The partnership between Mark Andy Print Products (MAPP) and Wink has created strategic opportunities for converters in the UK and Ireland to fully capitalize on the benefits of flexible diecutting for narrow web applications.

Introduced earlier this year, Performance Flex Die flexible dies are manufactured by diecutting specialist Wink at its facility in Germany and offered into the UK and Ireland by MAPP, a provider of equipment, parts, and consumables to the print industry. They are suitable for cutting a variety of label shapes and sizes, for kiss cutting, cut-through and other diecutting processes, and can be used in semi- and full-rotary and flatbed systems.

MAPP’s Performance Flex Dies can be provided with MC or MCR coatings, laser hardened, or with a non-stick coating to minimise transfer of adhesive and ink residues.

The Performance Flex Die range forms part of MAPP’s growing Performance Line portfolio of parts and consumables. These products are available to all converters and suitable for all equipment, regardless of manufacturer.

Globally, the flexible die market is projected to approach $200 million at the start of the next decade. This represents a strong CAGR of 6.8%. Flexible dies provide a number of benefits to label converters, from being light weight and more affordable than solid dies, requiring less storage space, and being quicker to manufacture and dispatch, to suitability for a wide range of label materials and providing better economies of scale in a dynamic industry such as narrow web label converting. At the same time, flexible dies need to be engineered precisely using advanced materials that deliver consistent results that are comparable in quality to solid dies, if not surpassing them.

Using Wink’s 35-plus years of expertise in manufacturing high-precision tooling means MA Performance Flex Die flexible dies combine all of these benefits, and more.

Andy Clarke, MAPP European operations director, says, “We are committed to raising quality standards across the label industry. Diecutting is an important area for the industry, with every label touched by tooling at some point in its journey from the jumbo roll to the applicator.

“With flexible dies being essential to the label industry and its continued evolution into a streamlined and highly efficient manufacturing sector, having access to reliable and rapid delivery of high-quality tooling is of utmost importance and gives converters an edge in the highly competitive label industry.

“Our partnership with Wink positions MAPP as the pre-eminent supplier of diecutting technology, with converters in the UK and Ireland benefiting directly from the nature of our partnership. This grants MAPP customers priority access to high-quality and precisely engineered flexible dies at a competitive price and available with a 24- to 48-hour turnaround time. This means you can order today and convert tomorrow,” says Clarke.