POLAR Mohr has announced it is demonstrating its DC-12 RAPID fully automatic complete solution for label production at Heidelberg’s Innovation Week event in Germany. The system was installed in October at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG and can now be viewed live.

The fully autonomous DC-12 RAPID produces die-cut label bundles and packs them in trays ready for dispatch. With synergies in the development between POLAR and the packaging specialist DIENST, a fully automatic, operator-free process was developed –from the sheet to the tray. RAPID stands for Robotics for Autonomous Processing of Industrial Die-Cut Labels.

In July of this year, POLAR Mohr presented the DC-12 RAPID digitally via video. The system has now been fully installed and presented at Innovation Week at Heidelberg Druckmaschinen in October. The blue robot, which takes over the last production step, caused a particular stir on site. From now on, the DC-12 RAPID is an integral part of the Heidelberg showroom and available for demonstrations.

The POLAR LabelSystem DC-12 PLUS, which at 1440 bundles per hour is touted as the fastest system on the market, was the basis for the new development. Further, sophisticated automation components help the proven system for processing diecut labels to new top performances: a system for automatic loading of cutting layers, an automatic cutter for fully automatic cutting of strips and, at the end of the workflow, a sorting and packing station that picks up individual bundles by robot, turns and places them sorted in the tray. The high degree of automation of the system promises the best possible ergonomics, as manual interventions are not required at any point.

Operation is intuitive and uncomplicated via an HMI that meets the latest industry standards. Thanks to modern industrial control, remote services are possible. A format change takes only 15 minutes thanks to the menu- guided job change, the format memory and POLAR OptiChange, the patented change frame system: It reduces make-ready times by allowing large parts of the job change to be prepared outside the machine. Interfaces for the acquisition of data such as downtimes, diecutting strokes, etc. are provided.