Digital cutting and creasing, an ongoing transformation

“As we look back on 2022 and reflect on our hopes for the new year ahead, one thing is clear – the changes bought about in 2022 will continue to shape the paperboard packaging and display industries and their supply chains into 2023,” says Shlomo Nimrodi, CEO, Highcon.

He continues, “We ended 2022 positively, announcing the strategic collaboration with Sealed Air Corp,who invested $8m in Highcon, and purchased a Beam 2C system. As part of this agreement, Sealed Air will be entitled to receive warrants for Highcon’s shares for $20m of purchasing of Highcon products and services during the first three years. This strategic move extending digital finishing technology to new applications, will enable us to move further and faster. Strategic collaborations with major industry players remains part of Highcon’s go to market strategy in 2023 and beyond.

“Over the last twelve months, we also announced a host of new customer installations and success stories from around the world. Customers, both large and small, are adopting digital manufacturing to serve a diverse job basket in the most effective way. Highcon’s digital cutting and creasing systems enable converters to efficiently produce and supply packaging and display for leading consumer brands, as well as the agility to provide custom boxes ordered through dedicated e-commerce and web-to-pack sites in small to medium batch quantities.”

Nimrodi continues, “One of the most significant points to note in 2022 is the repeat business we have seen from existing customers. By now we have customers that purchased their second, third and fourth system, all in a relatively short period of time.

“Last year, we partnered with various innovative companies including Tilia Labs, introducing AI-software to our systems enabling dynamic ganging of jobs on the fly, moving from the speed of a single customer job to optimising the throughput of the manufacturing line over a shift. We also launched HighConnect, our cloud-based performance reporting system for remote diagnostics and preventive maintenance. Both solutions support a digital manufacturing strategy, allowing our customers to drive production efficiencies, remove bottlenecks and optimize production. With Highcon’s digital manufacturing process, you don’t need to worry about dies or minimum order quantities. Moreover, production is optimized for an entire shift rather than individual jobs. The result is fewer setups/makereadies are needed while handling more diverse orders simultaneously.”

He concludes, “I’m sure 2023 will bring its challenges too, the most significant of these for Highcon being the possibility of postponed investments decisions due to the difficult business climate, the energy crisis and general economic weakness. To those who are hesitant, I would advise, it is time to do something different to enable you to better cope with the ever-changing market conditions and increased uncertainty. There is no better time to make such decisions and Highcon can certainly provide you with an edge in such market conditions. While there are challenges ahead, I am confident that we, as a team, will continue to deliver unparalleled product, service and support to our customers and to the industry.”

 

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