Ultimat increases productivity by upgrading to the latest S3 L-1600

Ultimat, the market leaders in the manufacture and supply of picture mounts and frames, have upgraded their old Zund PN M-1600 digital cutter for the latest S3 L-1600.

Founded in 2001 by two friends Dru Cook and Christopher Neighbour, Ultimat have grown to be the leading manufacturer and supplier of picture mounts and frames. Alin Afloarei, Development Manager at Ultimat said: “We manufacture and supply to many sectors including Cruiseships, Hotels and Retail. Our business USP is that we manufacture and assemble everything in-house. This in return gives us full control of our lead times and ability to meet customer expectations.”

The Wokingham based business decided to look at new cutter options at the beginning of last year. Alin explains: “Since the announcement from Zund UK that the support on PN Series equipment will be limited due to parts becoming obsolete, we decided to look at what the new generation of Zund cutter can offer. The Zund plays a pivotal part in our business, so we needed to reduce any uncertainty and ensure we had a fully working cutter at all times.”

Dru and Alin visited the Zund UK state-of-the art showroom in St. Albans for a product demonstration and took materials for test cuts with them. Alin explains: “We have a lot of machinery at Ultimat and the customer service from Zund is by far the greatest. So, it was a no brainer to keep loyal to the brand for our next purchase.” During the demonstration Dru and Alin were blown away by the cutting speed and the advanced features of the latest Zund cutters.

Ultimat Frames took delivery of their new Zund Cutter in early 2022 and reflecting on their purchase Alin said: “We are very pleased with our new S3 M-1600 cutter and the new capabilities it has given us. Our old PN M-1600 cutter was a static system but for our new cutter we opted for the conveyorised system with full back and front extension and added the Over Cutter Camera (OCC). Now, thanks to the versatility of the new Zund Cutter, not only can we produce picture mounts, but we also cut print jobs thanks to the OCC.  In the past we used to spend hours or even days cutting print jobs by hand, now with the S3 M-1600 cutter this can be done within minutes.  Our productivity has also increased by at least 50%, for example the cutter is always working thanks to the extension tables for loading and unloading. Our previous cutter was static, so we had to pause the cutter every time we loaded and unloaded. Now, we can do this simultaneously whilst the cutter is processing picture mounts or print jobs.”