LasX Industries, Inc.

Kluge will demonstrate advancements in folding and gluing, laser cutting, foil stamping and UV coating at drupa 2016.

Just off Route 2 along the northern edge of Massachusetts are the past, present, and future of folding carton production. At Boutwell Owens, a folding carton printer and converter in the old New England mill town of Fitchburg, two massive Mitsubishi offset presses and some flatbed steel-rule diecutting machines of assorted vintages do much of the heavy lifting, while an HP Indigo 30000 and a new Highcon Euclid II digital cutting system take on a growing stream of short-run, fast-turn, prototyping and customized work.

The conference schedule for ICE USA includes workshops on web coating, handling and winding; keynotes by Thomas Blaige, Blaige & Company and Tony Carignano, Cytec Industries Inc.

The hi-tech technology is beginning to make headway in the diecutting industry, but it won't replace mechanical cutting methods altogether. THE DIECUTTING PROCESS is centuries old. While the equipment has progressed through the years, the basic method has remained the same—until now. Laser diecutting has made a splash at many trade shows around the world in recent years, as companies such as AB Graphic International and LasX Industries, Inc. market new laser diecutters, and HP and Mark Andy add the technology to their presses. Traditional mechanical methods of diecutting will never die out due to laser cutting's growth, but the newest equipment offers a