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Making the Cut Matter
Date: 08/17/2007
The distress phone calls received at this die-cutting plant in Washington State often come late in the production process, following a setback or near-disaster. The voices at the end of the line sound anxious and apologetic. They invariably ask the same question: "I know we're calling you late in the process but can you help us out of a jam?"
When developing containers essential to the delivery of sensitive products, packaging firms nationwide are discovering the importance of hiring professionals whose expertise puts them a cut above all competitors.
And some of the largest integrated packaging firms are now out-sourcing unique projects to specialty firms whose plant flexibility and engineering savvy make them a sure bet for getting the job done right. To understand the reason for this shift, consider the dilemma faced by Kodak's Health Imaging Division when creating a liner for its reusable medical X-ray film cartridges.
Kodak had contracted a die-cutting firm to produce flat, high-density polyethylene liners to protect film that lies in X-ray trays. But 15 to 20 percent of the liners received were defective, due to the presence of hair particles, dust and scrap material that had accumulated during the cut.
Ralph L. Clark remembers receiving Kodak's call for help.
"When they came to us, they came with a video of what they'd been experiencing with other suppliers. Either what they wanted wasn't communicated well, or the company they'd hired simply didn't have the experience to supply it," he said. "The beginning requirement they asked of us was, 'what can you do to help us eliminate these problems? What can you do to make certain it doesn't happen?'"
Clark, vice president of Cowlitz Container & Die Cutting Inc., said he took the same tact with Kodak that he takes with all distress calls: he gathers his staff of veteran cutters, and together they seek a solution that may include a change in methods or materials or both.
Clark's first decision was to cut the polyethylene on a steel rule-cutting die. Is this a rare method? No. Was it a radical departure from the previous firm's approach? Not necessarily. But cutting a substrate like polyethylene can be difficult to do in the mass quantities -- then clean and pack fifty to a bundle -- required for the Kodak project. Clark surmised that the previous firm may have encountered problems simply because their die cutter, perhaps qualified to cut gasket materials, lacked experience applying a steel rule to plastic.
Next, Clark and company designed tools and a process that would cleanly cut the flat sheet plastic liners and dispose of scrap. Once cleaned, the liners were shot with ionized air and vacuum packed. This allowed the liners to be shipped as a finished product, to be assembled with X-ray trays elsewhere. The result? Zero rejects and Cowlitz met Kodak's every deadline.
"The process that we go through, from cutting to packaging in those large bundles, is something most die cutters can't do. They're not set up for it," Clark said, adding,
"Cleanliness is not just the function of the tool cut, but the training of the people you have running the project."
Like any veteran die cutter, Clark would prefer to have a shot at planning a project before it reaches a point of crisis. But too often prospective clients, in their rush to make delivery, don't properly assess their needs and therefore hire a die cutter that lacks the special capabilities necessary to assure success. It's like electing surgery then choosing the wrong medical specialist: the outcome may be messy.
"A high percentage of the time they're in the middle of the project when they come to us. It denies you all the pre-design opportunity to solve the problem before it occurs," Clark said.
Mind Over Matter
Some firms with packaging needs may be unwitting victims of the general perception that die cutting is nothing more than a "cookie cutter" process. The reality is tool making is a challenging profession, a mixture of art and engineering, which belies such simplistic comparisons. And some die cutting firms have been hurt in the past by price wars that pitted knowledge against the unrealistic expectations of the buyer.
But all that may be changing as suppliers like Cowlitz Container & Die Cutting make inroads with special-needs companies, and even large integrated packaging firms that may be wise to out-source unique projects that their high-volume set-ups can't accommodate. Although it may appear that the larger firm is giving away business, in fact the opposite is true.
Clark said integrated packaging outfits come to him to solve problems they don't have time to address. For example, a huge plant that pumps out tons of brown boxes for the moving industry isn't going to shut down its operation to run a 500-piece test for a client. Nor would it necessarily be nimble enough to process short, small volume, and quick runs. But Cowlitz is engineered to be flexible. So Cowlitz runs the quirky project, and the larger firm takes credit for makings its client happy. A happy client is a loyal client.
"It keeps their client in a single-source mindset: they'll keep coming back," Clark said. "We're seeing a lot more requests for quotations from larger firms."
Another key to success, Clark said, is material utilization. A veteran die cutter may save its client large sums of money by delivering an order using less material than expected. For example, Clark said his company cuts a lot of chipboard, often utilizing T-shaped blanks. By drawing on a combination of expert tool design and experience setting up the equipment, Cowlitz recently cut material usage by 28 percent.
"It gets their attention when we get in there and care about the end result," he said.
Cowlitz Container & Die Cutting has been providing services since 1971. Through the years, Cowlitz has diversified to offer a broad spectrum of capabilities customized to serve a multitude of industries. Services include but are not limited to laminating and sheeting, and cutting presentation folders that can be folded and glued at their 22,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. They also cut high impact plastics used in the graphic signage, medical OEM and auto industries.
Clark said he relishes the role of problem solver. And, even after decades of experience, he believes each "crisis" is an opportunity to learn more about his profession.
"I especially enjoy looking back over a project and analyzing what went well and what things should be looked at for next time," he said. "Of course it's nice to get paid for your efforts. But our focus is more on customer satisfaction. That's the real reward."
For more information Cowlitz Container & Die Cutting Inc., call 800-318-8748. Or email ralph-ccdisplay@earthlink.net
Douglas Glenn Clark is a freelance writer in the Los Angeles area.
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