Emergency response sees Fleetmark install new Zünd Cutter

For more than 30 years, Fleetmark has specialized in innovative branding solutions for commercial vehicles and trucks. With facilities in Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales, the company has over 160 employees and offers a broad range of printing services ranging from traditional vehicle painting and signwriting through to wide format printing and truck-side curtains.

Following the transition to new ownership last year, Fleetmark has also broadened its offer to include smash repair services to its vehicle clients to complement the signwriting, branding solutions, and printing services.

To offer further services to its clients, Fleetmark general manager Leanne Lanham recently installed a new Zünd G3 L-3200 cutting table at its New South Wales factory located at Wetherill Park in the western suburbs of Sydney. “We started talking to Dale Hawkins, managing director of Zünd Australia, 18 months ago about our requirements and as a result, we purchased a Zünd model and configuration tailored specifically to our needs, particularly around cutting and sealing reflective materials applied to emergency response as well as mining vehicles.

One of the specifications for certain emergency response customers is that they require the reflective material on their vehicles to be sealed from dust and water as they are frequently exposed to these elements during the course of their daily work. “The Zünd Cutter integrates the ultrasonic tool that cuts and seals the edge of the reflective material. It has become an industry benchmark in Australia for this type of work. With the ultrasonic tool, we will no longer have to apply clear sealing vinyl around the edges of the reflective material anymore, which will save us a lot of time and money, and improve the quality and longevity,” Lanham added.

Previously, this work had been outsourced. Bringing the process in-house will improve turnaround times and provide Fleetmark with more control over quality and pricing.

The ultrasonic tool is a highly specialised device that strengthens the Fleetmark service offering. “It operates at 35kHz, generating high-frequency oscillations that both cut and heat-seal the edge to prevent water ingress. All emergency vehicles, particularly fire response vehicles, are exposed to a large amount of water which can otherwise cause the important reflective material to deteriorate and in some cases can come away from the exterior of the vehicle if it is not sealed properly,” Hawkins said.

Lanham believes that the new Zünd will also allow Fleetmark to access additional opportunities: “This investment opens up additional markets for us including building signage as we were unable to access this previously before the installation of the Zünd. We can use the Zünd to cut acrylic and ACM panels for buildings and allow us to cut specific shapes and sculptures as well as backlighting for a broader group of customers. Over 90 per cent of our business is in the vehicle market – so we can definitely see opportunities for our sales team to grow business in other market categories such as commercial signage,” Lanham said.

According to Hawkins, there is no other Zünd cutting table with this configuration in Australia: “This machine also features the Router Module with the Automatic Router Bit Changer ARC that will enable the Fleetmark team to route acrylic, then polish it to either a full or semi-gloss finish,” he said. “Having the auto router changer allows the router to automatically change router bits types needed for the same job. For example, when we are using ACM panels we can run a V-groove bit through to be able to get the fold, it will then automatically place that router bit back into the ARC, and pick up the next router bit and finish it off with the through cut using the automation feature.

All Zünd machines are modular and can be customised to customers’ needs. This particular machine features a very specific set of tools to meet the Fleetmark requirements including the ultrasonic tool, router module with the auto router changer, as well as the kiss cut tool and the universal cutting tool. It is the ultimate Swiss Army Knife and there is also the ability to add on further tools as required into the future,” Hawkins added.

Fleetmark has located the Zünd in a fully-enclosed temperature-controlled room with sliding doors providing direct access for full sheets and half sheets of material to be loaded directly on to the machine. The floor was levelled with epoxy resin to assist with installation and setup.

“Everything has gone smoothly with the delivery, installation and user training – the communication with the Zünd team has been great,” Lanham said. “The Fleetmark team from the other states are all very keen to understand more about the Zünd and undertake training in the near future. Our aspiration would be to win all emergency-vehicle work nationally and there may be a requirement for additional Zünd cutting tables down the track. But for the time being, we will manage all of the work here in Sydney and send the material to our team nationally for installation.”

First published in Australian Printer Magazine