drupa 2024: Highcon’s Cutting Edge Digital Die Cutting for Mainstream Production

In the fast-paced paperboard packaging and display industry, agility, sustainability, and innovation are not just buzzwords – they are essential ingredients to success. Recognizing this, Highcon made waves at the Pre-drupa International Media Conference hosted at Messe Dusseldorf in late March. Led by CEO Shlomo Nimrodi and Simon Lewis, Senior VP of Marketing, Strategy and Business Development, Highcon presented a vision for a future where digital transformation addresses the core challenges of the packaging industry. Their message resonated with a global audience of more than 70 journalists from 33 countries, all eager to witness the unveiling of Highcon’s latest innovations at drupa 2024, commencing on the 28th of May.

Click on the image below to watch the full presentation.

Shlomo Nimrodi briefly introduced Highcon and highlighted four major market trends shaping the paperboard packaging industry. He emphasized the importance of agility, sustainable practices, on-demand manufacturing capabilities, and the continuous proliferation of SKU’s by brand owners, whom Highcon customers serve. Nimrodi boldly stated that digital printing technologies alone fall short of addressing these mega trends. He advocated for an integrated digital workflow to seamlessly navigate these trends, noting that without an end-to-end digital process, companies face inefficiencies hindering their ability to thrive in a fast-paced market.

“Without actually having an end-to-end digital process, you are still going to have your bottlenecks,” said Nimrodi. “Which means unless you have an end-to-end digital process, you are not really equipped to deal with those mega trends.”

Approximately 80 of Highcon’s digital die cutting solutions have been installed across 60 customers. Two thirds of these customers are in the packaging industry, and more than 10 customers have at least two Highcon units. These solutions represent more than just a technological advancement – they address an unmet need and promote a shift in perspective. As Simon Lewis pointed out, Highcon’s vision isn’t about displacing traditional die cutting but enhancing overall site productivity by complementing it. This integration between digital and analogue processes opens doors to profitability for small and medium batch runs, eliminating the constraints of minimum order quantities and high initial costs.

Imagine delivering jobs with the speed of digital – turning around orders in hours, not days. With Highcon, converters and brands can unleash their creativity to craft captivating unboxing experiences, Lewis explained, highlighting the unique capabilities of Highcon’s digital die cutting systems to support both traditional and digital printing technologies.

“Highcon systems allow customers to do things they simply can’t do conventionally. Analogue or digital print, inkjet or toner, UV or water based,” said Lewis, “we are truly print agnostic. In this changing world and in the tight labor market., it’s easier to find and train operators for Highcon systems who don’t require years of training and experience. So it’s solving a real and growing problem.”

Highcon’s Innovations at drupa 2024

At the heart of Highcon’s showcase for drupa 2024 are the groundbreaking Highcon Beam 3 digital die cutting solution and theHighcon Beam Writer. The former is set to redefine folding carton production with up to a 50% boost in productivity compared to the previous Highcon Beam 2 system when combined with the optional Beam Writer. The Beam Writer promises unprecedented efficiency with offline writing of the DART foil. In addition, it can work alongside existing Beam systems installed in the field.

“Let’s put it in simple terms: for a converter that means 10 jobs, new jobs they’ve not seen before, of at least 1000 sheets per shift, every shift in folding carton,” said Lewis. “That is a big deal. It’s not something that anybody can do today.”

Additionally, Highcon announced the upgraded Highcon Beam 2C digital die cutting system for corrugated. And last but not least, Highcon showed a sneak peek into the future with Vulcan, a new, larger system for the corrugated market, codenamed Vulcan.

“It’s the first digital die cutting solution for the bread and butter 1.4 x 1.7 meter format of the corrugated industry and will transform corrugated. It will transform Highcon,” said Lewis. “Vulcan is still under development, hence the code name, and it’s going to be an active product in our portfolio at drupa 2028.”

Highcon has already garnered significant interest in Vulcan, with six customers enrolled in a pre-development Foundation Program. These customers, Thimm, The BoxMaker, UDS, Grupak, Menasha Packaging, and Schumacher Packaging have expressed confidence in Vulcan’s potential to revolutionize corrugated finishing.

Schumacher, which is based in several countries across Europe, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding or MOU for 5-10 Vulcan units to be delivered over 5 years. Its CEO, Bjoern Schumacher, explained: “We are very pleased with our Highcon Beam 2C, but Vulcan is the system that can start the inevitable digitalization of corrugated finishing. Seeing is believing, and the demonstration of the prototype that I saw in Israel last June, convinced me that Vulcan will be game-changing for us.”

Highcon is now offering further customers the option to pay now to secure a certain number of early delivery slots for the Vulcan once it completes its beta testing.

As we get closer to drupa 2024, the anticipation around Highcon’s solutions continues. For converters and brands keen to stay at the forefront of the industry’s digital transformation, we invite you to witness firsthand the impact of our digital die cutting solutions on the industry.

Connect with us

• View the full presentation here
• Schedule a meeting at drupa to experience the groundbreaking solutions in action
• Get more information about the Vulcan program
• Reach out directly for an in-depth discussion on how Highcon can transform your business