Cartes completes Pennsylvania center

Cartes has completed Touchpoint Americas, a multi-million-dollar technology and application testing center in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, which opens to label and packaging converters across the Americas in December 2026.

The center, in the greater Philadelphia area, gathers the Italian company's finishing and embellishment technologies in one place, where machines, materials and customer projects come together. Cartes says it is more than a conventional showroom, because converters can simulate and carry out real production processes, compare finishing configurations and explore new applications.

'We chose to open Touchpoint Americas in the US to work more closely with converters and partners across the Americas. In Coatesville, customers can bring their own materials and artwork, test different finishes on our production lines and work with our team to see what will run reliably in production. For Cartes, those trials are also a way to learn directly from customers and bring what we learn back to our R&D team,' said Enrica Lodi, marketing and communications manager at Cartes.

The center opens with three production lines. The GT360 combines flexo coating, hot foil stamping, silk screen printing and semi-rotary die-cutting in a single line. The Gemini with dual-bar JET D-Screen is configured for high-speed, on-demand applications and combines flexo coating, digital embellishment and semi-rotary die-cutting. The Gemini GE361L Star is a top-of-the-range laser die-cutting unit that shows Cartes' laser processing capabilities. Together, they let customers evaluate technologies, test production scenarios and assess options against their technical and commercial requirements.

Cartes will offer customized demonstrations and application tests for label and packaging converters, technology partners and packaging designers across the Americas. Each session is tailored to the project, taking into account the materials, production requirements and finishing effects the customer wants.

The company also sees the center as a meeting point for experts across the label and packaging value chain. It says direct collaboration with converters, designers and technology partners can bring out new requirements and inspire applications that enhance a product's identity and perceived value. Embossing, tactile effects and decorative finishes are not simply aesthetic features, Cartes adds, because they must be translated into industrial processes that deliver quality, precision and repeatability. At Touchpoint Americas, its engineers will help customers explore how creative concepts can become viable production methods and value-added services.

The center is part of Cartes' research and development strategy rather than a place to demonstrate existing equipment, according to the company. It is supported by the R&D, technical and commercial teams at the company's headquarters in Moglia, Italy, which allows customer-specific testing, technical evaluations and trials of new configurations for customers in the Americas. Having several production lines and finishing capabilities in one facility also lets customers explore how different processes can be combined to achieve distinctive results. Cartes says the opening strengthens its local presence and its ability to work directly with customers and partners across the region.