Only Die Cutter Of Its Kind Installed At Curtis Packaging

By Kendra Bobowick

They’ve got the only one in the North America.

Rolling slowly and strenuously through Newtown and into the Curtis Packaging parking lot in Sandy Hook on May 8 was a Heidelberg die cutter shipped from Germany, where it was manufactured.

“This is the cream of die cutter manufacturers,” Curtis Chairman and CEO Donald Droppo said. The machine cuts printed sheets into individual boxes. As many as 20 labels can be printed on a sheet.

The $2 million arrival is a lone machine in North America and can accommodate sheets larger than the traditional sizes, he explained. The die cutter will also boost productivity.

The Heidelberg is not only unique for being the only one in North America, it also has a different way of cutting, embossing, and scoring the large sheets filled with printing that will eventually become boxes to hold perfumes and other products.

Once the sheet is printed, it goes to the die cutter, which cuts it into boxes. Letters can be raised from its surface, or embossed, and the scoring is pressed into the sheet where the boxes will fold, explained Mr Droppo.

Along with a new printer that has boosted Curtis Packaging’s production by 50 percent, the new die cutter matches the company’s increase in volume. Business has doubled in the last four years, Mr Droppo said. The new machine also offers a precision to customers filling the boxes.

“The boxes go to the customer and are put on high speed fillers, so when their machine is running fast the precision of the die cutter is critical,” he said. The filler is the product inside the box. Currently Curtis Packaging is making boxes for several celebrity lines of perfumes.

The Journey

The cutter had been “on the ocean for seven or eight days” before landing in New Jersey from Germany, Mr Droppo said. The two-piece, multiton apparatus then needed to follow a specific route from New Jersey to Newtown.

“It’s because of its weight,” Mr Droppo said. The top half of the machine, which weighs six tons, is the size of a small room. The bottom half, weighing an incredible 38 tons, looks like a tangled jungle gym of iron construction beams and metal panels.

Planners had to find a route with bridges that could handle the load, Mr Droppo said. They also needed special permits for the machine’s transportation.

“I was amazed when I saw it,” he said.

After spending several days on the ocean, then making its way from New Jersey, the machine posed another puzzle once it arrived.

Mr Droppo needed to get his new die cutter indoors. Although Curtis Packaging has a large loading dock door, it was just shy of being large enough.

“We needed 12 feet, eight inches of clearance. We only had 12 feet,” he said. Employees removed the door, dismantled part of the building, and got the machine into the warehouse.

Condor Industries Riggers, an industrial rigging firm from New Jersey, handled the transport. A Condor crew maneuvered the die cutter from one truck to another using a crane and handheld ropes. The first truck was designed to manage the cutter’s excessive weight during transportation, and another truck was used to drive it into the warehouse. Once inside, the Heidelberg would be settled into its permanent position using skates, said John Jiusto, vice president of manufacturing. He had traveled to Germany to see the machine at work and make the approvals for purchase, he said.