CGR Products has actively been die cutting high volume parts for more than 40 years. To accommodate either very large die cut parts, or supplying parts in a prolific fashion, we use a process called “Large Format Die Cutting”
Equipment
CGR Products utilizes two Bruno die-cutting presses. Bruno presses are made in the USA and used by large manufacturing companies throughout the world, primarily in the automotive and gasket industries. These presses cut against a flexible conveyor belt to move raw material and the die cut parts along in an automated fashion.
Both presses use steel rule dies as the cutting method. CGR Products creates and maintains all our steel rule dies in house. These dies are typically made with heavy gauge and long length steel rule to accommodate thicker materials. These presses can hold a die up to 84″ x 75″ or roughly 7ft x 6ft.
Process
The process is similar to what is found in most die cutting operations but on a much larger scale. Raw Materials in Roll form or Sheet form are fed into the front side of the presses. Most flexible materials such as rubber, foam, and Thinsulate can be fed in multiple layers providing more throughput per cycle.
The raw material advances under the cutting platen via the conveyor belt. With the die attached to the top of the platen, a “stroke” is made. The steel rule die cuts through the raw material down to the conveyor belt. Once cut, the material advances out on the conveyor belt and a new cycle will start again. The die cut parts at the back end of the machine will be taken off the conveyor belt and packaged.
Watch our Large Format Cutting in Action:
Advantages
For us at CGR Products, we are primarily cutting flexible materials and typically utilize these machines in two different ways.
- To cut very large parts that no other machine can convert.
- To cut very high volumes of parts that no other machine can convert efficiently.
To expand on large parts, let’s consider the insulation for a vehicle door panel. The non-woven raw material comes in rolls and wide widths. Typically, the die can be nested so the entire vehicle door panels can be cut in one single stroke. If the material can be layered, then you can greatly increase your throughput. These die cut insulation panels can then be stacked in returnable containers that go directly to the OEM.
For high volume parts, the process will be more complex. The number of die cavities can be immense and the throughput can be monumental. For example, we die cut millions of foam filtration parts. With a standard die cutting press we could get 12 cavities on a single die. With our Bruno die we have 264 cavities. That is a difference of 252 parts per stroke and with simple math, the throughput numbers to keep up with demand add up easily. It takes CGR Products years of experience running large cavity dies while maintaining high quality, to maintain these stupendous volumes.
Cutting high volumes of parts are what we do best and set us apart from our competitors. Our large format cutting operation has its own dedicated shipping dock with 7 bays. This allows for truckload quantity operations of unloading one set of trucks while filling another set of trucks. CGR Products has the ability to work with our customer’s computerized interfaces and portals, allowing order to flow directly to our large format cutting department.
