Die-cutting is super popular in terms of manufacturing and packaging. You may not know what die cutting is though, and let’s be honest, you’re probably not the only person with these questions. Here, we’ll go over the process, and what it means for your packaging as well. Die cutting is utilized to offer custom packaging that’s tailored to the experience that’s there, offering win-win situations for a lot of people. 

What Die IS 

Die is the first thing to understand. What is it? It’s basically a tool that’s specialized to shape and cut the materials that are used to package the items, and it uses a press to make this possible. Basically, this is a type of “mold” that shapes the way your packaging is cut out, and this is the first step that people are able to take. A die of course uses tools that makers will make to create a die that’s custom before it’s put on the press. You then finalize the die after the first batch of this is actually cut. 

Can you use these more than Once? 

Of course. This is something that actually costs a lot more if you don’t use it more than once. You only have to pay for the die one time, which is a lot cheaper than making a bunch of different die each time. The die for this is something that can be used a lot of times and it saves you a lot of money over time. 

Let’s say for example that you’ve got a bunch of products that have the same structure of packaging, but the artwork is a little different? The box only needs to have one die for this, so you’re saving a ton of money, especially with larger orders. 

The Process 

Think of this like a giant cookie cutter that you press into the material that you want to make specific custom packaging from. The technological advancements in this allowed for effective and easy designs for these boxes. So let’s take this example. First thing you do is make a packaging outline that’s made through computer aided design, and it allows for the drawings to be digitized directly onto the dieline, and then get transferred to a board that’s made out of wood. 

The dieline then gets burned into the surface of your board through the use of a laser cutter that’s accurate and offers great outlines as well. Basically, they map out everything and give the exact cut and fold lines, the bleed lines, along with the safe zones, in order to properly map this out before you move on with the actual cutting process of this too! 

This is pretty simple, and it allows for better accuracy. The die boards will sit below the material during this process, and then, it offers exact and accurate precision here. basically, the die boards are a guideline for the blade that lets it go through the material in a correct manner, allowing the cuts to be accurate and straight. This also offers a variety of different types of ways to make this work, including the following: 

• Thorough cutting directly through your material 
• Scoring which leaves an indent, impression, and partial cut. 
• Creasing which makes a fold for really good construction. 
• Perforating which makes it easy for you to tear. 

This has a lot of different types of benefits of materials and designs. 

This process is wonderful for corrugated packaging, including the construction and use of this, to make it even better and to make it simpler for you too.