The year of fully digital cutting and creasing

Eitan Varon, vice president of marketing at Highcon, considers the impact the company’s digital creasing and cutting system[cutting system?:sample maker cutting machine] will have on the converting sector.
 
Quite simply, the folding carton[carton?:carton box sample cutting machine] world will begin its digital transformation in 2013. Brand owners, agencies and print[print?:printing image graphic cutting solution] buyers who have been taking advantage of cost-effective, short-run, on-demand digital commercial printing[printing?:printing cutting finishing solution] will now also be able to enjoy benefits for their folding carton applications.
 
The concept of digital cutting and creasing is based on recognition that in today’s market, the way we define and measure print orders has changed dramatically. We no longer have conversations purely about color quality, dot size, moiré and Pantone colors – now we begin to set the conditions in terms of delivery dates (hours, not days), versions, languages and even customization or personalization. Relevance becomes the key criteria.
 
Printers and print buyers are increasingly using web-to-print portals for ordering print. Template-driven ordering and customization means print service providers have time to offer the kind of service that clients require without overhead or additional personnel.
 
Moreover, it enables adaption to a changing environment where volume growth comes from larger numbers of jobs, not longer runs.
 
"Quite simply, the folding carton world will begin its digital transformation in 2013" - Eitan Varon, vice president of marketing at Highcon
 
Web-to-pack
A direct-to-pack strategy enabled by digital creasing and cutting is the next logical step that becomes a reality for the early adopters of the Highcon Euclid.
 
For folding carton buyers, web-to-pack means that all aspects of folding carton production can be digital and automated. Customers, print buyers and agencies upload final artwork and CAD files to the converter, printing is done by any process (litho, gravure, flexo or digital), and carton blanks are creased and cut digitally with no need for conventional dies.
 
The flexibility offered by web-to-pack enables brands to easily schedule their print logistics and better coordinate folding carton stock availability with commercial print deliveries to maximise the benefits of just-in-time and “warehouse-less” supply chains. The ability to produce cost-effective short runs to complement longer ones also enables a quicker reaction to market demand.
 
For folding carton converters, web-to-pack offers an extended, more streamlined production workflow that goes beyond pre-press and press, straight through to finishing, enabling automated job management with efficient MIS systems from order to invoice.
 
By eliminating the analog die-making process, accelerated design changes become possible, even with late changes.
 
Moving to more personal packaging[packaging?:DCP-H series packaging sample cutter plotter]
The power of personalization and versioning found in commercial printing is well-established and increasingly seen as good business in mass marketing.
 
Digital printing has enabled the personalization of a host of products, creating billion-dollar markets for photobooks, greetings cards and other products. The impact on the labels sector clearly foreshadows a trend in packaging. While conventional printing methods have also developed technologies for faster pre-press, make-ready and job changeovers, things have remained much the same at the end of the line.
 
Even with in-house die manufacture, preparation times are measured in days, while a digital solution is measured in minutes. This makes late design modifications and lean changeovers possible and allows the converter to maximise machine usage while driving down the cost of short-run folding carton converting for customers.
 
Although packaging is a more volume-oriented business, other types of variability besides print can come into play using digital creasing and cutting technologies: versioning, marking and seasonality techniques can be leveraged to differentiate products and boost sales. As they say, there are “riches in the niches” that can be developed by innovative brands and converters.
 
Another apparent trend in the future of folding carton converters is more orders of fewer quantities. This, perhaps, is the biggest consequence of digital printing and just-in-time logistics, and folding carton converters who can offer faster turnaround times and shorter runs will be best positioned to reap the rewards of this trend.
 
The ability to produce cost-effective short runs without the delays normally incurred in analog die manufacture is not only good for big brands and retail outlets; it provides a way for small, innovative companies to enter markets with the same quality of branding, enabling them to occupy shelf space with big brands and differentiate themselves with distinctive packaging.
 
Adding value by connecting the processes
By the end of 2013, the first web-to-pack systems with fully digital creasing and cutting will be in operation. Brand owners and agencies who recognise the potential will be working with their packaging converters to configure the process from user-friendly, cost-controlled, online interfaces that enable product specification, estimating, template selection (or design uploading), substrate choices and delivery options.
 
Whether it is the growth of private labels, or the desire of small companies to compete on the shelf as equals with big brands, digital solutions are what will enable the fulfillment of their ambitions.
 
The sheer scale of the packaging industry will be a major force in bringing about change at converters, and the pace will accelerate faster than most anticipate. Innovative disturbance technologies are already appearing that will transform conventional converting into a new, digital paradigm, and Highcon is part of that transformation.

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