Digital or Die: Replacement, competitor or running-mate?

Cutting is often an overlooked aspect of a print shop, not by the printers, but by the customers. Very few of them spend a single waking moment thinking how their business card ended up with a round edge or that it may take a specialized machine to do something so simple. Hard to blame them, but when you’re in the print shop the machines you have at your disposal can make the difference between record profits and outsourcing most of your work. To that end, we sat down with a couple industry experts to discuss Digital Flatbed Cutters and Die Cutting machines to find out how these machines are being used in today’s market.

               Kenneth Ghazi, of The Printing Team in Mississauga, has been in this industry for the past 22 years. His shop does everything from signs to booklet binding to graphic design. A full-service shop capable of delivering on any job you may need.

               As it stands, The Printing Team currently operates old windmill press cutters. The technology has been around for the better part of fifty years, and it’s struggling to survive as it is. “It is a specialty trade as well, so you do need people who know what they’re doing,” says Kenneth. “It’s not something that just any operator can do, technology of the windmill letter press is old, so it’s the older generation who know how to run it. It’s hard to find replacement parts, and more importantly, people who can service it.”

               These words suggest a dying technology. Would that mean that the new Digital Flatbed Cutters are here to replace them? Perhaps not indicated Ghazi, “I would say, where the technology is right now, they are still two different machines. The end result is the same but it’s like saying a Mini Cooper is the same as a ten-seater van, they are both cars but one is not the same as the other.”

               With that being the case, it makes sense why The Printing Team is currently in the market to add a Digital Flatbed Cutter into their shop. The reason Kenneth is looking to purchase is simple, he values his customers. “It opens more options for substrates. You can get more into corrugated, foam boards, plastics, etc. without the overhead cost of the dies, and you can pass that savings on to the customer. That and packaging, the industry is talking more and more about packaging, things of value, something as simple as the round corner at the top just looks more premium. It’s a perceived value, so even if it’s something basic like an easel sign but you round off the edges and, suddenly, it’s considered premium.”

               But of course, not everyone in this industry runs a dedicated print shop. As is the case of WADE LAPOINTE of Golden Gate Graphics in Vaughan. A large printing warehouse that has both digital flatbed cutters and die-cutters in house, though their application is mostly for creating labels.

               Golden Gate is creating thousands of labels everyday, and for that reason their rotary die-cutter is King. “Digital flatbed cutters are great for things like short run jobs and creating samples, but having a Die is important for large run label printing jobs like we do.” Large is an understatement, with up to a million labels being created every month, the speed and volume of a Die-Cutter can’t be beat in Golden Gate’s workspace.

               Yet there are still practical applications for the Digital Flatbed Cutter, Wade points out. “If a salesperson comes in and says I have a one-time 1,000 run job, never running it again, it’s perfect, or if we need to make a sample of something. Digital is great because we can do it without having the cost of creating a die.”

               Two industry experts, both of the opinion that Die-Cutting and Digital Cutting aren’t competing machines, but similar machines that need to be viewed as capable of running different jobs. So what does the future hold? Will the technology of the Digital Cutting eventually surpass the tried and tested Die-Cutters? Will Windmill Die-Cutters fall to the wayside because of a dwindling ability to find operators? What does the future hold?

 “The future is Laser,” says Lapointe. “They have drawbacks, it’s a little bit slower than rotary, you need proper safety equipment, you need to get an employee certified on the machine, but you can program anything into the laser machines and the speed and volume is still high enough to meet our demands, all without a Die. For labels, that’s the future.”

It’s hard to nail down the future at the best of times. One thing is certain though. The innovation and ability of new Digital Cutters on the market today are capable of things that no machine which came before them could. Will they be able to catch up in terms of production speeds, volume and precision? We’ll let you know when that question gets answered.