Diecut managing director Steve Waterhouse said Diecut has been selling the machines since the end of Drupa and that there has already been a great deal of interest.
The deal was signed approximately three months ago, when Waterhouse travelled to Vietnam to meet with Ace Machinery managing director Charles Kim.
Waterhouse said: “The director at Ace, Charles Kim, is a guy that I’ve known for 13 years from my other business activities in Korea and in the past we’ve worked together many times.
“When I was speaking to Charles about looking at different countries to manufacture machinery, he mentioned that he was producing the Signature range of folder gluers in Vietnam and had been doing so for many years. He had the South Korean management team in there with Vietnamese workers and said there was no reduction in quality, they were importing all the materials from Korea to Vietnam and utilising a cheaper resource really.”
The machines, which are produced in Ace’s manufacturing plant in Vietnam with materials imported from South Korea, consist of the Ace range of Signature folder gluers, including Signature Neo Glue and Signature Orient.
The Neo Glue folds boxboard cartons up to 800gsm in weight and uses a touch-type lower carrier belt tension device with a compressed air cylinder.
Meanwhile the Orient has a 'various option' feature, which allows it to fold a wider vartiety of cartons. It is capable of folding at speeds of up to 30,000sph.
The folder gluers are predominantly for the carton industry and produce four and six- corner and straight-line gluing for a whole variety of products.
Ace Machinery currently sells carton gluing machines under the brand name of Signature to more than 40 countries.
Backup and support for installations is being provided by Wakefield-based Lloyds Printing Services, which also supports machines from the likes of Heidelberg, Bobst and Jagenberg. Waterhouse said that Diecut and Lloyds had formed a “formidable team”.
Waterhouse sees the machines as being in the mid-range in the market in terms of price but providing the best ROI of any of its type in the UK, with its main competitor being Bobst.
He added: “The Korean model for manufacturing machines is successful because of the craftsmanship and attention-to detail. You only have to draw comparisons to Kia cars, which give you a seven-year warranty.”
Waterhouse believes that multi-million-pound-turnover Diecut can see a further boost in its turnover once the machines start selling.
Diecut came to prominence in 2012, when it launched its Diecut Goldline die-cutter, which Waterhouse said at the time was to replace hand-fed platens that were unsafe. He said he hopes the development of the Goldline will be his legacy.
London-based POS specialist SMP Group took delivery of a second Diecut Goldine in April 2016.
Diecut also sells foil blockers and consumables.
