Kim Lagos’ Tailor Made Packaging has slowly grown over the last few years supplying fruit and vegie boxes to growers across the state but now with the purchase of a new Century 1650 Die Cutter the business is ready to expand into new areas.

The business, on NSW’s Central Coast, has been kept busy folding and gluing printed boxes supplied through international conglomerates for the produce sector for the last few years.

But Lagos is hoping to pivot into the plain packaging and point of sale markets with the new addition.

“I have always liked the idea of a flatbed die cutter because everybody was telling me that they give a really good cut and a great crease. So, I have been looking at that side of it for a couple of years and finally took the plunge and decided to buy one,” Lagos told Sprinter.

“We are now looking at getting ourselves into the packaging industry and manufacturing our own boxes – either short or long run work.

“We are not trying to replace the way we supply our fruit boxes. We don’t have the capability to print directly to the cardboard as yet, but there are other opportunities that we can look at for the future.”

Lagos is combining the new Century Die Cutter, purchased through Neil Southerington at Graffica, with a large format laminator to offer an expanded product offering and tap into the growing demand for Australian made products.

After lengthy research, Lagos decided on the Chinese-built Century Die Cutter as the feedback from other owners in Australia was extremely positive, and provided assurance to him that the machine could handle tough Australian conditions and was a reliable and value for money purchase.

So far the Century Die Cutter has been installed at 130 locations across Europe as well.

“I have done a lot of research and there are a few Century die cutters operating already here in Australia. This was really attractive to me because I didn’t want to buy a machine that nobody else had and be the guinea pig,” Lagos said.

“So, I had the confidence that it is already working in our environment here, it is working in Australian conditions and this gave me confidence to make the purchase. I spoke to a couple of people that have one and they were all telling me what good value the machine is.

“It’s a proven machine. There are a lot of Chinese machines that aren’t operating in Australia so the fact that a lot of guys are using this machine in Australia that sealed the deal for me.”

The new purchase means Tailor Made Packaging can expand through development into new market segments.

“We don’t really know where we fit in to this marketplace as we are pretty new to the manufacturing side of it, but we are just looking to capitalise on the shift to having things manufactured here in Australia,” he said.

Lagos said the experience of dealing with Southerington and the technicians at Graffica was superb.

“I am so happy with Graffica and all associated staff for the amazing trouble free install to the excellent training received. It has been a great experience,” Lagos said.

Graffica owner Neil Southerington commended the initiative taken by Lagos with the decision to expand with his own equipment and capitalise on the push for Australian made products.

“The Century Die Cutter is a perfect fit for Tailor Made Packaging because it has a great ROI, is very reliable and the people we have installing the machines and doing the training have a wealth of experience in this area,” Southerington told Sprinter.

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