producing highly complex labels. And special labels are the rule rather than the exception", reports Gabel with pride. In the past five years we have developed from a mostly manual print shop to an efficient and international industrial enterprise."

Goetz + Müller have separated their cutting and jogging processes. Before the cutting process, the material is jogged on a separate jogging station.

After that, one of the T-115-T cutting systems does the cutting. The systems are loaded with the help of a Transomat unit which takes the reams, which are separated by chips, in precise quantities. The material is automatically pushed onto the rear table of the high-speed cutter.

Now the operator cuts the paper into strips and transfers them manually to an unloading Transomat. This unit automatically places the cut strips on a waiting pallet. Both the printing, as well as the finishing areas provide sufficient room for further growth. And Gabriel leaves no doubt about that. "Major
acquisitions in eastern Europe and even overseas have ensured that we are almost fully occupied this year," he says with a sigh of relief, and adds with a smile, "that POLAR made an important contribution to handling such enormous quantities of labels."