Digital print transformation in the corrugated industry has been a promise waiting to happen for many years. Part of the reason for the delay could be the industry has been perceived as having one monolithic set of needs and digital print has been promoted as one generic solution to fit all of those needs. However, all corrugated needs and digital print solutions are not the same.

The reality is much more nuanced. There has been some progress in several use cases and sub-markets including high quality graphics, samples, mock-ups, displays, short-run, large format, double-sided print, and supply chain efficiency including turn-around time, but there are still a few other use cases like personalization and variable data that haven’t yielded transformation. Digital print still only addresses a fraction of the overall market for printed corrugated packaging. For this to change, we must address the existing gaps in the overall solution set.

Digital print solutions do not adequately address all substrate, board combinations, and form factors. Special requirements of the printed product like ink holdout, colour, overprint varnish, coefficient of friction, durability, and gluability play a part in what can or cannot be done by any given digital print solution. Specific press limitations might mean something can be done in limited quantities or certain situations but cannot be done at scale and remain cost effective.

Digital print solutions do not adequately address all substrate, board combinations, and form factors. Photo © Drupa

The promise

Digital print was and still is supposed to simplify, streamline, and accelerate the overall graphics, print process, and product development for the corrugated industry. Digital print in corrugated has been most successful in areas in need of disruption including samples, mock-ups, displays, and ultra short runs. However, to get at the bulk of the market, digital needs to contend with what analog printing does well day-in and day-out.

Analog has been incrementally fine-tuned to provide the quality, productivity, reliability, equipment life expectancy, and cost structure that the market recognizes today. Digital print must do something better or different to provide more value than analog.

Finally, digital printing must consider the macro trends and needs of tomorrow. These macro trend requirements are fast turnaround, short run lengths, supply chain efficiency, e-commerce, lightweighting, sustainability, and automation.

The predominant issue with digital print is the production costs for a given run length compared to the analog alternative. For digital to win more broadly, it must look beyond just consumables cost and at reducing overall value chain costs including running costs, maintenance, capital, useful life, and any other steps or parts that can be streamlined.

It is encouraging to see there is a next generation of solutions being developed that will hopefully help make some of the necessary improvements to expand the segments of the market where digital can add value.

For those of us who have been championing digital print and what is possible to transform the corrugated industry, the pace of progress is both encouraging and disappointing. There are pockets of great success, but there is also a lot of work to do to get us to the full transformation that all members of the value chain need.

Robert Seay is the vice-president of digital print strategy and growth at Georgia-Pacific. This article, a part of Drupa’s Essential Series of Print, appeared in the January/February 2024 issue of PrintAction.

The industry is pegged among the worst polluters in the world. According to the World Economic Forum, fashion and textiles make up 10 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions. If that weren’t bad enough, more than 85 per cent of all textiles produced go into dumpsters each year.

The Harvard Business Review notes the industry is actually moving backwards, with reports indicating the call for sustainable fashion hasn’t translated into action during the past two decades. The manufacturing of shorts and shoes creates more waste than ever before, with 75 per cent of items produced ultimately being burned or buried in landfills.

What’s wrong?

So, why is material change not happening? Clearly a lack of widespread legislation to incentivize or force change is a key gap. One sliver of light is the recently proposed New York Fabric Act mandating the industry shape up or suffer the consequences. If passed, the legislation will require fashion retail sellers and manufacturers to fully disclose all environmental and social diligence policies.

A digital ID, a unique code existing as a twin both on the garment and in the cloud, allowing for universal traceability of products to slow down waste in the fashion industry is emerging in France.

Another good news is that the demand side of the market is likely to become a major driving force simply because mass customization, the velocity of changing consumer preferences, and the need to respond immediately will force more nearshore and onshore production.

Digital production is helping legacy fashion houses adopt nearshoring and eliminate supply chain disruptions.

Match the speed of culture

With the world experiencing a digital transformation like never before, culture is leading the way in change across industries. The digital-native generation has come of age, and their revolutionary mindset is making its presence felt.

Custom-designed fabrics provider called Spoonflower—now a subsidiary of Shutterfly—once spoke of an “Etsy army” that had populated their design library with 1.8 million digital creations, each of them ready to print on demand, to be fashioned into any number of do-it-yourself products.

Customers demand immediacy, capturing the moment as it’s experienced. Unfortunately, the one industry that has yet to catch up is fashion and apparel. That’s due to an analog supply chain built for the old way of production. At a popular fashion and textile sourcing event in New York, William Brenninkmeyer, global sourcing manager and lead of innovation at C&A, noted, “Chasing trends is impossible with an analog supply chain, where the lead time is six to eight months. But digital production technologies now enable on-demand fulfillment, so you can bring concepts to production to consumer in two days. It’s incredible.”

This new model is driven by digital production. Digital on-demand production are empowering producers to channel digital creator and consumer data encompassing buying behaviours, social media listening, and more into a fulfillment strategy – answers demand for a digital supply chain with greater agility and efficacy than the traditional 18-month forecast cycle. Further, it answers the sustainability imperative by aligning supply with demand, thus minimizing the waste that inevitably comes from forecast-based production. The approach also makes it possible to unleash customization and personalization for micro-communities and even the individual.

At the same conference, Aaron Day, CEO of Amaze Software, echoed these thoughts: “The analog supply chain was built to meet a certain need at a certain time, but that world has been disrupted by a cultural shift. When you account for all the associated costs, I think we’re nearing a tipping point where an on-demand t-shirt can be produced cheaper than one produced using a traditional printing press.”

For those entering the industry, adoption of digital processes might not be that difficult. Companies leading with digital production can fully embrace the power of ‘phygital’ technology, which bridges the gap between digitally created imagery and physical fulfillment of those concepts.

While these exciting technologies are a natural partner for brands with a considerable e-commerce footprint, the challenge is far greater for retailers whose sales model stays tethered to the fortunes of the physical, brick-and-mortar store. Consider European-based retail powerhouse C&A. Founded more than 180 years ago, with more than 1,200 physical locations worldwide, C&A embodies every attribute of powerful retail production. Yet, it is still vulnerable in the age of a web-driven ‘retail apocalypse.’ Counterintuitively, such a business sees considerable upside in web technologies. According to Brenninkmeyer, C&A is investing in digitization to drive ‘rightshoring’ for tailoring fulfillment strategies based on the most effective means of serving different customers and brands. Directly addressing the needs of a creator economy, on-demand, digital production makes it possible to digitize key pieces of their supply chains to adopt nearshoring more rapidly.

The same shift is playing out industry wide. Look no further than legacy brands like Nike and Gucci that are going all-in on NFTs and artificial intelligence. These brands realize this culture shift is demanding change in the way creators engage and produce. For them, it may not be a matter of adopting digital supply chains, but rather adopting pieces that work best for them. Companies are evaluating all new options on the table to avoid wasting time on things that won’t work, and zeroing in on technology that moves the needle the most.

The growing ecosystem of available digital technologies provides brands – from the designer who came of age in a digital world and dreams of establishing their own fashion label to the legacy retailer established before the advent of streetlights – with the capabilities to join and profit from the creator economy; deliver brilliant, uncompromising, high-quality physical goods; and better align demand with supply, eliminating overproduction waste. They can make the products people want, getting it into their hands faster, and minimizing the risks associated with today’s globalized marketplace. Finally, fashion is moving at the speed of digital culture.

Don Whaley is vice president at Kornit Digital Americas.

At an exclusive event for packaging converters and print service providers, Agfa unveiled its SpeedSet 1060 inkjet printing press for the packaging market. 

The Ricoh Pro VC80000 builds on the success of the Ricoh Pro VC70000 and is designed for the production of direct mail, colour books, catalogs, magazines and commercial print applications on coated media up to 300 gsm.

The machine measures less than 32.8 ft (10 m). It can achieve a maximum resolution of 1200 x 1200 dpi and maximum speed up to 492 fpm (150 mpm).

“The Ricoh Pro VC80000 is built on what made the previous generation a customer favourite and is a testament to our commitment to helping customers solve their challenges. It sets a new standard in automation and data-first intelligence to increase productivity and usable output with consistency across operators and shifts,” said Gavin Jordan-Smith, senior vice-president and general manager, head of Global Sales Strategy Division & Ricoh Graphic Communications North America Sales, Ricoh Graphic Communications.

The Ricoh Pro VC80000 high-speed inkjet press is available from early 2024 across the U.S. and Canada.

The Ricoh Pro C7500 utilizes Ricoh’s specialty colour toners that include white, clear, invisible red, gold, and silver. Its new neon colour profile gamut expansion enables the Pro C7500 to generate blush pinks, deep purples, and radiant yellows.

New to the Ricoh Pro C7500 is an elastic intermediate transfer belt that enhances support for rough or uneven textured media. It can handle a wide range of grammages from 40 gsm to 470 gsm and has been strengthened to support duplex printed long lengths up to 1030 mm. These developments will enable PSPs to broaden their range of applications with, as examples, light packaging, greeting cards, and wedding stationery.

“The Ricoh Pro C7500 exemplifies our dedication to empowering print service providers with innovative technology and cutting-edge software to continually advance their production environments,” said Gavin Jordan-Smith, senior vice-president and general manager, head of Global Sales Strategy Division and Ricoh Graphic Communications North America Sales, RICOH Graphic Communications. “With its expanded colour capabilities, support for various media types, and user-friendly controls, the Ricoh Pro C7500 brings a new class of production class hardware to the industry that not only elevates print quality, but also opens up new possibilities for our customers, helping them to deliver on the evolving demands of their clients.”

The Ricoh Pro C7500 will be available to order in Canada beginning in October 2023.

This PageWide web press is designed to deliver on a wide range of applications including commercial, direct mail, publishing, and transactional, providing print service providers (PSPs) the versatility to meet the needs of their customers on uncoated and coated papers.

“We are excited to announce the expansion of our PageWide portfolio with HP Brilliant Ink. This new HP PageWide press offers print service providers brilliant quality while printing at amazing speeds,” said Annette Friskopp, global head and general manager at HP PageWide. “The HP PageWide T485 HD with HP Brilliant Ink was designed to provide offset-class quality and to help increase return on investment for our customers, allowing them to improve their profitability and growth.”

The HP PageWide Web Press T485 HD with HP Brilliant Ink is available for sale as an upgrade to existing PageWide T400 series presses and for new orders, with expected product availability in the first half of 2023.

Additionally, HP has announced an all-new 800 fpm/244 mpm mono mode for the HP PageWide Web Press T250 HD. This upgrade allows existing PageWide T250 HD customers to produce 1,250 x 300 page, 6×9 book blocks per hour.

HP Inc. has today announced new solutions to help Print Service Providers (PSPs) meet high levels of demand, optimise work processes and grow their businesses by delivering innovative applications.

HP also unveiled the new 3.2-m (126-in) wide HP Latex 2700 printer series.

“The HP Latex 2700 family delivers increased print quality, raw speed and white ink capabilities that will amaze customers,” said Daniel Martinez, general manager, HP Large Format.

All devices in the Latex 2700 series run on fourth generation HP Latex ink. The HP Latex 2700 portfolio is available in all major markets with pricing available on request from local HP teams and partners.

“At a time when the e-commerce channel continues to grow, the ability for brands to connect directly with consumers through digitized products is invaluable,” explains Phil Stafford, director of global channels at Digimarc Corporation. Connecting directly means that consumers not only interact with the real product physically, but also with its digital twin (a version of the product accessible solely through internet-enabled technologies).

These innovations provide consumers with dynamic and more rewarding experiences with a product, even personalized experiences that might enrich their lives in a meaningful way. Stafford explains that as consumers become more familiar and comfortable with digitized products, they’re more willing to engage with them, “especially when the content is of value.”

For companies, the benefits of smart labels are obvious. When a new form of digitized product hits the market, it gets a lot of attention. The brand also becomes associated with the use of new, cutting-edge technologies, making these products seem ‘cool.’ 

However, there are other benefits in the direct communication channels created by smart labels between companies and their customers, says Stafford. Brands receive valuable, consensual data from consumers of the product in real-time, such as when, where, and how often a product is being interacted with, even when and where consumption occurs. This direct data capture informs future marketing strategies, allows companies to identify purchasing and consumption trends, and so on.

A look back

It’s been common for a few years now for companies to print QR codes on their labels to provide consumers with a direct link to product information. This might be the date on where and how the product was made, or even traceability of ingredients.

Companies like Multi-Color Corporation (MCC) offer a variety of interactive ‘smart label’ options that include reaction to heat or cold. Another example came on the Brazil market in June 2022, when limited-edition bottles of Sol beer were released sporting labels with photochromic (light-activated) ink developed by MCC. When exposed to sunlight, the label reveals a hidden message to consumers, enhancing their experience with the brand and reinforcing a connection with the brand name and the power of the sun.

Another example is the personal ‘Reel Label’ used by British Columbia-based Jones Soda. These labels have images of real customers on them, and other customers can learn the story behind the moment captured in the label through Augmented Reality (AR) videos on the Jones Soda app.

“We see customers utilizing these for promotional products and high-engagement campaigns,” says Kimberly Flynn, marketing project manager at MCC. “For AR and virtual reality, we have a number of customers who have launched very successful campaigns where consumers hold up their smart phones and the label comes to life. We haven’t seen these platforms grow at the same level as some of the other smart packaging options, but the brands that have introduced this technology have been quite successful.” 

This has certainly been the case for Australia-based Treasury Wine Estates. In 2017, it became the first wine company in the world to use an AR platform across its portfolio. For example, through a company app available in over 90 countries, consumers hover their smartphone over the label of the firm’s ‘19 Crimes’ bottles and are introduced to the associated real historical criminals. This innovation helped in achieving double-digit growth of the 19 Crimes brand in the US, and netted Treasure Wine Estates a prestigious Super Reggie marketing award.

Now, AR ‘smart labels’ have become truly interactive. The first Internet of Things packaging platform, recently developed by MCC and a company called Talkin’ Things, combines AR with near field communication (NFC) technology on the labels for an imaginary brand called ‘Black Beer.’ 

As explained by MCC, when the Black Beer smart label is scanned (again, using an app), “the skull displayed on the label engages in interactive dialogue with the consumer. The facial recognition feature detects if the customer is happy or sad and customizes the next part of the dialogue. Variable AR scenarios are also launched, depending on answers provided to questions asked by the skull.” The product also recognizes when the product has been opened, which changes the responses of the skull.

Digimarc on packaging allows products to be tracked throughout the supply chain.

Operation and supply chain benefits

Other smart packaging and smart labelling applications, notes Flynn, are more operational, such as RFID and electronic article surveillance (EAS) tag inlays for product tracking and inventory management.

“The increase in online shopping has expedited the use of passive tags to manage operations and product tracing,” she says. “We see a larger growth in this segment of the market. Retailers are developing policies that consumer packaged goods brands are answering with tags applied either onto the container or onto the label before the container.”

For product security, among its other technologies MCC offers secure QR codes, a new kind of QR code containing public and private data. Consumers scan the tag to instantly receive a message confirming the authenticity of their purchased item. The public data can be read by any reader such as a smart phone. The private data is encrypted and protected with a password that can only be unlocked with a proprietary scanner. The technology provides product tracking, traceability, and anti-counterfeiting applications.

Digimarc currently offers digital watermarks, which are created by subtly modulating the pixels in the label artwork design at a very low level, so that there is no perceptible structure to it such as what’s seen with an EAN or QR code.

They came about seven years ago, when Digimarc started exploring the use of watermarks for consumer-facing packaging and labels, which would carry the same Global Trade Item Number as a UPC/EAN code and be scanned by a retailer ‘point of sale’ device. They are being used in North America for brand protection purposes, parts matching, supply chain improvements and front of store efficiency.

Digital watermarks were created by Digimarc founder, Geoff Rhoads, who is also an astronomer. “The concept arose from his work removing noise from digital photos of deep space imaging,” says Stafford. “The science behind watermarking is quite amazing and by using proprietary Digimarc software, any printed image can have an imperceptible watermark embedded into it, and yet, be easily scanned by a mobile phone app or device that uses our decoding software.”

Digimarc can also combine digital watermarks with QR codes, or RFID or NFC tags. “Using dual-factor authentication, brands now have the strongest defense possible in the fight against counterfeiters,” says Stafford. “This product is supported by our product cloud that allows brands to track every product item through the supply chain, customs inspection and on-shelf via brand inspection agents.”

Digimarc digital identities on labels/packaging support traceability initiatives.

Improving recycling

Digimarc’s digital watermarks are also durable (i.e. able to be scanned in difficult environments). This means they can be used to collect information about package recycling.

When the watermarks are scanned at a recycling depot, the system can access unlimited information, including characteristics of the packaging such as type of plastic or the presence of components that are problematic for recycling. Digimarc has recently partnered with Canadian company Winpak to test this, as part of the Circular Plastic Taskforce initiative.

“This technology can better help material recovery facilities understand what materials are coming in and how better separate them to make ‘cleaner’ bales,” explains Winpak Director of Corporate Sustainability Phillip Crowder. “The information gathered can also help a brand to understand how much of the packaging is being recycled, and how they can perhaps improve that rate.”

Crowder adds that on the consumer side, these watermarks can also communicate to consumers the environmental attributes of packaging and where to best recycle it, let alone all kinds of information to the consumer about the product itself such as nutritional information and meal preparation ideas. 

With more and more innovations like this, it seems smart labels, and the companies that use them, are getting smarter all the time. 

An edited version of this article originally appeared in the July/August 2022 issue of PrintAction.

The SurePress L-4733AW builds on the success of its predecessor, the L-4533AW to offer advanced automation and unattended printing features, higher productivity on film substrates and an optional inline spectrometer. The SurePress L-6534VW with Orange Ink uses CMYK with standard high-opacity white ink plus orange ink to widen the colour gamut.

“Label converters and specialty printers are looking for solutions that are simple and cost-effective to operate and maintain, and can deliver on stable, predictable production,” said Mike Pruitt, senior product manager, Epson America. “Epson enhanced its industrial SurePress lineup by adding new capabilities with the L-4733AW and expanding gamut with the L-6534VW with Orange Ink, which can help businesses save on upfront costs and maintenance. These advancements come without the compromise of simple operation and maintenance, production or print quality.”

The ImagePress V1000 digital press, which is scheduled to be available in Canada in July 2022, is the first of the new “V” series lineup, designed to provide vivid output, be vigilant during production and allow customers to provide additional value to their clients, as well as be a versatile digital press that production environments can depend on.

“With the introduction of the ImagePress V1000 colour digital press, Canon continues its dedication to developing innovative solutions to exceed customer and industry demands,” said Naoki “Mike” Sannomiya, senior vice-president and general manager, Business Information Communications Group, Canon Canada. “This versatile solution will enable production environments to diversify their application portfolio and unlock new revenue opportunities. Its emphasis on automation simplifies workflows, and its advanced colour-adjustment capabilities ensure vivid and repeatable colours across all creative marketing materials.”

Butler is digital division supervisor at Mitchell Press, a print-based marketing company that has been doing business in Burnaby, B.C., since 1928. In May 2021, Mitchell was among the first sites in North America to beta-test what Butler describes as one of Nexfinity Press’s most value-adding features: its ability to move opaque white from the fifth to the second imaging station of the five-colour, dry-toner EP sheetfed press.

Opaque white is one of numerous specialty dry inks that are normally dispensed from the Nexfinity Press fifth station, which can also create gold, clear, dimensional, fluorescent, and security effects. In some jobs, however, white is used to best effect when it is laid down ahead of the process colours – a printing sequence that broadens the range of applications the Nexfinity Press can produce.

White ink as ‘paper’

“One of the biggest applications we’re using it for is when a customer wants to print on a coloured stock,” says Butler. “Before the Nexfinity Press, if you had a red emblem that is your logo, and you wanted to print it on a nice, dark blue stock, you couldn’t do it. It would just look dark – you wouldn’t get any colour from it.”

However, by swapping white into the second unit, Butler explains, “you’re basically using the white as paper. Now you are free to put down any colour on top of that, and it works really well.”

In one such job, the customer wanted to present an environmentally sensitive look by using 100 per cent recycled paper: a rich blue stock for the interior pages, and brown Kraft for the cover. With white laid down as a base for the CMY, says Butler, “you can get the beauty of that natural paper, but still keep your branding intact.”

Swapping white into the second station “works flawlessly,” according to Butler. Thanks to the high opacity of the white ink and the precision of the Nexfinity Press registration, “one pass through the press looks excellent, and there’s very little waste to it.”

Other potential uses for second-station opaque white at Mitchell are labels, transparencies, and short-run packaging. “The beauty of the Nexfinity Press is the gamut of things you can do with this press compared to other digital presses,” Butler notes. “The applications are endless when it comes to different things people can try with it.”

This makes the Nexfinity Press a suitable solution for Mitchell’s digital division, which Butler calls “quite boutique and niche” in the products it offers and the G7 Master printing standards it upholds. “A lot of our jobs are higher quality to the point of being ridiculous quality,” he observes. “When I’ve had Kodak come here and see what we print, they’re blown away with what the press can produce – way beyond even what they thought.”

Butler says that compared with other digital presses, “the quality of the Nexfinity Press is like night and day. And it can do that even when printing hundreds of thousands of impressions. We’ll do 900,000 to a million in a month, and the press still performs. We’re printing 50,000 impressions every seven hours, and the press does it with no problem. It will just run, and run, and run” at production speeds up to 140 A4 pages per minute.

The Nexfinity Press has also created business opportunities. Butler says that in tandem with Mitchell’s high-volume offset web capacity, “having a digital division has given us a gamut so that when a customer comes to us, it doesn’t matter whether they need 50 books, or 500,000 books; we can do it.”

Window of possibilities

“As a business, we now have that window where customers can come to us, and we have a price structure where we can do it on the Nexfinity Press, and it fiscally makes sense,” Butler says. It also enables the production of high-volume hybrid jobs such as a real estate catalog with interior pages printed by heatset web offset and covers printed variably on the Nexfinity Press, in a total run of 150,000.

Continuously adapting to changing markets and acquiring the capabilities needed to serve them have brought Mitchell Press to within just a handful of years of celebrating its 100^th anniversary, a milestone that few printing companies ever reach.

“Working with Kodak has really helped,” Butler declares. “What’s great about them as a company is that they’re always bringing updates for the press, like moving white into the second unit. We’re finding them very progressive. They don’t stand still. They’re always trying new things. Their people are brilliant. They have fantastic people, and we have fantastic people here. And I think that’s why we succeed.”

Moving to the next technological generation, Xeikon’s label converting units are designed with modular and scalable architecture for added flexibility, cloud connection and full integration. They come in two models, the Xeikon LCU350 with its new modular platform for added flexibility and scalability to support business growth, and the Xeikon LCU33, a basic version and entry-level choice.

Jeroen Van Bauwel, director of product management, said, “A key value of our new Xeikon LCU series is in the various different options and levels of investment available to suit the customer’s requirements. As with many of our digital solutions, the Xeikon LCU series is designed to adapt and grow with our customer’s business needs. Through our Xeikon Solution Services (XSS), customized versions and different configurations are possible as the customer’s business grows, depending on the application and volumes required (e.g. from a basic varnish through to automatic laser die-cut capability and wider web versions up to 20 in./520 mm. The integration of the units in the Xeikon LCU series along with cloud connection offers full automation possibilities for both process and information exchange across all equipment. The Xeikon LCU Series is designed to work inline and offline with both Xeikon’s Panther and Cheetah digital presses.”

The new varnishes were specifically formulated to provide adhesion to HP Indigo ElectroInk and has been designed to provide high levels of mechanical durability on HP Indigo printed labels.

The new set of varnishes do not require the addition of any press-side additives. The range can be printed using standard UV coating equipment.

The solution has been tested across some of the most popular label substrates including PP White, PP Clear and Metalized Substrates.

Available as part of the SunEvo Protect LEP HD range of protective varnishes for HP Indigo, the range highlights another example of the high level of co-operation between HP Indigo and Sun Chemical.

Two new products are available as part of the set: EV-LU028 Gloss and EV-LU029 Matte. The range is available to be ordered immediately. Commercial production has started in Europe with other regions following shortly.

“We have conducted field trials with the HP Indigo community across many countries for a few months and the response has been phenomenal,” said Marcos Valdezate, Sun Chemical global business development Manager for SunEvo Coatings for Digital. “Customers have challenged the durability of these varnishes and have seen how long-lasting they are. This is another great example of how coating innovation can expand the range of applications for digital printers and actively expand their offering.”

“We are defining a pathway to full digitization of print production and manufacturing,” said Filip Weymans, vice-president, marketing at Xeikon. “Responsiveness has become key for any business and can only be achieved effectively by digitalizing all print manufacturing processes―not just printing. The foundation for a digitalized environment lies with collecting data in a digital manner. The data volume, captured in real time, creates the information that is required by label converters to make fact-based decisions. Another aspect is the interfacing connections in production between machines and operators, helping to transfer job information between various production processes or drawing the attention of operators when it is really required. The cloud-connected, machine-machine and man-machine interfaces of our UV inkjet presses will enable label printers to take operational excellence to the highest levels. They offer great potential to maximize overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), increase sustainability and make an operation robust for any future challenge.”

The new Panther 2.0 series also offers new opportunities for label printers to expand their applications portfolio. Xeikon’s new substrate handles technology featuring a new splice table, web detection capability and cooled roller at the curing section. This makes it possible to print labels on a wider choice of substrates, including clear-on-clear facestock, which requires a high-quality opaque white to make the design stand out. Both presses can be configured with a fifth print station for white ink and can print on a wide range of self-adhesive media in addition to clear-on-clear, including coated paper, vinyl, PP, PE, PET and metalized.

The Xeikon PX2200 and PX3300 presses leverage the advantages of dedicated PantherCure UV inks, which meet the demands from brand owners for high-gloss, durable labels with high scuff resistance. The Panther DuraCureTM UV technology produces high-gloss effects and stands out across the widest color gamut while delivering exceptional long-term durability for multiple applications such as industrial, chemical and household labels, as well as high-end labels for the premium beer, spirit, beverage and health & beauty market sectors.

The new system will make its live debut at Kornit Fashion Week Los Angeles + Industry 4.0 Event, which is scheduled to held from November 2 to 5.

“Presto MAX will change the textile industry forever, transforming digital into the catalyst for modernizing the business, breaking the barriers between imagination and physical applications, connecting consumers and fulfillers on a global scale, and truly capitalizing on digital’s promise for delivering both sustainability and profitability, free of waste,” said Ronen Samuel, CEO, Kornit Digital. “Whether your business is finished goods or ready-to-use custom fabrics, growing your own brand or supplying the world’s retailers and entrepreneurs, this technology represents the cutting edge of on-demand, unconstrained textile production, in terms of both capability, accessibility and sustainability. Kornit empowers producers to create more with less, shrink their carbon footprint and deliver unlimited expression while creating new opportunities and growth.”

Kornit Presto Max is the first digital print system to offer white printing on coloured fabrics, enhancing decoration capabilities for dark coloured fabrics more broadly. It is a single-step solution for direct-to-fabric printing. The system is ready to incorporate future iterations and evolutions of Xdi technology—3D decorative applications to produce threadless embroidery, high-density, vinyl, screen transfer and other effects.

Kornit Presto Max is compatible with natural fabrics, synthetics and blends, and includes advanced algorithms for smart autonomous calibration. The system was devised for compatibility with the KornitX global fulfillment ecosystem to enable anywhere, anytime production.

Jointly developed by Koenig & Bauer and Durst, beta testing is due to start in the coming weeks. The first units of the VariJet 106 will be installed at customer sites in Europe and America in the second half of 2022. Target groups include pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, tobacco and food industries, as well as folding carton converters.

The VariJet 106 is based on water-based inkjet processes to provide high print quality. The digital printing system is at the heart of the collaborative development between Koenig & Bauer and Durst. The VariJet 106 platform is based on Koenig & Bauer’s standard high performance Rapida 106 platform and Durst printhead electronics, inkjet expertise and Durst workflow and RIP technology. This includes Durst Analytics, Smartshop and Workflow.

Using seven colour water-based food compliant inkjet technology (CMYK plus orange, green and violet), the VariJet 106 is suitable for food applications that meet the stringent requirements for food safe primary packaging utilizing proprietary water-based ink technology. The VariJet 106 can produce personalized and individualized print products or alternate between short and medium runs.

Koenig & Bauer and Durst first announced they had joined forces and set up an independent joint venture company in 2019. The VariJet 106 is the first product jointly and developed by the two companies.

Robert Stabler, managing director, Koenig & Bauer Durst, said, “We are really excited by the progress we have made and the opportunities with our VariJet 106 despite these testing times. We have beta sites at an advanced stage of planning. These potential customers already have a vision for mass customization. Feedback from our customers is that shorter run lengths, mass customization and the need to be more agile are the compelling reasons for moving to digital production.”

Variable data printing is just as it sounds. It’s variable in terms of hyper-personalized, fast, small-batch applications, and it involves data (the more, the better).

“Using information from various databases, sometimes up to 20 pieces of data per individual,” explains Mandarino, “we can personalize direct mail with text and images specific to a person’s interests, change the image depending on the province and so on. The beauty is that nowadays, sourcing of images is very affordable.”

Mandarino also explains that since people are spending a lot of time at home due to the pandemic, “they like opening their mail, and the use of direct mail has increased. People are also computer fatigued. [With VDP], you have to be careful about the data and make sure it’s accurate, but there is huge potential and new opportunities for printers.”

Jeff Zellmer, vice-president of global sales & strategy at Eastman Kodak, echoes this perspective. “Today, variable data printing is a key component of the marketing mix,” he says. “Lately, variable data printing is enhanced by the trend toward ‘programmatic print,’ which combines online and print channels in a way that can substantially improve the marketing ROI.”

However, at this point in time, some in the industry don’t understand the ROI potential of VDP, according to Rob Gradishar, director of production and industrial print (western region) at Konica Minolta Canada. That is, some companies may be reluctant to pay the costs of acquiring a potential customer database. Gradishar reports there is exponential growth in postcard-type VDP marketing materials, and less growth in enveloped pieces.

In terms of who is getting into VDP, he says it could be a marketing company that has acquired printing capabilities or a printer who is getting into marketing. “There’s also the collaboration model with a marketing firm working with a printing company,” Gradishar notes. “They both bring their skill sets to the table and offer things to customers that they could not offer before.”

Eleanor Rafter, Canada Post’s director of Smartmail Marketing Channels, reports her organization has recently seen an increase in VDP interest. Over the last six months or so, she and her team members have had about five or six conversations about variable datat printing with various industry members. They’ve mostly been with U.S. companies looking to connect with Canadian printers who can offer VDP services for their clients. These companies want to harness data gathered from e-commerce transactions and from their customer relationship management systems. Rafter notes that mail, in comparison to other marketing channels, stands out because of its physicality. She adds that “when it’s personally addressed to them, 87 per cent of Canadian consumers open their mail.”

A personalized invitation printed using variable data printing (VDP) capabilities.

Extra effort

Beyond personalization, consumers are also attracted to VDP materials with embellishments—‘fancy’ items that give the impression the sender went above and beyond. “We’re human; we like to touch and feel,” says Mandarino, “so if the piece of mail has a foil stamp or gloss UV or digital gloss foil with emboss, we don’t want to throw it away. If the piece stands out and clearly demonstrates the sender has put some effort and expense into it, we feel like keeping it and giving it a close look.”

From a custom laser die-cut envelope to a multiple foil-stamp, embossed finished, or printing images on the envelope, solid ink on the flap and textured paper, so much is possible. “It’s endless,” he says, “and the costs of these embellishments have come down significantly.”

A perfume box with raised varnish and foil.

Beyond flat mail

VDP is also playing an important role in packaging production, reports Zellmer. “Brands are looking to personalization or versioning to create greater engagement with the consumer,” he says. “With VDP, enabled by innovative digital technology, packaging designers can realize eye-catching creative concepts for improved shelf appeal. VDP makes it easy to add security features, such as serialized codes for supply chain tracking, or regional regulatory content. Similarly, variable design and marketing elements such as variable codes for lottery or gaming campaigns and ‘connected’ or ‘smart’ packaging applications can be integrated into packaging designs.”

These ‘smart’ applications include augmented reality and personal URL (purl) applications. Gradishar gives the example of receiving something in the mail or seeing a poster in a store, “and when you hover your phone in picture mode over the image, a personalized coupon based on your buying history pops up.”

Gradishar adds that package printing can also extend into company promotions or enabling companies to offer fast, on-demand customization of gifts. For example, a box of perfume with raised varnish and foil to display a loved one’s name, the date and an anniversary inscription. To many of us, the package would be as valuable as the gift itself.

VDP enables printers to integrate ‘smart’ packaging applications like QR codes into design. Photo courtesy Kodak

Digital mindset

In looking for printing partners to execute VDP, businesses and advertising agencies need those with a ‘digital’ mindset and who are up-to-date with the latest developments in martech (marketing technology), says Rafter. “We have a Smartmail Marketing program that includes over 200 printers who meet certain criteria,” she says, “and the main objective of the program is to connect them with marketing firms or companies who want to create and execute a direct-mail campaign. We also offer training and research results to our partners.”

Looking at the big picture, Sophie DeLadurantaye, Canada Post’s data lead, explains VDP can be competitive with other marketing channels if companies have the technical and data expertise to meet marketers’ expectations for speed, relevance and effectiveness. This is all about anchoring VDP to the right data signals communicated in real-time between systems.

Indeed, speed to market, has been one of the challenges of direct mail, according to DeLadurantaye. However, she says, “VDP now enables thousands of unique, hyper-personalized pieces to be produced and mailed out at the speed of mass production to reach the right customer, at the right time, with the right message.”

A personalized champagne box. Photo courtesy Konica Minolta Canada

Trigger mail

Kopel in St. Hubert, Que., is a Canada Post SmartMail ‘Expert Partner’ and a past ‘Expert Partner’ award winner. The company exemplifies the digital mindset that’s needed to exploit the potential of VDP. Kopel has a strong focus on ‘trigger mails,’ where the VDP order is completed and mailed a day after client confirmation. They also offer flexible formats in order to meet each customer’s needs.

This next-day mailing (minimum quantity guarantee per day) applies, of course, to variable data printing orders without special die-cut or finishing. In terms of who is ordering trigger mail, Kopel’s business development director Josée Ruest says most of their customers are in the banking, insurance and telecommunications sectors.

“The volume of orders is very high,” she reports. “It seems like since the start of the pandemic, companies aren’t sure where they are going with their marketing, and it seems that there are a lot at the companies doing direct mail at the last minute. However, some have automated their orders because they have done the research and they know what timing is best to reach their customers, whether that’s every day, two weeks or three months.” Of course, content on the printed piece can always be updated.

As a VDP printer getting lots of orders, Kopel advises those companies who wish to try variable data printing to go ahead and start with a small project. They can add other communications down the road. “This type of marketing works,” Ruest assures. “You don’t want to lose business to your competitors because you don’t feel ready.”

As part of the anniversary celebrations, PrintAction has created a podcast series focusing on some of the important developments in the industry.

In the second episode of the series, Nithya Caleb, editor of PrintAction, chats with Martin Lepine, president of Paragraph, Inc., and his daughter Chloe Lepine, account director and marketing co-ordinator at Paragraph, about how digital technology has and is transforming the printing industry.

Listen to the episode below!

This podcast series is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or any other podcast app that you use.

The new AccurioPress C7100 model runs at 100 pages per minute (ppm) with the AccurioPress C7090 at 90 ppm.

“We are excited to launch the highly anticipated successors to the impressive AccurioPress C6100 Series, providing a complete package of stability, dependability and productivity”, said Mario Mottillo, president, Konica Minolta Business Solutions (Canada). “True to the Konica Minolta mission, these new agile models aim at supporting our clients’ transformation with new revenue stream opportunities”

BookBaby has completed deployment of the 29-in., sheetfed HP Indigo 100K press, engineered for nonstop printing, to accommodate the demand for digital book printing. With this new addition to their fleet of HP Indigo digital presses, BookBaby can produce more than 10,000 books a day.

“People are feeling more expressive and creative now, and they are turning to self-publishing more when they realize they don’t need traditional publishing gatekeepers to find success. Instead of spending years trying to find a publisher, especially new authors can get into the market very quickly through BookBaby,” said Jim Foley, vice-president at BookBaby, which serves both the e-book and printed book market. “HP Indigo digital presses have made it possible for people and small publishers to print books in an efficient way to support the modern-day print on-demand publishing model.”

The new press joins the HP Indigo fleet printing for BookBaby at its site in Pennsauken, N.J., including the B2-sized, fourth-generation HP Indigo 12000 and HP Indigo 10000, as well as the 19-in. HP Indigo 7800.

It enables commercial printers to transition from short run offset competitively and responsively. These benefits are clear but what are the next steps to evolving your operation? Here are five top tips to getting investment in digital inkjet right:

1 Identify the opportunities
The projected growth for inkjet signposts an attractive market underpinning confidence in the ability to win work. Market research consulting firm Mordor Intelligence’s Inkjet Printing Market – Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 – 2026) report expected the global inkjet printing market to reach E41.36 billion by 2026. This growth is achievable because the flexibility and versatility of inkjet enables commercial printers to respond to clients’ demand for smaller, hyper personalized runs on a broader variety of stock. Its high quality capability makes results practically imperceptible from offset print, aiding the transition of jobs to a cost-effective technology that supports variable content.

2 Adopt the right technology
Choose a print production system that can handle your current workload while also being flexible enough to adapt to future demands; one that introduces efficiencies and automates the maximum number of processes to be able to give a quick response with the minimum intervention. Consider a software solution that manages customer communication upstream and production downstream. Adopting a versatile batching can pay huge productivity dividends.

3 Adapt the business successfully
Investing in inkjet allows you to expand your portfolio and add new applications that use the combination of high quality variable print on a range of substrates. It helps differentiate with the delivery of premium applications including targeted mail, trans-promotional, magazines and catalogues. It expands your ability to deliver value-added services by adding marketing services, cross media and fulfilment. You can also develop your online presence for order capture and increased sales capacity.

4 Educate staff and clients on the new possibilities
Getting staff buy-in makes any investment or process change more successful. Let your staff know why the change is important and how they will benefit. Clearly state the reasons behind the change and listen to what they have to say. Help them improve their skills with expert training, coaching and mentoring and enhance the business’s talent pool by investing in qualified staff. Their collective enthusiasm and passion for the business will become your biggest business winning asset.

5 Drive growth
Assess your route to sales. In many mid-sized companies, the managing director or owner is the main sales person with heavy reliance on maintaining existing relationships rather than establishing new ones. Are you one of them?

Once you have considered these points and committed to change, explore the possible solutions with a partner that will support your operational evolution.

Sander Sondaal is director-commercial print sales, graphic communications group, Ricoh Europe.

Lewis Color’s latest Ricoh investment includes the Ricoh Pro TF6250 and Ricoh Pro L5160, wide-format solutions that produce graphics on a variety of indoor and outdoor substrates along with a range of professional services offerings.

With their latest Ricoh acquisitions, Lewis Color has already launched a new company called Meraki Effects. The company provides consumers with high-resolution photos produced on a variety of wood products using the Ricoh Pro TF6250.

“Our new wide-format solutions allow us to produce new signage and merchandising applications in-house, which makes us a one-stop-shop for existing customers and grows our appeal to customers, even consumers, who may not have yet seen what we can offer,” said Justin Lewis, president, Lewis Color.

“We’re committed to driving digital transformation within the print industry, and it’s that passion that we believe will help power our alliance with Lewis Color along with their long-term success,” said Dan Johansen, director of sales & marketing, industrial printing, Ricoh USA, Inc.

With the technology evolving—faster speeds, better quality, increased consistency etc.—the market has embraced the opportunities digital printing permits. This has been realized in pressrooms the world over through hardware installations, as printers look to respond to 21st century consumer behaviours, the advent of short runs, personalization and brand owner demands for new business models to provide just-in-time delivery and minimize waste in the supply chain. Due to these factors, many digital adopters in labels are operating multiple lines. They are also embracing the different digital printing technologies and the unique characteristics and capabilities of each to further their ability to respond to today’s business environment, and that of tomorrow.

Choosing the right technology

Increasingly, the end-use is driving the choice of technology, be that:

• challenging substrates as often seen in wines and spirits;
• durable labels that are resistant to various types of environmental factors;
• beer and beauty labels, where achieving the correct look and feel is paramount; or food labels, which must be esthetically pleasing whilst meeting stringent regulations for food safety.

For most, digital presses are slotted in alongside flexo and offset machines. There are examples—from the early days—of this approach not providing the most effective route to ROI, with the capabilities and capacities of digital printing undermined by attempts to make the technology work within existing workflows. Today, it is widely acknowledged that to make the most of an investment in digital, the ecosystem around the press is as important as the machine itself. This helps get incoming orders through prepress, onto the print engine, then forward to finishing and converting in the most streamlined and effective way possible.

A web-to-print business model will help increase orders for label printers. Photo © hiv360 / Adobe Stock

Workflow automation

The starting point is invariably the correct MIS/ERP, designed to handle the greater number of orders and jobs, the complexities of such work and the amount of data involved, whilst being able to keep up with the press and keep it filed with saleable work. Web-to-print business models are now springing up at an increasing rate, bringing the convenience of e-commerce as experienced by consumers on a daily basis to the business-to-business world. While this will not work for all, it’s likely that a growing amount of work destined for digital label presses will come from online avenues. This then creates an entirely different structure for label printers who might be more au fait with established workflows that see orders coming through the door and being processed by the prepress department.

The likely deskilling of the prepress process will result in a need for companies to find new roles for staff. This can be a boon for many, as it creates new opportunities for growth, taps up under-utilized resources within a workforce and strengthens the personal development roadmap for staff. This may seem scary to some, but it is an inevitable consequence of digital transformation. It should not be feared, but embraced and made a part of corporate strategies for the future.

Resurgence of flexo

Similarly, there were concerns about the impact of digital transformation on analogue print processes. Driven, in part, by the digital industry’s excellent marketing activities and loud vocal presence permeating the supply chain, the furore reached a fever pitch. There was a brief point in time when the digital printing industry was having to go on record to state, “We’re not here to kill flexo.” In recent years, the flexo industry has staged a ‘fightback’ and gone through a technical resurgence of its own, including efficiency gains, automation of press set-up and better standardisation of the process. It has also got more vocal and better at fighting its corner. Its marketing efforts have improved to highlight the strengths of flexo in the 21^st century.

The look and feel of beauty labels are very important. Photo © artdee2554 / Adobe Stock

Complimentary processes

As a result, the reality on the factory floor today is that digital and analogue are entirely complementary print processes. This is realised through the growing amount of ‘hybrid’ options—full hybrid, true hybrid, integrated hybrid, etc.—that combine the best of both processes, as well as the capacities that have been freed up and created. By taking the burden off a flexo press to print short runs when implementing a digital printing workflow, for example, label printers can increase the amount of volume work they put through their Gallus/Mark Andy/Nilpeter/MPS/Bobst press. Similarly, digital presses are now able to take on longer runs, leaving a flexo press free to produce the highest value jobs, perhaps. This maximizes OEE and hastens the ROI for both digital and analogue hardware. For many label printers, this has now opened up new business opportunities and markets they may have previously been unable to service.

Flexible packaging

One such opportunity has been digitally printed flexible packaging. Flexible packaging is a widely spoken about goal for label printers. Technical challenges remain in this area, given the greater demands placed on primary packaging, and how it relates to established label printing technologies such as UV. However, work is ongoing in the supply chain to mitigate and alleviate such concerns. Further, a growing amount of hardware is now available to permit fast turnaround of digitally printed flexible packaging constructions, printed using either aqueous inkjet or toner technologies and suited to ‘print-for-use’ business models. There remains a need for education amongst label printers, as flexible packaging materials and end uses are entirely different. That being said, it’s likely we’ll see more and more label converters moving into flexible packaging as opportunities present themselves.

Digital finishing

Adding value is another area of opportunity for label printers deploying digital. In the ongoing battle to win at the ‘moment of truth,’ and offer the greatest shelf appeal, more and more systems are being introduced to enhance and embellish digitally printed labels with either post-print analogue processes, or newer digital-native systems that can apply foils, varnishes and other visual effects, as well as haptic elements to appeal to consumers’ desire to touch and feel.

As such, I believe the label industry is well placed to embrace the next iteration of digital transformation by coupling its engrained knowledge of digital printing with a capacity to adapt and change. Rather than being fretful, the label industry is looking forward to how digital can future-proof business, and is ready to embrace all the opportunities this will present.

David Pittman is the editor of Digital Labels & Packaging. This article was originally published as part of the Drupa Essentials of Print series. It also appeared in the July/August 2021 issue of PrintAction. 

During the pandemic, smart packaging technologies have been effective in the distribution and authentication of personal protective equipment, test kits and vaccines.

QR codes can carry a lot of information. They are now embedded in a secure way, making then versatile and ubiquitous. Holograms also contain more security features than before, thanks to digitization. Further, digital ‘watermarks’ help sort plastics for easier recycling.

Printed electronics

Printed electronic is an emerging technology. Printing techniques, such as layer deposition, enable printed electronics (PE) to adhere directly to flexible surfaces, typically plastic. Additionally, these sensors can be produced at scale, as ‘labels,’ on roll-to-roll machines, thereby reducing production costs.

Andrew Manly

“PE has enormous potential. We should see more of this in the future, producing antennas and batteries for RFID/NFC tags and as light-emitting diode (LED) or organic LED (OLED) features on labels, such as Coca Cola bottles with luminous Star Wars light sabres,” says Andrew Manly, communications director of the Active & Intelligent Packaging Industry Association (AIPIA).

“You can use PE embedded in a package to communicate with a potential buyer’s cellphone, as they walk by a store. A digital sign near the product can announce a sale or special for the hour. If we can capture the consumer’s name on the phone, then it would be possible to personalize the message,” explains Doug Schardt, Komori’s director of product management. “You can also do inventory control on shelfs with smart packaging.”

Smart packaging scope

Multi-Color Corporation, a label solutions manufacturer, and Digimarc Corporation have co-developed a hybrid printing method to print Digimarc barcodes in large volumes. The barcode is scannable throughout the supply chain and thus helps with food safety and traceability initiatives. Photo courtesy Digimarc Corporation

According to Manly, the main areas of activity fall under the following three broad categories.

Brand protection

Counterfeiting is estimated to be as much as seven per cent of the global trade, says Manly, so many smart packaging technologies are geared toward making it as difficult as possible to pass off fakes as the real thing.

According to Manly, several companies are looking at nanotech to deliver microscopic security features which are, literally, impossible to replicate. Other companies are developing invisible features, even a complete RFID tag, which can only be read with special equipment and has the advantage of not altering the existing pack graphics.

Authentication and traceability

Each pack can be made a unique item with microscopic differences. These differences can never be seen by the naked eye, and is not a missing label or ‘fault’.

“Print inspection/vision systems just record each pack and ‘see’ tiny differences that can be used for verification and traceability. This can be done without investing in new printing equipment. It literally uses the existing pack artwork and redefines it,” explains Manly.

“Labelled packaging with printed sensors brings ‘intelligence’ to the items while shipping and trading. They can communicate about product information and condition, shipping and logistics information and can be linked to the Internet of Things (IoT), for a sustainable, reliable and customized supply chain,” explain Fabrice Domingues dos Santos from Arkema Piezotech, co-ordinator of the Supersmart project, and Gerhard Domann from Fraunhofer IS.

According to Manly, both Danone and FrieslandCampina include various types of authentication features on their baby milk products for China, where fakes are rife.

At this stage, it is pertinent to highlight one of the concerns expressed by the smart packaging sector. The track and trace systems required by the U.S., E.U. and many other countries to track pharmaceuticals through the supply chain is based on 2D matrix codes, which, according to Manly, are not the most secure form of coding.

Consumer engagement

In Manly’s experience, smart packaging can be the most cost-effective and high-impact marketing tool in a brand’s armoury. AI-powered packaging allows customers to get product-specific information, such as its origin, ingredients and allergens. Also, consumers can receive alerts, for instance, to take a medicine, if it is close to expiry or needs replenishment. These features increase brand trust and engagement.

Challenges

Cost is a major issue. “It’s okay to spend $0.15 on a tag for a product costing $50 to $5,000, but when the product is $1, the dynamics are somewhat different,” as Manly says.

Additionally, since the technology is new, servcie providers have to prove reliability and have the ability to produce them at a scale that makes mass adoption possible.

The industry is also aware that some components of smart packaging are not easy to recycle. Some companies are evolving products to use degradable materials, such as graphene-based inks.

Supersmart project

Paper-based sensors and labels can easily be integrated into packaging and consumer goods. Below: Printed sensor devices on paper are a new and sustainable approach to smart labelling. Photos © Supersmart project

Recognizing the need to control the use of plastic packaging, the Supersmart project, a European consortium of 11 companies, has for the past three years worked on bringing PE to paper using highly scalable technological processes that allow mass production.

Use of paper as a substrate for PE has many advantages. It is recyclable, available in huge quantities, comes from (partly) renewable resources, has low costs and is widely used in packaging. As Santos and Domann say, “If you make paper smart, you have easy access to a huge market.”

With its approach to transferring technologically mature high-throughput processes (roll-to-roll and sheet-to-sheet) to the printing of electronic components, the Supersmart project removed major hurdles to wider use.

Paper-based sensors and labels are attractive for numerous applications. They can easily be integrated into packaging and consumer goods. An anti-counterfeit tag for vulnerable or expensive goods can help to protect manufacturers and consumers from fraud. Large-area shock detection sensors integrated into packaging or other paper-based elements provides transportation protection and event traceability. Finally, these printed elements can be used as security features, that add reliable and cost-efficient smartness to simple products.

In a feasibility study at the beginning of the project, a figure of around 100 million smart labels per year was considered a realistic value. Visit www.supersmart-project.eu for more information.

Role of inks

Inks play an important part in the development of smart packaging. At the most obvious level, there are thermochromic and photochromic inks, which react to heat and light. They can be used to highlight certain features on the pack. For instance, chilled beers reveal features on the can when cooled or bottles that have the ability to ‘light up’.

One can use conductive inks in PE or add magnetism to make it readable as a security or authentication feature. Next, there are inks that react to the product’s condition. For instance, the ink colour changes when milk turns sour. On another level, there are e-inks that can be used to relay information.

The Active & Intelligent Packaging Industry Association (AIPIA) is the global networking and information hub for the smart packaging sector. In its 10 years of existence, it has established a community of more than 1700 members comprising brand owners, retailers, packaging converters, R&D organizations, logistics companies and smart packaging product and service providers. For more information on AIPIA, visit www.aipia.info.

To summarize, smart packaging is largely employed for specific campaigns except when authentication is critical. Manly is confident smart packaging will be used increasingly in all areas of consumer packaged goods in the future.

This article originally appeared in the June 2021 issue of PrintAction.

The sensing module will monitor and adjust front-to-back registration and colour tone before and during production. This module helps eliminate manual involvement by measuring and adjusting prints on the fly. This elevated level of automation helps saves time and effort on routine, but necessary adjustments.

The inspection unit delivers significant automation through its ability to monitor prints for issues and identify unwanted artifacts. Through this module, operators can also have the flexibility to have affected sheets diverted to an escape tray and automatically reprint pages for high-quality output without requiring operator involvement during production.

A mandatory module when connecting the inspection or sensing units, the cooling unit removes the residual heat from a sheet, which helps to maintain a stable internal environment. By rapidly cooling the sheet, the media integrity is further preserved, helping to maintain image quality, minimize paper curl, as well as helping to prevent jamming in inline and offline finishing solutions.

“At Canon U.S.A., we are committed to innovation and advancing our solutions to meet our customers’ needs, and these new enhancements developed for the ImagePress C10010VP Series further showcase our dedication to helping users meet the highest standards of quality and printing,” said Shinichi Yoshida, executive vice-president, Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Developed for the fifth colour station on the Ricoh Pro C7200X digital colour sheetfed press, the additional colours transform a broad range of applications from catalogues, posters, flyers, direct mail, and brochures to business cards, greetings cards, tickets, invitations, certificates and packaging.

The new toners are available on new and existing Ricoh Pro C7200X presses.

“We pride ourselves on listening to our customers and incorporating their voice into future portfolio developments. These new metallic toners are a result of their voices and our innovation—and we’re excited to bring this to market,” said Heather Poulin, vice-president, CIP Marketing & Portfolio Management, Ricoh USA, Inc.

The gold and silver toners will be available in North America in July.

Digital printing is here to stay. The digitalization of printing is a major step toward reshaping the whole converting industry. The main print-press vendors are quite advanced on their digital roadmaps even as new players enter the scene. Though lively, the digital printing industry is fragmented. A phase of business and market consolidation can be expected in the coming years, driven by the need to adapt to new technology needs or uses. We are also witnessing a strong surge in print-in-production, with history seemingly repeating itself, as ‘printing’ comes back to ‘production’.

Each print output is potentially unique with its own variable data that can be managed flexibly by creating an agile printing process.

As our printing journey advances, technologies mature and prices fall, we will always find new opportunities to leverage the benefits of digital printing. However, we will also be confronted by new regulatory requirements and different kinds of barriers. Currently, two factors are critical for the efficient adoption of digital printing.

Sustainability

The first aspect relates to eco-friendly print production. Nestlé has committed to using only recyclable or reusable packaging by 2025. To help meet this commitment, the company established the Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences to explore alternative packaging materials along with suppliers and other external partners. We can already anticipate that these materials, such as paper-based laminates, have lighter barrier properties compared with materials in use today. This presents a challenge to the related printing processes that will constrain their use. Of course, digital printing inks have made huge progress in food-compliance and are still improving. However, on new packaging materials with lighter barrier properties, some printing systems (the combination of a printing process, an ink and its finishing process) must be adapted to meet strict food packaging requirements. Additional goals, such as reusability and recyclability, should also be considered. Are today’s ink formulations, developments and finishing processes ready for this transition?

Data management

PHOTO: © DMYTO / ADOBE STOCK

The second aspect underlying the promise of digital printing has to do with variability in the printout (output) as well as flexibility in the printing (process). Print jobs are increasingly related to data management, as each output is potentially unique with its own variable data that is managed flexibly within an agile printing process.

Late-stage customization is the ability to customize the output at the latest stage, which itself refers to moving printed packaging from a conventional rigid supply-chain to a networked supply-chain where multiple players can print different static and variable layers of an artwork in one or several locations. It means moving away from a monolithic approach where the full printing and converting processes are entirely outsourced to a situation where many supply-chain options are available to cover the high variety of products, business models and routes to market (from fully outsourced supply to fully internalized printing and converting, with mixed approaches in-between). This is our definition of variability and flexibility, derived from data-driven print production and late-stage customization.

To achieve all this, the dots need to be connected, meaning the print-job data as well as the printing and converting process must connect seamlessly into an integrated end-to-end supply-chain workflow. This integration and connectivity happen in two dimensions, namely horizontally and vertically. Horizontal integration involves the progressive digitalization of the complete converting machinery and processes, streamlining the repro while ensuring colour matching and consistency. This digitalization has already occurred for the artwork and prepress; is happening for the printing step; and will progressively include the decorating, cutting and folding-gluing steps as well as other converting steps. Vertical integration relates to the print and converting-data. It ensures the right output is achieved from the correct data in a make-to-order or print-to-order model. Both static as well as variable artwork data must be aggregated dynamically together with production-specific data coming from a production order, which, in the end, can make every pack literally unique, if required.

At first glance, this degree of integration and connectivity to achieve a batch-of-one might sound futuristic, and is definitely ambitious, but the reality is that all the necessary technology-related building-blocks already exist. Digital front-ends rip dynamic artwork for the printer. Manufacturing execution systems dispatch production order information to the various assets of a production line. Dedicated servers ensure additional functionality, such as serialization or aggregation. For each and every type of data, a dedicated and well-optimized channel exists. Additionally, connectivity standards are maturing and being adopted to ensure both horizontal and vertical communication between all the modules of a production environment. All these channels, which are mainly independent today, can start to be interconnected to combine, as and when needed, the relative data, rip it accordingly, and finally print it to produce unique packaging items.

Data is the fuel of today’s economies. The ability to create, collect, handle, combine, extract, analyze, process and convey data will drive the most efficient businesses. Printing is no longer about accurate colour-matching and process-efficiency. It is rather about conveying to buyers and consumers digital information that has been applied physically on the pack. Some call it the blended reality. Nonetheless, it is a paradigm shift enabled by combining digital printing with connectivity. Such a shift is a prerequisite for achieving personalization and customization, the “holy grail” of the digital transformation in consumer package goods (CPG). This paradigm shift can help one envision the connected production-floors and factories of the future.

Alvise Cavallari heads Nestlé’s corporate digital printing programme as well as other related activities.

This article was originally published as part of the Drupa Essentials of Print series and reproduced in the April 2021 issue of PrintAction. 

Explains Lisa DiGate, Michelman’s global business vice-president, HP Indigo, “Michelman has partnered with HP Indigo for nearly 20 years to bring innovation that offers press owners digital print versatility to enter new markets. We are excited to introduce new solutions that protect HP Indigo printed labels, address more demanding label applications, and open up new market opportunities throughout the label industry; for our customers and partners.”

Michelman’s new suite of DigiGuard Plus UV OPV strengtheners is “economical and easy to use”. The entire portfolio, designed to improve UV OPVs’ performance combined with Michelman’s DigiPrime priming solutions, allows press owners’ improved ease-of-use by using off-the-shelf varnish with the strengtheners added. They can use their current UV Curable OPVs without investing in additional products or finishing equipment.

Eli Mahal, head of L&P Products and Solution at HP Indigo, noted, “This new technology allows press owners to extend their application range by meeting the industry’s durability & resistance standards for high-performance labels.”

The ColorStream 8000 series has been designed to meet the current and future production challenges of corporate and public sector in-plants, print and communication service providers and specialized commercial printers.

The expanded media range, including lightweight papers, broadens the application focus to include publishing and packaging inserts.

The ColorStream 8000 series gives users the ability to “produce more in less time, broaden their application reach, explore new markets and grow their revenue streams.”

“The ColorStream 8000 series is a new platform that leverages the heritage of the existing ColorStream family and takes its users to the next level of productivity, print quality and efficiency,” said Shinichi Yoshida, executive vice-president, Canon U.S.A.

Cimpress, HP Indigo’s largest customer globally, will deploy a fleet of new HP Indigo digital presses over the next two years, primarily the B2-format HP Indigo 100K Digital Press. The new technology is aimed at providing additional revenue for the company’s brands and improve efficiency across its global manufacturing operations.

Cimpress uses the HP technology to deliver personalized print products, such as holiday cards, photo specialty items, gifts, calendars and marketing materials.

“Helping customers achieve growth opportunities and operational excellence is a key value for HP. We collaborated closely with Cimpress as we developed the HP Indigo 100K, in order to ensure it addresses market needs for high automation and volume to deliver personalized products. We are excited to continue to develop our strategic relationship with Cimpress to drive the long-term success of both companies,” said Haim Levit, general manager, HP Indigo.

The SmartDFE is designed to be part of a fully automated manufacturing solution supporting Industry 4.0 telematics and MIS integration, plus connectivity with automated manufacturing lines via OPC UA. It brings together the creation of optimized print-ready PDF files; workflow and job automation to connect with enterprise IT systems; RIPping; screening; optimized image quality; and, via Harlequin Direct, it drives the print data directly to the printheads.

Mike Rottenborn, Global Graphics Group CEO comments, “Digital printing presses are getting smarter all the time, and innovation is especially strong in the labels and packaging segment. These presses need a ‘smart’ digital front-end to take their place in today’s smart print factories, and this is challenging for many OEM developers of digital packaging presses. Global Graphics has developed SmartDFE to simplify the integration of the DFE and the digital press and reduce time to market for our OEM customers.”

The Xeikon Wall Deco Suite is an all-in-one streamlined solution including inline finishing – all developed to cost-effectively produce creative wall decorations including custom illustrations and photomurals in short runs.

“The Xeikon CX50 digital press fits perfectly into our portfolio for wall-covering applications, midway between the Xeikon 3050 REX entry level option and our high-end Xeikon CX500 digital press. For higher speeds, the Xeikon CX50 can be upgraded from 20 meters per minute (65 feet per minute) to 30 meters per minute (98 feet per minute). Using Xeikon’s dry toner technology and advanced colour management capability with new generation interfaces and cloud connection, the Xeikon CX50 simplex digital press is designed to offer maximum overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and total cost of ownership (TCO),” said Dimitri Van Gaever, Xeikon’s market segment director for graphic arts.

Until now, graphic designers who prepare files for use with the new neon inks were limited to commercially available guides that were produced using offset lithography. When designers attempt to use these analog colour guides in digital print, the result is “disappointing”. This means lengthy trial-and-error procedures when attempting to design for the latest digital print engines.

Since inks vary among print engine manufacturers, theTouch7 colour guides are produced and sold only by printer manufacturers, for use only with their machines.

“Touch7 neon colour guides are printed by Color-Logic partners that manufacture digital print engines, and thus reflect exactly what can be expected when using the substrate on which the guide was printed. Touch7 Neon Color Guides help printers demonstrate and communicate to graphic designers the extended gamut of colours as well as the delicate pastels possible on digital presses, without the difficulty of trying to match colours seen in an offset-produced guide,” said Richard Ainge, developer of the Touch7 process.

The Touch7 neon colour guides are now available for pink and yellow neon and fluorescent colours. Touch7 provides print engine manufacturers with 760 colours for each neon colour, in addition to the standard CMYK ink sets.