Max Allen Director of Wide Format · Grap...
At Printing United 2025 in Orlando, Morten B. Reitoft from INKISH meets Max Allen from Graphic Whizard, the Canadian finishing equipment manufacturer known for its compact, innovative solutions tailored to digital and short-run print environments.
Morten notes that Graphic Whizard has carved out a distinctive position in the market: “Everything here is a little more compact,” he says, “but it seems you’ve found a niche where you’re very successful.”
Max introduces the DF0906MT digital die cutter, one of four models in the company’s range. “What we’re really doing,” Max explains, “is bringing digital production into digital finishing. Instead of building expensive metal dies for every new job, you just load a PDF, and the system’s ready to go. There’s no tooling cost and no setup time.”
The DF0906MT handles short-run packaging, labels, and stickers, and can run both sheets and rolls. “Traditionally, you needed an experienced bindery operator for this type of work,” Max says, “but those employees are aging out. Now, a single operator can handle digital finishing with minimal training. The machine does the hard part.”
All the sample pieces displayed in the booth — from foam-core signs to packaging prototypes — were produced on the same machine. “We even install these in smaller spaces,” Max says with a smile. “We’ve put them in church basements. They’re ideal for in-plant environments, universities, franchise print shops — anywhere you need fast, flexible finishing.”
Beyond production, Max highlights another strength: prototyping. “Packaging sells products, but prototypes sell packaging,” he says. “Larger companies use this machine to produce prototypes before going into full-scale runs. It’s small enough for short runs but powerful enough for professional output.”
The DF0906MT can kiss-cut, through-cut, score, and perforate up to 24-point stock, and even handle materials up to six millimeters thick. It supports more than 100 tool options, though, as Max explains, “Most users stick with the standard configuration because it does almost everything they need.”
Morten then points to a larger model with “a little more bling.” Max laughs and explains that it’s the heavy-duty version, designed for harder materials like acrylic, aluminum, MDF, and wood. “It’s a natural evolution,” he says. “Customers love the smaller digital die cutters, and when they’re ready to expand into signage or more industrial materials, this is the next step.”
Max emphasizes that the workflow and tooling remain consistent across models. “That’s a big advantage,” he says. “A commercial printer doing both digital and wide-format can handle everything on one platform. It saves space, time, and investment.”
As the conversation wraps up, Morten laughs: “It must be fun selling this stuff.” Max grins. “It absolutely is. When customers realize what they can do with these machines — how much flexibility and creativity they gain — it’s an easy conversation.”
Morten concludes, “Compact, clever, and clearly built for the digital printer — Graphic Whizard’s solutions prove that smaller can definitely mean smarter.”
