In this interview with The Packman, Rafiq Shaikh, sales and service leader, Kongsberg PCS, discusses how digital cutting is helping packaging converters respond to shorter runs, greater customization and increasingly diverse production requirements. He also looks at the evolving role of digital finishing alongside conventional die-cutting, and how automation, AI and connected workflows could shape the next generation of packaging production.
Mahan Hazarika: The packaging industry is under increasing pressure to deliver shorter runs, faster turnaround times, and greater customization. How do you see digital cutting technology reshaping the manufacturing landscape in response to these changing demands?
Rafiq Shaikh: Across India and South Asia, the rise of digitally native brands, eCommerce startups and direct-to-consumer (D2C) businesses is driving unprecedented demand for short-run, highly customized packaging. These companies launch frequent new products, seasonal campaigns and personalized editions, which makes agility more important than scale.
Digital cutting technology is reshaping the manufacturing landscape by enabling converters to produce high ‛die-quality’ output without investing in physical tooling, switch rapidly between multiple SKUs, and run profitable micro-batches. By removing the constraints of traditional die-making, digital cutting supports true on-demand production, faster prototyping and seamless integration with digital print workflows.
The result is a more flexible, responsive and cost-efficient manufacturing model that aligns perfectly with the fast-moving, multi-SKU business models now dominating the region.
Mahan Hazarika: Many converters continue to rely on conventional die-cutting for volume production. In your opinion, where do digital cutting tables create the greatest business value, and how do you see the balance between conventional and digital finishing evolving over the coming years?
Rafiq Shaikh: Conventional die-cutting will remain essential for long-run, high-volume production. However, as converters expand into ‛one-stop’ packaging services and new segments, larger companies are also investing in digital cutting to support them. For example, if a label converter adds a folding carton line or corrugated line, they need equipment that can handle a variety of materials and formats. This is where digital cutting tables create the greatest business value: they offer true substrate flexibility, simplify complex workflows, and are ideal for short runs, multi-SKU jobs and diverse packaging portfolios.
Looking ahead, digital finishing won’t replace conventional dies, but its role will continue to grow in prototyping, agile production and high-complexity work – creating a balanced, hybrid model where conventional handles scale and digital delivers responsiveness.
Mahan Hazarika: Packaging converters today are expected to improve productivity while maintaining profitability. What operational challenges do you believe digital cutting solutions are best positioned to solve?
Rafiq Shaikh: Digital cutting solutions address several key operational challenges for converters under pressure to improve productivity and protect margins. One of their biggest advantage is flexibility – digital tables eliminate tooling lead times, reduce setup time for short runs, and handle frequent SKU changes without disrupting workflow. This makes them ideal for converters entering new packaging segments, allowing them to test and validate rigid boxes, displays or new formats before investing in dedicated equipment.
Ultimately, digital finishing helps converters operate more efficiently across diverse materials, reduce operational risk, and serve a broader customer base from the same core equipment.
Mahan Hazarika: As customer expectations continue to evolve, what new capabilities are packaging buyers demanding from converters, and how are these expectations influencing investments in digital finishing technologies?
Rafiq Shaikh: With customer expectations continuously shifting, we are seeing more demand for flexibility – both in terms of materials and in terms of diversification. Digital cutting tables allows businesses to enter new market segments with lower investments and therefore lower associated risks.
But it’s not just about new market diversification, businesses are also seeking flexibility within their current segments. They want to be able to handle a greater variety of packaging formats and materials across short runs, while integrating higher levels of customization and personalization. These evolving expectations naturally favor digital cutting solutions that are able to grow alongside customer’s businesses, are easily reconfigurable and can work across multiple substrates.
Mahan Hazarika: Sustainability is now a business imperative rather than simply a compliance requirement. From your perspective, how can digital cutting contribute to more sustainable packaging production, both environmentally and economically?
Rafiq Shaikh: Globally, we would say that around 10% of the market are strongly focused on sustainability. However, this is in part because by nature digital cutting supports more sustainable packaging production.
Digital cutting enables short batches production per order, prototyping and sampling, ensuring that products are checked before full production runs and reducing unnecessary waste from incorrect or untested designs.
As a business, Kongsberg PCS has a key focus on sustainability. This is reflected in the engineering of its digital cutting tables, which contain only around 7% plastic in their construction, require relatively low power and help reduce energy usage and overall carbon footprint.
Mahan Hazarika: Artificial intelligence, automation, robotics, and connected workflows are rapidly transforming manufacturing. Which of these developments do you believe will have the greatest impact on digital finishing over the next five years?
Rafiq Shaikh: AI and automation are increasingly expected to play a key role in the future of digital finishing. Each can support converters to address the shortage of skilled operators, simplify machine setup and optimize workflows by reducing manual intervention. From a profitability and growth perspective, it helps to increase productivity and ease the learning process for new users and operators.
Ultimately, AI functionalities and automation such as the ones used by our iPC software to for example, automatically load cut files with the correct tooling and production presets, makes the system easier to use, and the wider workflow easier to run. This combination is seen as particularly well suited to the Indian market, due to the shortage of skilled operators.
Over the next five years, we expect to see workflows become more and more integrated, from prepress and job preparation, to printing, to finishing. At Kongsberg, we are already looking into this, with the support of our own automated solutions, including the Robotic Material Handler, Smart Material Handler and the Feeder & Stacker.
Mahan Hazarika: Looking globally, are there any packaging trends or regional market developments that you believe will significantly influence investment in digital cutting technologies?
Rafiq Shaikh: As digital printing grows, it naturally drives increased demand for digital finishing.
Within the packaging market in particular, converters are diversifying into multiple packaging portfolios and expanding to ensure that they can offer cartons, corrugated, displays, rigid boxes, labels and more from one platform.
We are seeing the rise of D2C brands, which, as mentioned before, is increasing the demand for short runs and customization.
As a global trend, due to different factors, customers further want more solutions that reduce reliance on manual labor and offer more seamless integration and automation with printers and other equipment. These trends collectively increase the attractiveness and necessity of digital cutting technologies.
Mahan Hazarika: As converters evaluate investments in new equipment, what factors should they prioritize beyond machine specifications to ensure long-term competitiveness and return on investment?
Rafiq Shaikh: Evaluating new equipment goes far beyond machine speed or technical specifications. Long-term competitiveness comes from the partnership you build with your technology provider – one that supports your operators, workflow and future growth. We are committed to helping customers maximize productivity, develop operator skillsets, unlock new creative opportunities and solve specific challenges within their business.
So when investing in new technology, converters should ask themselves: How will this solution improve our throughput? Can it scale and upgrade as our business evolves? Will it help us get more value from our operators? Will it strengthen our ability to overcome operational bottlenecks?
Mahan Hazarika: Kongsberg PCS has been at the forefront of digital finishing innovation for many years. Without focusing on specific products, what key lessons has the company learned from working closely with packaging converters across different markets?
Rafiq Shaikh: Kongsberg PCS takes pride in being positioned to provide cutting-edge technology and support to its customers. In our sixty year heritage working with packaging converters, we have learned that our customers place flexibility, automation, diversification and profitability at the forefront of their business. Regardless of the region, discussions and customer needs repeatedly point back to these same themes.
With fast changing customer needs, our customer needs and businesses are also evolving faster than before. This means that converters are looking for partners that can help them throughout business transitions. Ultimately, packaging converters are striving to be more flexible in what they can produce, automate more of their workflow, diversify into new products and segments, and maintain or improve profitability in a changing market.
Mahan Hazarika: Looking ahead, how do you envision the digital cutting table of the future?
Rafiq Shaikh:
The defining elements for the future of the packaging market span across artificial intelligence, automation and workflow optimization. Businesses investing in new technologies increasingly expect more autonomous production, less operator intervention and smarter, automated decision-making that allows equipment to integrate seamlessly into end-to-end digital workflows.
Looking ahead, the digital cutting table of the future will be defined by systems that can self-adjust, predict issues, optimize cutting automatically and connect directly to streamlined processes. This means that cutting solutions will move from being standalone devices to intelligent, fully integrated production assets that drive speed, consistency and agility across the entire packaging workflow.