Platen die cutters and digital cutting tables funded for carton makers, display producers and print finishers bringing shape cutting in house.
Whole-of-market — 60+ lenders searched, including
Yes. Die cutters fund well as hard assets on hire purchase, and the resale market for known platen brands is deep enough that underwriters are comfortable. Used machines are commonly funded, including older platens that remain in demand. The catch sits with the tooling: cutting formes, dies, rules and stripping boards are job-specific and worth very little to anyone else, so they are treated as soft costs and are usually either excluded or only partly funded. Put the machine, the tooling and the installation on separate lines of the quotation and it becomes much easier to place.
Used kit: Yes — used platens are funded routinely and machines fifteen years old or more are considered, while digital tables are generally looked at up to around seven years.
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Business asset finance is quoted on a flat rate, so that is what this shows — with the equivalent APR underneath, because the two are not the same number. A quick guide only; your actual rate depends on the asset, term, deposit and lender.
Representative example: on Hire Purchase, borrowing £25,000 over 48 months at a 6.0% flat rate (equivalent to 11.5% APR representative), you would repay around £646 a month; total amount repayable approximately £31,000, of which £6,000 is the cost of finance. This calculator is for illustration only — it is not a quote or an offer of finance, and the rate and repayments you are offered will depend on the asset, term, deposit and your circumstances. CW Asset Finance is a credit broker, not a lender, and may receive a commission from the lender that funds your agreement. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval. CW Asset Finance is an Appointed Representative of Rural Finance Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 630701).
Funders split this asset in two. The press itself, whether a platen or a digital table with a beam and vacuum bed, is hard security with identifiable serial numbers and an active dealer market. The tooling is not: formes are cut for one customer job and have no independent value, which is exactly what makes them a soft cost. Cutting software and nesting licences fall the same way. A large platen sat on its own base in a leased unit can drift towards being a fixture, so a landlord waiver may be requested. Declines cluster around heavy older platens with no service history, and around buyers taking on packaging work they have never produced before.
Examples of the machines we are asked to fund. This is not an exhaustive list — if what you are buying is not here, it does not mean we cannot fund it. Your supplier quote is what the agreement is written against.
| Machine | What it is |
|---|---|
| Heidelberg Varimatrix 105 CS | Flatbed die cutter for carton production |
| Bobst Novacut 106 ER | Autoplaten die cutter for folding cartons |
| Bobst Expertcut 106 PER | High output die cutter with stripping |
| Zund G3 L-2500 | Digital cutting table for boards and textiles |
| Zund S3 M-1600 | Compact digital cutter for sign and packaging |
| Esko Kongsberg X24 | Digital cutting table for sample and short runs |
| Esko Kongsberg C64 | Large format cutter for display production |
| Duplo DC-618 | Slitter creaser cutter for digital print finishing |
| Duplo DDC-810 | Rotary die cutter for labels and shaped print |
| Summa F1612 | Flatbed cutter for signage and packaging samples |
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Usually a carton or display producer paying a trade cutter for every shaped job and watching both margin and lead time suffer. Also commercial printers adding a digital cutting table so they can run short-run packaging prototypes and one-off POS without ordering a forme, and box makers replacing a manual platen after the operator who understood it retires.
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Bought on hire purchase, business plant and machinery normally qualifies for capital allowances on the full cost even though you pay for it monthly, which is a large part of why hire purchase is the common structure. On a finance lease you generally set the rentals against profit instead. The rules change between budgets and your position depends on how you trade, so treat this as the direction of travel and get your accountant to confirm the detail before you commit.
Rarely, and never in full. A forme is made for one specific carton and has no value to any other business, so a funder cannot take meaningful security over it. Treat tooling as a working capital cost. The machine that uses it is an entirely different proposition.
It affects the term more than the answer. Platens are mechanically long-lived and hold value for decades, so longer terms are available. Digital tables carry electronics and software that date, so funders set shorter terms to stay ahead of the depreciation curve.
Yes, and it happens often. The funder will want proof the seller owns it free of finance, an inspection or at least good photographs, and a plan for getting it out and re-commissioned. Closures move fast, so start the finance conversation before the sale is agreed.
If it is quoted as part of the press, yes. Integrated stripping and blanking stations are part of the asset and go on the same agreement. Standalone downstream equipment bought separately would normally be added as its own item.
For a straightforward case, the supplier quotation or invoice, recent accounts or management figures, and business bank statements. Larger or more complex deals may bring in an asset inspection and a settlement figure on any existing agreement. We will tell you exactly which list applies before anything is submitted.
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Not an offer of finance. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval.
Tell us what you’re looking to fund and Conor will come back to you personally — usually the same day.
Prefer to talk? Call 07581 364281 · serving Leeds, York, Harrogate, Wakefield, Selby, Tadcaster & across North & West Yorkshire.