Applications for digital die-cut images are numerous. This colorful outdoor wayfinding standee, for a large music festival, was created from Sintra and die-cut using a router. Note the heavy duty construction of the aluminum stand brackets. (Image courtesy of Pixus Digital Printing)

The answer is very simple, and can be found by asking another question: What do you need the unit to do and how much do you expect to run on the cutter? If your main goal is to cut boards from your flatbed printer, then you need to consider the speed of the printer. Many printers are lucky if they can produce four boards an hour, so if the $105,000 cutter can do eight boards per hour, then why should you consider a $150,000 unit that does 20? Let’s be real here people, these cutters only have a few blades and as long as your application needs are met, what difference does it make? The main flatbed cutter blade options are:

 

• Kiss Cut—For cutting through vinyl but not through the release liner. Performs the same function as a traditional vinyl cutter.

 

• Drop Blade—For cutting through foam board, Coroplast, and scoring polystyrene and other thin/soft boards.

 

• Oscillating Blade—This blade is best used on thicker, softer boards like Gator and foam board at thicknesses of .5" and more.

 

• Router—Just about everything that is a board can be cut with the router, if the unit is powerful enough. Most shops with digital die cutters tend to run the router most of the time. 

 

And, just to be clear, the router is the slowest part of the operation, and the most expensive part of the machine. Plus, you must understand how the various blades cut—slice, up and down, spindle speed and cutting speed. 

 

Projects like this one—where we created colorful pinwheels for a client—are the fun part of owning a digital die cutter. We get to design images that fit together, have shape and depth-and that blow our clients away. And in the process, we make more money. Now that’s fun!

THE FUN PART

Before I do my ROI on these machines, we must first discuss the fun part. Do you find that making money is fun? I sure do. Well, nothing in this business makes more money than a digital die cutter. It makes more money by taking a plain print and adding life to it. Take a plain beer bottle and print it on a flat square board—boring! You can get maybe $60 for a 24" x 36" of a beer bottle, if you’re lucky. Now, die-cut this same beer-bottle image and you can get about $90. Now that’s what I call fun!

 

For me, the digital die cutter brought fun back to my design department. We now get to design images that fit together, have shape, have depth. Basically, it gives us the ability to blow away our clients! And in the process, make more money. 

 

It makes me sad (and a little mad) to go to a shop that has a flatbed printer but does not have a digital die cutter. The shop might be cutting out 22" x 28" boards, masking off the bed so the boards stay in place when printing, and then they say “we are saving money with this flatbed printer.” I honestly don’t think so. I don’t believe you can save money printing on a flatbed unless you also have a digital die cutter. Think about it—the labor cost, the printer maintenance, the ink cost, and the machine payment will reduce the net profit guaranteed over the option of printing on a good-old solvent printer. In my opinion, flatbed printers have their success because of the digital die cutters—end of story.

 

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

When considering the ROI story for owning a digital die cutter, it’s a good idea to look at it from a number of different angles. 

 

Digital die cutters are quite versatile in that you can switch out blades for various applications. The kiss cut blade is great for cutting through vinyl without cutting the release liner (similar function as a traditional vinyl cutter); the drop blade is used for cutting through thin foam boards and other soft sheets; the oscillating blade is best used on thicker soft-core boards like Gator; and the router will cut just about everything.

• Sales—I am able to get 20 percent more for a print that has been die cut than for one that has not. Any business that has a die cutter should be selling over $400,000 per year to justify the expense of the cutter. So, if 25 percent of the jobs are run on the flatbed and die cut out, you stand to make $20,000 more per year. And so you get this number, this is 100 percent net profit!

 

• Labor—No question; a digital die cutter works faster, harder, and with more accuracy than two employees. So the minute you have determined you need to hire one more person in the finishing department of your company, order a digital die cutter. Here is how these numbers work, using an example of a $15 per hour finishing person (Table 1).

 

• Turn Time on Jobs—When I cut out banners, it takes two people on a glass light table, two eight-inch rulers, and a lot of time. For 100 banners at 30" x 96" it takes two of us over four hours to cut out these banners. The digital die cutter does it in less than one hour. So I have one person standing at the end catching the banners as they come off and rolling them. This is now one man hour vs. eight! What could you do with seven extra hours a day?

 

• Crunching the Numbers—Now, what does the payment look like for a digital die cutter? Since these machines run just about forever, I will amortize them over 60 months with an interest of eight percent (see Table 2). 

 

Precision cutting ability allows cutting of even very small objects.

So you can see that even if you purchased the best and fastest machine ($170,000) you are only paying a little more ($410) than the cost of a single employee for a machine that can outperform three employees. One more point: consider the fact that these machines do not collect overtime, do not take vacations, do not call in sick—and after the fifth year, they work for free!

 

THE FINAL WORD 

Work smart first, then work hard. A digital die cutter for your business is the smartest working machine you will ever own. Once you have one you will wonder how you ever made it without it. Good luck, and be smart with your money. I’ll see you on the show floor!