J. J. Keller, an industry leader in transportation safety and regulatory compliance, has installed an MCT Digital VersaTech 3.2M x 3.2M digital die-cutting system with high speed routing for their custom order short run safety signs and placards business.

Tim Little, Vice President of Manufacturing and Supply Chain, said: “We researched the equipment required for this project and it was apparent that that print volume we wanted to produce far exceeded the speed of traditional routing systems.  We needed a system that had much higher routing throughput that could also do knife cutting even faster.  After going to see the top three companies offering high speed systems and test routing our aluminum 020 placards the MCT VersaTech 3.2M was the clear choice for both our volume requirements and budget."

He continued: “I very much appreciate the partnership we have with MCT.  From the time we put the equipment on the floor, through installation and start up as well as on an ongoing basis, MCT has been alongside of us the entire way.  There has never been a time when we needed their help and they let us down.  They have always been there for us.  Putting the MCT cutter on the floor has simply been one of the better business decisions we’ve made in a long time.”

Todd Lueke,  J.J. Keller's Director of Manufacturing added: "Our Bindery Team Leaders have received very helpful and timely support from the MCT team on questions that come up in daily operation of the cutter." Lueke also said " the MCT software and hardware support people are held in high regard by our people for supporting them while we are learning brand new products for the company and establishing internal procedures for both our digital printer and cutter."

Gerald Sabatke,  J.J. Keller Prepress Manager continued: "Our MCT salesman had the knowledge and took the time to help define our basic workflow for our Arizona printer and the MCT cutter to produce our flip placards. It is really nice to work with a sales rep that is as knowledgeable as he is and who took the time to help us get on our feet with this new digital process."

Jeff Ayers,  J.J. Keller's Bindery Team Leader concluded: "After successfully producing safety placards for a few months we started having trouble routing at the same speed and quality as when we started. We called MCT and one of their application support engineers took the time to visit us and test cut some aluminum with us to figure out the problem. As it turned out our aluminum vendor confirmed the last lot of aluminum was sent from a different mil and once they supplied the original material the problems were solved. Without MCT's support it may have taken us a long time and a lot of wasted material figure it out."

J.J. Keller's MCT VersaTech 3.2M digital die-cutting system is a 3.2M x 3.2M flatbed configured with 2.5kW peak 60,000 RPM water cooled router, various knife tools, table vacuum with 12 dynamically controlled vacuum zones and conveyor system.