How does a die-cutting solution work?
To make labels, one has 2 steps. Along one side the printing of the desired label and along the other the finishing technology. First, you start from a continuous roll of self-adhesive material. This roll is punched out in the desired format. Die-cutting is converting this continuous roll into individual labels. This can be any size and any shape. After this, you can use the labels with 1 of your printing solutions. The other possibility is to print on this continuous roll first and then obtain printed labels up to the board via finishing technology.
Conventional vs digital punching
What is the difference between conventional & digital production? The main difference between the two production methods depends on the different print runs a customer needs. if a customer wants large quantities then most of the time this is produced in a conventional way. If you need smaller quantities, this is often done digitally. The job of the printer is to ensure that the dimensions of a label are placed as correctly as possible on a web. This usually depends from machine to machine how wide the paper web is on which to print. Each time, the printer tries to print as many labels as possible side by side on the same web to minimise the amount of excess.
Conventional die-cutting
Large quantities
When you want to punch out large quantities of blank or printed material, it is best to use a conventional rotary die-cutting machine. A conventional die-cutting machine uses a cliché per job. This is a metal plate that converts the material from continuous roll to cut roll. Once that technology is set up, production is many times faster than with digital solutions. The only disadvantage of conventional working is that it involves some start-up time and costs (e.g. a cliché).
Via punching plates
Using a metal mould, the exact shape is cut from the material.
Example video
Our own production is a good example of conventional die-cutting
Digital punching
Smaller print runs
When you want to start producing smaller print runs, it is often better not to go for conventional printing. With that reason, digital printing became very popular. Here, we are looking at a solution for, say, answering a demand for promotional stickers or other marketing purposes. A big plus of digital die-cutting is that you have the possibility of highly personalised printing. Each label can be printed and cut differently. A big new trend is hyper-personalisation of products. With digital printing, this is perfectly possible. Print at a low price and at outstanding quality. Digital printing involves lower standard costs than conventional.
Any shape possible via knives
Using a metal mould, the exact shape is cut from the material.
Example video
Our own production is a good example of conventional die-cutting
Tasco’s Label finishing solutions
Check out the different finishing solutions in our range