Engineering more margin
Should you be looking at cardboard engineering as an adjunct to your business now that technology makes it a feasible option? Sophie-Matthews Paul investigates.
Manufacturers of today’s cutting tables used for cardboard engineering have come from different industrial sectors. Yet all rely on similar principles relevant to packaging applications where success is determined on the accuracy of the operation. Even a simple cuboid box is dependent on precision paths so that end assembly produces a clean, usable finish and, as applications have become more complex, so the need for reliable results increases. In prototyping terms, what is generated digitally for trial purposes can then be converted, if preferred, to more conventional cutting dies and formes for long runs. In typical packaging scenarios, this is a common practice; for point-of-sale, where the same principles apply, the volume of the end job will be dependent on whether every piece is cut on a computer driven table or finished using analogue methods.
Cardboard engineering, per se, is generally associated with modelling, or crafting, a finished product from a single piece of pre-cut, scored or creased stock. Vaguely reminiscent of the days when one could cut out colourful flat shapes from cereal packets to assemble animals or cars, the process today comprises the construction, from a sheet of card stock, corrugated, foam or other suitable material, of a product which will fold and slot into a three-dimensional shape. Generating a one-dimensional shape which is suitable for conversion either relies on a particularly astute sort of brain, such as that of Hungarian Arzén Tornyai who can design anything folded or creased from sweet wrappers through to office furniture. He transfers his initial creations into computerised data which is then generated into a prototype using his EskoArtwork Kongsberg cutting table. Not everyone has Tornyai’s capability and, thus, there are software programs designed to enable three-dimensional results ranging from relatively simple box and carton constructions through to more elaborate display stands. Multiple elements can be generated that can slot together without the need for adhesive, and printed jobs can be produced that ensure that text and graphics are included in the correct dimension and in the right place when finished. Adopting more of an outline principle to that used for the printing of vector and bitmapped information for graphics, CAD/CAM grew to become a familiar pair of acronyms in their own right. Computer aided design has, at its heart, the ability to design curves and lines in a form which can be output for industrial functions, such as the data needed for machining. Newer programs enable two-dimensional vector based creations to be generated so that the original concept can be viewed on screen in its final three-dimensional form. The viewer can rotate the image freely so that it can be seen from any angle, thus saving time and errors when the finished job has been cut, folded and assembled. Traditionally, CAM (computer aided manufacturer) took the data produced in the computer aided design process and used it to control the tool being used to cut, or machine, the application.
Not surprisingly, this type of production was modified accordingly and found its way into many different industries. Long before the notion of cutting and creasing digitally produced graphics became the norm, the combination of computer aided design with the capabilities of plotters found their way into the technical design stages of a vast range of applications. These included aerospace and the automotive sector, both serving to be prime examples of why absolute precision is vital. These also demonstrated how pre-empting the complexities of different shapes and fabrication could reduce costs and increase efficiencies in the development stages.
Computerised sign-making also played a part in seeing flatbed tables make the move to graphics. After the massive influx of vinyl cutting systems increased with the advent of a usable Windows-based graphical interface, and roll-fed units were accepted methods for producing accurate vector-based results, so CNC routers and engravers became the norm for working with rigid materials. Precision became so exact that inlaid text and logos could be generated from the same data knowing that one material would fit snugly into the other to produce a smooth finish.
As part of the finishing process, it was inevitable that wide-format digital print would also benefit from XY contour cutting and Z-axis production, the latter already in use in the routing sector. The prime principles of working in three dimensions is similar but, for printed graphics and fine-tuned packaging, the abilities to perform functions such as creasing and partial cutting combined with absolute and correct positioning on the material are vital considerations in this part of the process.
The manufacturers that have earned their laurels in the wide-format digital print industry, and in associated packaging areas, include names such as Zünd and EskoArtwork Kongsberg. Worthy of mention, too, is Roland whose integrated print-and-cut technology incorporated into its VersaUV LEC-330 and new LEC-540 UV-curable units has been put to good user in prototyping smaller or scaled designs for mock-ups.
These companies are strong examples of manufacturers who’ve become strong players in today’s cardboard engineering markets because their technology originated in pen and knife plotting. Thus using an algorithm to work across an XY axis was familiar, and adding a third, X axis, was not an unfathomable task. Zünd’s entry into the market was in 1984 when the business, which focused primarily on marketing Wild flatbed plotters within Europe, branched out into extending the productivity of these units. This initially involved automating the handling of roll-fed materials but led to the design of extra tools for cutting and routing. By the end of the decade, Wild and Zünd’s collaboration ceased and, during the Nineties, the latter started to produce its own range of cutting plotters. We all know Zünd subsequently moved into the production of flatbed printers but it eventially moved back to concentrate on cutting systems.
The name of Kongsberg has also become dominant in the cardboard engineering sector. Its somewhat chequered ownership finally resulted the company being brought under the EskoArtwork umbrella. This stewardship has, of course, been particularly beneficial because of the latter’s strong presence in the packaging and graphic arts’ markets.
Now known as EskoArtwork Kongsberg, this Norwegian operation was originally part of a military manufacturing base before moving through a succession of ownerships, including Barco Graphics. The seeds of today’s company spent its formative years manufacturing drafting tables for shipping yards before moving into the pre-press area for printing mapping systems, and for producing engraving clichés for flexo printing. Machines were developed for the automotive and aerospace industries and the company finally got a foothold in packaging in the Eighties.
Starting with a request from paper and packaging giant, SCA, Kongsberg was asked to produce a prototyping cutting table. Adapting its existing technological knowhow and adding the specific elements needed proved to be a success; by the end of the 1980s, the company was completely focused on this industry sector. Instead of trying to adapt existing drafting tables, it went for a purpose built option and, by doing this, gained greater competence more quickly. Today, these two examples of specialist companies have specific ranges of tables and associated tools which fulfil the requirements of packaging and display applications. Both EskoArtwork Kongsberg and Zünd have taken on board the idiosyncrasies of cardboard engineering and the materials employed beyond the more traditional flutes and corrugateds. Combining a printed element into precision cutting requires cutting tools to acknowledge registration points so that the blade or tool doesn’t stray from the parameters of the graphic or original design.
The resulting capabilities of these precision cutting solutions have seen greater versatility and creativity appear that turn simple shapes and configurations into complex output which is easy to produce repeatedly to identical tolerances. Whilst packaging is an obvious candidate, particularly when considering using a single piece of corrugated or foam both to enclose and protect contents, similar principles apply to the graphical world of three-dimensional printed structures used in the display industry.
Today’s computer-driven cutting tables are solid and reliable. Increasingly they are becoming an essential element of the all-round services available from display producers and packaging specialists, whether for prototypes, small lot or more generalized precision output. These machines can be used for nesting to optimise material use, as a quick and simple cutting option when outputting several different or repeat prints onto a single sheet of substrate, and for adding complexity and practical application to a box or folded carton.