News
Transforming Packaging: The Unmatched Advantages of Digital Die Cutting for Converters and Brands
By Simon Lewis, VP Marketing and Strategy, Highcon Systems Ltd. D
igital die cutting is set to be a game- changer for packaging and display in 2024, a drupa year, presenting valuable tangible advantages for converters and brands. Its adoption is surging among converters promising enhanced adaptability, increased efficiency, faster delivery times, and improved sustainability. Folding and corrugated packaging and display converters constantly strive to enhance agility and responsiveness to meet customer demands, including shorter lead times, greater efficiency, and sustainability goals. While each business sets its own growth path based on goals and priorities, some focus on lowering costs and increasing labour productivity, while others aim to reduce lead times. Many also seek to automate production processes, streamline workflows, and accommodate customisation and small batch orders. Digital technologies provide converters with the means to meet these demands. However, when considering traditional workflows, where each customer job requires separate print makereadies, plates, finishing setups, and dies, is this the ideal manufacturing workflow for a digital transformation? The answer is no. In the traditional linear process, each job or box is run step-by-step through the plant, resulting in additional setup time for each piece of equipment. As job volumes increase, this creates an unfavorable setup-to-run ratio and a bottleneck at the finishing stage. By adopting a digital manufacturing mindset that incorporates digital finishing systems, like Highcon’s digital die cutting solutions, converters can combine and integrate the appropriate tools for each job, optimising production runs based on an entire shift or more, rather than focusing on individual jobs. In this approach, short and medium run production jobs are dynamically ganged using AI-driven imposition software, minimising manual effort and reducing operational expenses and time. Highcon customers can produce more jobs per shift, resulting in increased throughput and revenue. This approach is applicable to both digitally printed and conventionally printed jobs.
Thimm, a German packaging group, exemplifies successful implementation, investing in a Highcon Beam 2C system for its digital pack’n’display facility. Leveraging digital technologies, Thimm has achieved a 75% reduction in lead times and a 90% reduction in minimum order quantities. Similarly, Eurographic, a printing and packaging company operating in Sweden, Denmark, and Poland, recently invested in a Highcon Beam 2 digital die cutting system. Bartosz Nowakowski, Poland Country Manager with the Eurographic Group, said the system will be used as part of a complete digital workflow. “With its short setup time and tool- free production the Beam 2 will help us meet the
demanding service levels that we have committed to our customers.” Digital die cutting systems facilitate smaller, faster orders, aligning with the trend of companies strategically recalibrating their packaging inventory levels in response to economic uncertainties. The BoxMaker, a US-based company, notes large corporations willingly paying more per unit for the advantages of reduced minimum order quantities and inventory. Addressing the growing emphasis on environmental responsibility, digital die cutting solutions substantially reduce material requirements. Linney, based in the UK, reported a saving of 93 tonnes of wood, metal, and rubber annually with their Highcon digital die cutting system. Digital die cutting proves instrumental in accelerating product development and facilitating pilot volumes within minimal lead times. SEE utilises Highcon’s digital die-cutting capabilities for its Sealed Air brand Korrvu retention and suspension packaging, reducing production lead times from months to days. Additionally, digital die cutting enables the creation of unique shapes and intricate patterns on boxes, differentiating packaging from market competitors. Amid skilled labour shortages, digital die cutting provides a straightforward and intuitive solution by streamlining processes and reducing dependence on specialised skills.
In conclusion, as the packaging industry faces numerous challenges, digital die cutting emerges as a beacon of efficiency for short and medium run production runs. From faster time to market to operational efficiency and reducing environmental impact, the advantages of this technology are undeniable.
12
March 2024
www.convertermag.com
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