Printing technology
Today’s printing technology is amazing. Instead of the manual process of creating a design, capturing the elements on photographic film, and assembling these elements manually, the modern printing operation uses digital imaging, computer based stripping and layout, and computer to plate (CTP) systems. For those printers involved in converting, the first sheets are ready for diecutting in a matter of hours instead of days.

Converting technology
Converting technology has kept up with the printing technology, with high-speed diecutting presses, incorporating stripping units, blanking units, and embossing units. Most of the equipment sold today for converting are computer controlled. These advances have been driven by demands for the highest quality and the fastest delivery.

Diemaking technology
But the technology of diemaking for many people has fallen behind, partly because this area has not advanced as rapidly or dramatically, but also because the diemaking takes a lower priority. High priority has been dedicated those areas perceived to be more critical to business: graphics and pressroom production.
It is important to place the same priority on speed and quality in every process of production. The tooling (dies) created for the converting process merit the same level of care and quality as the imaging that goes into the printing presses.
Just as prepress atomization for the printing process has been reduced from days to hours while improving overall quality and control, with same approach in die tooling, the finished product can press-ready in a fraction of the time.
With the new technology of for digital diemaking, nearly all of the manual processes formerly employed have been automated, from cutting the dieboard and stripping tools, to bending and processing the rule. With this equipment, companies can build dies up to five times faster, and because of their quality, the dies mount faster and last longer.
Engraved counterplates make ready in a fraction of the time compared to creasing matrix. An added benefit is better performance of the folding equipment.
Automation is also currently available for the nicking and rubbering of dies. This has been a low priority because in many dieshops the nicking and rubbering is performed by unskilled workers. What people fail to realize is that poor nicking and rubbering techniques are the major cause for premature failure of the die and for jamming in the die press.
Less common automation options include among others broaching, automatic mapping of ejection rubber and pick and place tables for stripping pins. 

CAD/CAM
All this technology holds at its core a group of software utilities collectively referred to as CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design / Computer Aided Manufacturing). Whereas Graphics software is concerned with forms and colors, CAD/CAM deals with precise positioning of lines, arcs, and other drawing elements, converting this information to machine control, adding critical production information such as trajectory, speed, tooling, etc. CAD, (Computer Aided Design) serves as the bridge between the worlds of Graphics and Computer Aided Manufacturing.
In both Printing and Converting, the most important element is the software driving all of the subsequent automated processes. For the printing industry, this has been graphic driven. But in the digital dieshop, particularly in regards to packaging the first priority must be the structural design of the package. Will the finished result be functional? The second consideration should be the production process. Does it take into account the resources and processes required to produce the desired result?
For effective control of the manufacturing process, there must a tight link between the graphics and CAD departments. Certainly the product begins with the design concept. This is developed using a traditional graphics package and then is turned over to the structural designer, who creates a dieline and press layout that the graphic designer in turn will use as a template for his press sheet.
Therefore the key to linking digital graphics to effective structural and manufacturing design is the industry specific CAD package. The first requirement of this type of package are filters to accurately transfer information to and from standard graphics packages. While graphics packages occupy themselves with Beziers and bitmaps, most manufacturing equipment works with lines and arcs. So often the information exported to CAD must be edited to make it suitable for diemaking. Raster images must be converted to vector. Lines that coincide must be deleted or fused. Beziers must be broken into arcs and lines, and short lines and arcs should be fused and smoothed. Layout of designs must be placed with pinpoint accuracy. These steps are essential to optimize the use of equipment such lasers, rule processors and bender, counter cutters, samplemakers and folder gluers.
The CAD package must also take into account proper structural design principals, taking into account the type and thickness of materials being converted, and include carton and box libraries, to allow for quick parametric creation of standard designs, which greatly reduce the time necessary for creating a proper structural design. The system should incorporate an editable database for thickness of material and take into account grain direction, flute direction (for corrugated materials) and orientation of the image (press or die side).
Most packages also take into account manufacturing processes, such as bridging, thickness of rule, etc. Several offer optional modules for creating dieboards with dimensions and mounting hole locations for standard presses. The best systems create strippers, counter-plates, locate nick, and design engineered ejection rubber, and even optimize the sheet use of the ejection material.
All of these features allow the designer to create a superior design, in much less time. Sending the design to a samplemaker before the press sheet is created helps to prevent costly errors before the job is printed. Finally, the CAD programs convert the information to send it to the various manufacturing devices, while creating, if required, appropriate job tickets and production reports.
Today’s modern converter is embracing technology in order to offer their clients the service they require. Unfortunately, when a company advertises with direct-to-press technology clients expect immediate results. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link. Diemaking has become the bottleneck of the conversion process. But with newer, more affordable, and more comprehensive technology available, the era of digital diemaking is here.

About the authors: Mike and Ellen Adams,
Michael Adams has 35 years of experience in the graphic arts industry, of which last the 20 have been dedicated to the processes of automation of the production of dies. In 1997, Michael was honored as the IADD Diecutter / Diemaker of the year. Ellen Adams is Vice President and technical salesperson for machinery and CAD at Adams Technologies.