Impact Converting & Systems Solutions announced that it will open a repair facility in Santa Fe Springs, CA, USA, that will help converters extend the life of their steel rule dies. The facility is expected to open in late summer and will serve customers in the western United States. Impact is a single source for all converting needs and transforms almost any type of material for diverse applications using the broadest selection of tooling in the industry.

Steel rule dies (SRD) operate by pressing a sharp steel cutting blade into material against a flat surface, like a cookie cutter pressing into dough. They are designed for modern, high-speed presses and are available in several versions, with stainless steel, fiberglass or aluminum top and bottom plates. While other types of dies can be sharpened, the knife in an SRD must be removed and replaced (“reknifed”) to extend its life without negatively affecting performance.

“Reknifing a steel rule die is a cost-effective way to potentially gain many millions of impressions from the same die base,” says Travis Moellers, sales director of Steel Rule Dies for Impact. “We are seeing extended life of our premium die with the initial rule into 2+ million and these dies can be re-knifed 10 times.”

The Santa Fe Springs repair and reknife operation is co-located with an existing Impact facility that manufactures narrow web rotary dies for the label industry. Impact also offers repair and reknife services at its facility in Stone Mountain, Georgia for customers in the Southeast US Impact designs and manufactures new steel rule dies at its facilities in Chicago and Greensboro, NC, USA.

“This new facility will make it easier for West Coast customers to get reknifing done locally, so they can get the die back into service quickly with less downtime,” he adds.

Minimizing downtime is of particular concern to converters who use SRDs because they typically run high volumes that require tight tolerances. SRDs are used in all industries—from pharmaceuticals to automotive to consumer goods– and are especially cost-effective for corrugated and other packaging products. Some examples of typical SRD applications include folding cartons such as fast-food containers and pizza boxes, or adhesives such as bandages or nicotine patches.

According to Moellers, re-knifing is also ideal for converters whose operations are growing. “We can help converters keep their steel rule dies in top condition to meet growing demand until they are ready to invest in higher-volume, faster-speed rotary dies,” he says, adding that Impact has the capability to provide support from original design and start-up through to full-scale production.

Impact Converting & Systems Solutions was formed in 2021 when six leading US tool and die companies – including Bernal, Midway Rotary and Atlas – came together under one brand umbrella.