Bladen Box installs Zund G3 cutter and streamlines processes

James Bladen founded Bladen Box in 2004.  Working alongside some big brands - including Next and Jaguar - the company grew from strength to strength and now manufactures all its box and display products in-house. 

The company creates bespoke displays and packaging solutions.  It has developed a strong portfolio of free-standing displays, dump bins, cardboard standees, counter display units and displays with shelves to help promote and maximise product impact instore.  It also produces Free Standing Display Units (FSDU’s) also known as Floor Standing Display Units and counter display units (CDU’s), book displays and DVD displays.

Bladen Box has totally embraced digital technology - from design to production and finishing.  The business recently purchased a Zünd G3 L-3200CVE16 machine with the capability of cutting, creasing, folding and more courtesy of the system's universal tool module. Bladen Box is also looking at additional Zund modules that will allow them to incorporate plastics and polypropylene into their product portfolio.

The Zünd flatbed cutter was installed mid-January 2013 by Zünd UK.  James Bladen comments, “The machine was up and running in a very short space of time and it hasn’t stopped since. We had confidence that we were in safe hands with the Zünd engineers, we trust them and we know that Zünd UK has a reputation for looking after customers for years down the line. We wanted that personal touch from a family-oriented business, like ourselves, and we feel we’ve had that and more already.”

Bladen opted for the integrated software Zünd CutCentre which allows it to create a complete streamlined workflow from printing on its Oce Arizona 360GT through to finishing and cutting on the Zünd G3L.  The whole system is digitised and prints can be tiled to make use of the full sheet and then cut to size. Bladen Box has noticed a 20% saving on materials so far based on this new process. In addition, they’ve noticed a much quicker turnaround in job times as previously the printing and cutting would be done separately. As the prints are coming off the printer, they are being processed by the cutter immediately so the job is done in real time and on demand.

“The process has totally revolutionised the way Bladen Box works and we are have changed our processes as a result â€" saving time, energy and money â€" which in turn will have a positive knock on result for our clients.”

Peter Giddings, Sales Director at Zünd UK comments, “Bladen Box is a great example of how a well-established packaging company, whose success is founded on printing and finishing packaging solutions to a high standard can, by embracing digital technology, open new markets and find cost savings in a very short space of time. We’re delighted they chose the Zünd G3 following an extensive period researching other models, and as always with our customers, we will work with them to ensure they achieve success with their new workflow.”

For more information on the Zünd G3, please visit www.zund.co.uk.