Digital cutting expands the offering and drives business growth
How United Engravers expanded into digital print-and-cut, boosted productivity and grew the new service to around 10% of its entire business.
The results
What changed on the floor
A new service representing 10% of the business
Capacity to handle growing orders
30% savings on time
Fast turnaround for short-run jobs
The story
From flexo platemaking to a growing digital print-and-cut business
The challenge
Increasing production speed and expanding the business offering
United Engravers made its first purchase of a Kongsberg around 10 years ago when it wanted to streamline its flexo platemaking systems. The company was looking for solutions that would assist in increasing production speed.
Around six years ago, United Engravers was looking to expand its business offering and take a first step into digital printing. At the time, it had no printing and cutting operation at all.
The solution
From the first Kongsberg to the C60 and C64
Following the success of its first Kongsberg, United Engravers bought a large format Fuji printer and a Kongsberg C60. This was its first foray into printing and cutting, primarily working with corrugated board, and that part of the business took off.
The C60 enabled United Engravers to expand its offering, not just in terms of full print-and-cut work, but also with cutting-only jobs for customers. It is used for short-run work, sample making and jobs where the run is 50-100 sheets so it is not worth making a die.
By 2022, the company had such a high volume of work coming in that it decided to double its operation, adding the bigger Kongsberg C64 to help cope with the amount of work.
The result
A growing business with significant efficiency gains
The department has grown from a single operator in 2018 to a team of seven, and the work now represents about 10% of United Engravers’ entire business.
Being able to do fast turnaround, short run jobs has helped with customer retention and growth success, enabling United Engravers to take advantage of opportunities that arise and quickly react to customer needs.
The C60 and C64 have delivered massive efficiency gains, with the perforated crease combo tool alone leading to at least 30% savings on time with the perforation wheel.
Walter Smith
|
General Manager, United Engravers
“Having the Kongsberg means that we can produce high quality items very quickly while still ensuring the accuracy that’s needed.”
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Proven results across the industry
Godin
|
Print & display manufacturer
“We will continue to expand our abilities with different substrates but the Kongsberg cutting table really is the secret sauce for us in terms of our ability to push a lot of work through.”
- Business expansion made possible through speed, precision and ease-of-use of machines
- Full automation enables a single operator to handle two production lines
- Tooling options deliver creativity to attract new clients and diversify offering
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