This document summarizes a presentation about digital finishing technologies for graphic arts businesses. It discusses how finishing solutions like cutting, routing, and laser technologies can help printers maximize profitability by enabling accurate and timely finishing. It provides examples of common graphics that benefit from finishing and discusses printer comments praising how finishing improves quality, increases capacity, and helps capture new business. The document also reviews available finishing technologies at various price points from different manufacturers and their integration with common printer workflows. It emphasizes that finishing solutions allow distributors to help printer clients expand opportunities and profitability.

1. September 11, 2013
Global Channel
Partners Summit

2. EXPAND PRODUCTION OPPORTUNITIES WITH CUTTING,
ROUTING AND LASER TECHNOLOGIES
EVERY super-wide-format digital printer NEEDS a digital
finishing solution in order to maximize his profitability via
accurate and on-time finishing with minimum cost
In today's marketplace, there are many companies that offer
devices to perform the cutting of complex shapes, but which
type of technology is the best for your business; which offers
quick ROI, functionality within existing workflows and the
chance for differentiation in crowded markets?
Selling such solutions allows a distribution channel to help its
printer clients to maximize their opportunities and increase
their profitability

3. PRESENTATION SUMMARY
 Specialty Graphics are different
 The “Harley” problem
 UV Printer Market and Differences
 Samples of the Specialty Graphics needing finishing
 Printers’ Comments
 The value of Finishing and Automated Workflow
 Distortions necessary to account for in finishing
 Discussion of available RIPs, Printers and Finishers and what you can
get for each price point.
 Conclusion

4. GRAPHICS ARE DIFFERENT
 They can’t be sold without Finishing
 They’re labor intensive, at best, with variable results
 Large prints are really hard to cut smoothly by hand, worse for
fabric
 Materials can now cost more than labor
 Design files don’t accurately represent the distortion evident in
the final print
 Faster grand format printers make finishing automation all the
more necessary
 There are only a very limited number of digital finishing
companies that don’t print, unlike the services readily available
for offset finishing.

5. THE HARLEY DAVIDSON PROBLEM
 Three dies were yielding 30% scrap
 Low, average and high humidity made more shape changes than only 3 dies
could handle
 The screen print shop manager asked if X-Y cutting tables could be used with
a camera system for achieving less scrap and being able to meet Harley’s gas
tank and fender graphic needs.
 From this need came the first vision enhanced cutting system from MGE in the
1999 time frame – i-cut™
 In 2002, with grand format digital printing hitting its stride, use of these
systems for digital graphics took off.

6. WHERE IS FINISHING MOST NEEDED?
The largest area for growth is in printed fabrics. These tend to be
up to 10ft. Wide and typical jobs may be20 ft. in length. Hand
cutting is not satisfactory.
One user has indicated that a job that took 28 hours with a
manual hot knife was completed in 45 minutes on a 10 X 20 ft.
laser cutting table.
The second largest growth area is for companies buying faster
and larger grand format printers who need both speed and
added width, plus operating efficiency.
Lastly, new printers who are buying their first grand format printer
and need a reasonable, yet high quality finisher are still growing
in the marketplace.
See Chart on next Slide
6

7. UV PRINTER MARKET GROWTH
Product Type 2010 Sales
2015 Sales
5 Year
Growth
COMMENTS
HEUVR2R
>$300k
281
440
57%
Fabric Growth
HEUVFB
>$125k
424
663
56%
Cut/Route
Growth
LEUVFB
<$125k
1,551
2,429
57%
Needs an ~
$100k
Finisher

8. PRINTER MARKET GROWTH – CUTTER NEEDS
 Between Zund and Kongsberg, alone, approximately 1,000 flatbed digital
finishers worldwide are being sold per year, mostly alongside the High End UV
Flatbed (HEUVFB) printers.
 These are sold primarily to the High End UV Flatbed buyers
 Per the prior chart, the Low End UV Flatbed (LEUVFB) printers are selling at 4X
the rate.
 This would indicate a latent need for 4X the units or roughly 4,000 per year with
North America probably representing 1/5 of the market or 800 units/year in 2015
 At least 100 systems per year are being sold into the fabric finishing
marketplace – HEUVR2R users
 With these varying needs, it is no wonder there are so many choices for
finishers available for your consideration depending upon what you print!
But be careful to evaluate your complete needs and the finisher’s ability to meet
them

9. WHAT KINDS OF GRAPHICS ARE
WE TALKING ABOUT?
Rolled vinyl and semi rigid plastics
Rolled fabric
Rigid boards, plastics and composites
Foams of varying densities and thicknesses
Banner Material
More …

10. TYPICAL GRAPHICS –
POP/SMALL SIGNS
CAN BE FLEXIBLE OF RIGID

11. TYPICAL GRAPHICS – DECALS/LABELS
THAT ARE THROUGH OR KISS CUT

12. KISS CUTTING OF VINYL

13. TYPICAL GRAPHICS – LARGER
RIGID MATERIALS

14. TYPICAL ROUTED GRAPHICS

15. TYPICAL POINT OF PURCHASE DISPLAYS
15

16. LASER CUTTING OF RIGID MATERIALS INSTEAD OF
ROUTING
Smart-X

17. LASER CUTTING OF GRAPHICS
KissCut Vinyl

18. LASER CUTTING OF NON-PRINTED
Gaskets

19. LASER AND/OR KNIFE CUTTING
Fabric for Clothing

20. FABRIC SIGNAGE – LASER OR ROTARY CUTTER
USED FOR FINISHING
Laser Cutting of many
materials doesn’t require
hemming…

21. FOAM CUTTING
Laser, Knife and Routing can all be used
depending upon type of foam

22. NESTED MATERIALS ALL IN PLACE
AND IN SUPER SIZES CAN BE HANDLED BY ALL

23. 5 to1
Market Drivers
20% attachment rate will grow with increasing printing speeds =
new bottlenecks in finishing = more cutters sold
digital presses sold in 2012 – 80% replacing older, slower
printers = increasing the demand for finishing thru-put
6,000
price for high-end digital
press – Good fit for
faster and wider cutters
with multiple tool
capabilities
$200,000 $2,000,000
$100,000$200,000
Medium priced
presses – Perfect
fit for new Digital
Cutters
That Do More for
lower prices

24. FINISHING BENEFITS
What are some of the driving factors to buying a digital
finisher?
What do Printers have to say?
How can we look at their results from the positive
influence of finishing workflow inside their
marketing and the production processes?

25. GRAPHICS ARE DIFFERENT
The alternatives cost more:
 Hand cutting and then laminating
 Sabre saw and saw horses
One cutting table customer noted that a
job that took 5 men 3 days by hand, was
completed in 1 day with 2 men.
 13 man days saved – over $650 in cost
 Typical system costs $2,000-$3,000 per month on a 5
year lease
The quality improvement is significant as
well
You do the math

26. ARE ERRORS VISIBLE?
The Human eye Can see errors in the order
of 1/1000 (.001) of an inch
Errors at the edge of a graphical shape
cause under cut and over cut edges, as well
as potentially cutting off important parts of
the image
Even digital print causes errors large
enough to be visible if not corrected

27. PRINTER COMMENTS
Richard Rudolph-Tango Graphics/EXL Prints:
 The bank made me run with a printer and no cutter for a year to prove I could pay
back the printer loan.
 Within 60 days of bringing in a cutter/router, we went from plenty of available capacity
to 50 hours per week use per machine because we never had to turn down a job.
 We wouldn’t be in business today if we didn’t have it. It is a “tool of the trade” that no
printer should be without.”
 It ensures a cleaner job than before and all cut lines are straighter.
 The system actually pays for itself in under a week of use per month, but it is worth
much more to the business.

28. PRINTERS’ COMMENTS
• Ron Clark (Ben Franklin Press)
• Guy Ladd (Reprographic Technologies)
“I can’t understand anybody buying a flat
bed printer and not pairing it with a flat
bed digital die cutter”

29. PRINTER COMMENTS
Jim Sullivan (BrandBoxx):
Our i-cut digital finishing system allowed
us to:
capture over $200,000 in gross profit in
year one that previously was spent
outsourcing finishing work,
add over $400,000 in top line sales that
we wouldn’t have received without i-cut’s
capabilities and
save between $115,000 and $230,000 in
real cost from spoiled work.”

30. MAJOR FABRIC PRINTER
 Using a laser cutter, we have
saved 7 employees per machine
shift and we no longer have sewers
waiting around to get work.
30

31. BENEFITS / JUSTIFICATION
DIGITAL FINISHING AUTOMATION
Reduce labor expense
Increase production capacity
Improve quality / reduce spoilage
Eliminate subcontracting
Maintain control / shorten lead times
Capture additional business with expanded
capabilities
Never turn down a job!

32. A SERVICE BUREAU STORY
 DICON was a cutting service bureau in Southern WI for over
8 years.
 By tracking all jobs, they were able to confirm a scrap level
of well under 2% consistently regardless of how the jobs
were printed.
 They proved that a profit could be made with digital
finishing when closing DICON, developed a “cloud-based”
product that ensures digital finishing users can estimate
accurately to ensure their jobs stay profitable
 When customers reached between $2,000 and $3,000 a
month in finishing, plus their shipping expenses, they
bought a cutting system and never looked back, using
DICON only for overloads.

33. WHAT TECHNOLOGIES SHOULD YOU
BE CONSIDERING




Vision Systems
RIPs
Laser/Knife/Router Finishers
Workflow
33

34. TYPICAL VISION CAPABILITIES AVAILABLE
IN THE MARKETPLACE
 Controller based – Position & Rotation
 MultiVision, OptiScout, Zund CutCenter,
Esko i-cut, Mvision and others – Position,
rotation and Compensation – some better
at graphics longer than the table and nonlinear errors than others
 How many register marks are enough?
Buyer beware: What will the next job you need to finish require for
accurate cutting?

35. PRINTER RIPS THAT HANDLE WORKFLOW
3M Graphic Maker
Caldera
Colorburst
ColorGate
Durst/Dice
Efi
Ergosoft
EskoArtwork
Gerber
Mimaki
Onyx
SAI/Scanvec
Wasatch

36. PRINTERS THAT WORK WITHIN THE
RIP WORKFLOWS
Agfa
DYSS
Durst
Gerber
HP/Colorspan,Indigo
&Scitex/NUR
Matan
Mimaki
Mutoh
Oce/Fuji
Sericol/Inca
Teckwin
Rastek/VUTEk/efi

37. $200K
The Goal: Most printers
see themselves as printers
first, and don’t want to
spend more for a finishing
solution than their printer
cost. The market should
allow them to choose a
cutter/finisher for every
speed and quality level
they require - all working
the same way Printers
$150K
Finisher
$100K
$75K
$50K
$100K
$200K
Printer
$400K
$600K
$1MIL
One Common Workflow Many Choices
Finishing Market Overview

38. CUTTERS/ROUTERS/LASERS THAT WORK
WITHIN THE WORKFLOW
Anderson (Q-KUT)
AXYZ
Cielle
DYSS
EskoArtwork/Kongsberg
Eurolaser
Gerber
Hanter Technology
Kern Laser
MCT/Blackman & White
Mecanumeric
Mimaki
Multicam
Teckwin
Trotec
Vytek Laser
Zund
More

39. TYPICAL SMALL FORMAT CUTTER
Zund S3
PR IC ED U N D ER $ 1 0 0 K

40. TYPICAL SMALL FORMAT LASER
Trotec Speedy 500
SMA LL LA SER S PR IC ED
U N D ER $ 1 0 0 K

41. TYPICAL ROUTER
AXYZ Camtech Router
R O U T ER S PR IC ED U N D ER $ 7 5 K ,
U P TO $ 1 0 0 K

42. TYPICAL CUTTER/ROUTER
Zund G3
T YPIC A L LY C O ST B ET W EEN $ 1 0 0 K A N D $ 2 2 5 K

43. TYPICAL LASER
Kern Laser Cutter/Engraver
TYPIC A LLY C OST B ETW EEN
%7 5 K A N D $ 1 5 0 K

44. TYPICAL LASER/CUTTER
Eurolaser 3XL 3200 with Laser and Zund Tangential Cutting knives, but no
Routing
T YPIC A L LY C O ST A B O VE
$275K

45. TYPICAL GRAND FORMAT LASER/CUTTER/ROUTER
MCT/Blackman & White MasterCut™ (up to 5M wide X up to 40M long or more) can
have both laser on one side of beam and cutter tools and/or router on the
other side
T YPIC A L LY C O ST $ 2 2 5 K A N D
UP

46. NEW MCT CUTTER/ROUTER /LASER
MCT/BW introduces new
Versa-Tech™ Cutter/Router/Laser
With sizes of 1.6M, 2.0M and 3.2M
Wide by 3.2M long
cutting areas
One system that does it all!
VAL U E PR IC E PO IN T O F U N D ER $ 1 3 5 K IN
5 X1 0 F O R MAT TO $ 2 1 0 K IN 1 0 X1 0 F O R M AT
W IT H L ASERTO MAT C H T H E M AXIM U M
PR IN T ER BU YER S’ N EED S

47. PRINTER (PSP) CONCLUSION
You have many choices for finishing
Choose ones that give you the most opportunity
for growth and profitability and make sure
that the manufacturer also understands your
workflow needs!
BUT CHOOSE DIGITAL FINISHING TO MAXIMIZE
BOTH YOUR PROFIT AND GROWTH

48. DISTRIBUTOR CONCLUSION
Pick the finishing product company
that gives you:
 the best breadth of product,
 Has a good relationship with its
customers, and
 works with a distribution partner as
a true partner, not just as another
outlet

49. CONTACT INFORMATION
Steve Aranoff
VP Business Strategy & Distribution
MCT, Inc. (Mikkelsen Converting Technology, Inc.)
700 W. Virginia St., #B110
Milwaukee, WI
Cell: 928-300-8757
Office: 928-282-4173
Fax: 775-254-5768
Skype: steve.aranoff