Shanghai’s Primary Color boosts capacity with Kongsberg digital finishing system

Continuous production, maximum efficiency

Specializing in the production of global cutting-edge marketing products, Primary Color provides all-inclusive services from prepress, printing and e-commerce to simplify customer marketing implementation. “We deliver our services to a number of FMCG and high-end luxury goods, including Cartier, Louis Vuitton and Piaget,” said Min Fang, Production Manager at Primary Color Shanghai. “Cutting is the last link in our production process, and quality and stability are crucial to us to ensure maximum quality.
“We were looking to add one very efficient and stable cutting machine to our 5,000 square meter facility to deliver the additional capacity we needed, and so stability, functionality and efficiency were of course of particular concern to us.”

In order to boost productivity and maximize efficiency, we were looking for a table which addressed our continuous production requirements and also had a material receiving platform.
Min Fang, Production Manager, Primary Color Shanghai

Performance, quality, speed

“The Kongsberg C Series is built for the highest performance, redefining the possibilities of digital finishing,” said Ken Xu, Sales Manager with Kongsberg PCS. “Its quick and precise tool movements make high quality digital production possible, even under the tightest deadlines. The Kongsberg C Series delivers an iconic performance that is made possible by state of the art, rock solid engineering. It utilizes aerospace technology, combining an aluminum composite tabletop, a rack and pinion drive system and dynamic table mapping to ensure the table provides the greatest cutting accuracy and consistency.”
With its high speed (75m/min) and acceleration (1G), the Kongsberg C64 Edge delivers impressive, high quality results and enables fast turnarounds. “Most importantly, the Kongsberg C Edge has been designed to evolve with a business, and so can be easily upgraded in terms of both speed and acceleration to meet changing demands,” said Ken.

We’re very satisfied with the quality of the machine, which has required almost no maintenance.

 

Stability and flexibility

“Primary Color focuses on technology, analyzes traditional workflow, recommends improvement solutions, and develops and implements modern, integrated printing solutions,” said Min Fang. “We have been very satisfied, first of all with the stability of the machine quality itself, and secondly with the flexibility of the software and the application of the anti-dazzle function.
“We work with 5m-wide LED dry printing devices, a 3m flat roll dual-use UV device, with a maximum printing thickness of 5.08cm. We use green and environmentally friendly UV ink, 3M company certified printing equipment and super gamut printing,” added Min Fang. “At present, the Kongsberg machine has been used for nearly three years, and there have been almost no fault issues or maintenance required.”

Tooling and smart automation

The Kongsberg C performance range works with a wide variety of optional tool units, with multiple tool combinations available to handle whatever materials are being processed.
“Primary Color took full advantage of the range of tools available, with a comprehensive package that included a Heavy-Duty Unit, the HD Bevel Knife tool for solid board, V-notch toolkit for PowerHead, RotaCut tool and RM Knife tool, as well as the PressCut Knife, HF VibraCut tool, a second fast tool enabler and the i-camera kit and i-cut Production Console for Sign & Production,” said Ken. “The team is also benefiting from a factory-installed MultiZone Panel, adding further efficiency and productivity gains to the facility.”

MultiZone production allows users to load two sheets at the same time and maximize the production capacity on the Kongsberg cutting table without expensive automation add-ons. “The MultiZone Operation Mode enables the operator to prepare one zone while the table processes the other, with automatic change-over when one zone is completed, vastly increasing overall productivity and throughput,” said Ken. “An optional zone control panel mounted on the table’s side cover provides Min Fang and the Primary Color team a time-saving way of acknowledging that the zone is ready for production, as well as manual vacuum hold-down control.”

Bringing designs to life

Min Fang said that the capabilities of Kongsberg C64 Edge had opened a number of opportunities to Primary Color. “After learning and perfecting the basic cutting functions and then seeing first-hand how the machine itself is designed with solid and durable materials, we are now undertaking more training to maximize the potential of our machine application,” said Min Fang.

 

Now that the Kongsberg table is fully integrated into our production, we are looking forward to upgrading some existing functions and adding new capabilities to further improve our cutting efficiency and productivity.

Min Fang, Production Manager, Primary Color Shanghai

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More info

• Kongsberg C Edge
• Kongsberg C series
• Digital finishing solutions
• Primary Color

About The Customer

With a passion for innovation, Primary Color is a world-renowned image output company with almost 40 years’ experience in developing and implementing modern, integrated printing solutions for customers worldwide. Headquartered in California, USA, Primary Color established a subsidiary in Shanghai in January 2014, to provide world-class image products and services to high-end retail and advertising customers in China. When the business was looking to boost capacity to meet growing customer demand, the Kongsberg C64 Edge was the natural choice.