Just in Time

Commercial die makers are adjusting to these trends as well. In more and more instances, packaging companies are starting to make their own dies by setting up their own in-house die shops. The advent of lower powered/lower cost, yet easy-to-operate laser systems has made this possible, along with automated rule processing and bending systems. Although one might construe this as a threat to commercial die makers, David Buckley, president of Data Technology, Inc., disagrees. “In most cases the installation of a low-powered laser system doesn’t actually compete with the commercial diemakers. In fact it can actually help them on account of the fact that [the in-house shops] are now able to burn ‘emergency’ jobs, eliminating potential pressure between the customer and vendor. Therefore, I don’t see it impacting the commercial diemakers to the point of seriously affecting their businesses.”