According to Iqbal Bhagat, manager, sales, Die Hard Dies, the firm’s flexible rotary dies for online and offline label punching is one of a kind in India, which marries technology from Europe, and is also manufactured under European standards. Bhagat said the company, established in 2009, is the biggest die shop in Asia to have such expertise.

And, how it all started is no less interesting. Chaitanya Packaging, a part of Tulsi Group, in business for the past 30 years, had been importing dies from Germany. “But the process was not only expensive, but also time-consuming. So, we wanted a cheaper option,” said Bhagat. “This is when we came up with the idea of manufacturing Indian-made dies.”

Bhagat said the company’s facility in Guntur has the skills to match tolerances as close to European standards as possible and can achieve 100% accuracy in terms of die-cutting.

At Labelexpo, the company, which has a wide product portfolio in folding carton segment, also showcased its die-cutting solutions for corrugation and folding carton industry. It manufactures flatbed dies with laser engraved dies, stripping tools and Braille blocks. In the corrugation segment, the company manufactures rotary dies.  

On an average in a month, Die Hard manufactures 450 rotary label dies at its factory in Guntur, all being on-demand, including 150 of rotary dies for corrugation industry and total 1,200 dies for folding carton industry. As Bhagat claimed, the company has seen a 15-20% increase in the requirement of dies as compared to the last financial year.

The dies usually take 48-72 hours for manufacturing and shipping until it reaches the end-customer. “This, when you compare to a German-made die, which takes usually two to three weeks, is an ideal option for any converter,” he concluded.