Deliveries of new Baumann-Wohlenberg cutters delayed by high demand

Sales of Baumann-Wohlenberg’s new Wohlenberg 80 Basic Line digital cutter have been so high that deliveries of the machine have been delayed until early 2017.

According to Baumann general sales manager Sven Schubert, the machines, which were shown for the first time at Drupa, were due to be delivered to customers around August or September, but most will now be delayed by up to six months as Baumann deals with a backlog of orders.

He could not reveal how many orders for the machine have been taken but said customers had been very understanding.

Baumann equipment is supplied in the UK by Friedheim International.

Schubert said UK customers probably make up the fifth-most popular buyers of the machine, behind German, Dutch, Belgian and French.

He said: “This is very surprising for us. We are generally very well-booked but we have production problems because we are not used to this situation.

“The last years have been bad in the print industry but this year is totally different and now delivery times have gone up and there is not much a manufacturer can do about it.

“On one side it's of course good and on the other side it’s bad because we are losing orders due to long delivery times. On guillotines, the biggest problem is that you have to make a good forecast, which cannot be done in a couple of days. If your forecast is bad, you will just not get them in on time.”

The cutter is Wohlenberg’s first release since the Basic Line 76. It cuts material at a height of 120mm without a false clamp plate or 113mm with false clamp plate. It has a maximum cutting depth of 800mm and maximum number of cuts per cycle is 45 per minute.

Schubert highlighted the added automation of this model. The back gauge is now driven by a servo motor and guided on both sides, which he said is “extremely untypical”. 

It also has electronic adjusting of the clamping pressure, so that rather than having to turn a knob to change pressure, the clamping can be set in the display. Schubert said this makes the Basic Line unique on the market.

Baumann had a strong Drupa and saw a boost in sales of its movable unloader, a sorting rack combined with an unloader.

Headquartered in Solms, Germany, Baumann sells a wide variety of post-press equipment.