Just in Time

The answer? According to Weidhaas, the answer is education. “If you take into consideration what gives you a quick set-up time, it comes back to training, it comes back to equipment. Having equipment that can accomplish a fast setup means selecting the right tooling to put into the press.” Customers often receive the artwork for a box or package they want to cut, and just send that file to a diemaker to make the die to handle the project, essentially hoping for the best. “Nine times out of ten that die will come back, and it will be made wrong, whether it’s the type of rule used, or the bevel, or the ejection rubber. All of those things, if made incorrectly, increase the load on the machine,” says Weidhaas. Increasing the load on the machine translates into longer set-up times. “Instead of being able to set up a job in nine or ten minutes, it might take 90 minutes. So the trend is to get better educated in the selection of the die, the communication between the customer and the die maker, and purchasing machinery that reduces set-up times,” he says.