Since officially launching the initiative earlier this year, there has been extensive support from industry thought leaders across a wide spectrum of the industry, including conventional and digital printing equipment and finishing suppliers, packaging converters and trade associations worldwide.

The group is targeting to approve the first version of the updated taxonomy at a meeting at Printing United Expo this October in Orlando, Fl.

For additional details on the global taxonomy initiative, or to provide input, e-mail Marco Boer or David Zwang.

Brothers brings over 30 years of research and advisory experience, including helping organizations navigate the business impact of evolving technology and increased customer experience, to the position. Prior to joining Keypoint Intelligence, Brothers was chief product officer at Forrester Research, where he was responsible for driving the growth of the company’s corporate portfolio of product offerings in syndicated research, data and analytics, events and consulting.

“I am thrilled to be joining Keypoint Intelligence at such an exciting time in the company’s evolution,” said Brothers. “The need for objective sources of information and insight has never been more critical as businesses deal with both operational and strategic challenges driven by the shift to technology-driven business models. I look forward to leveraging my experience in research, data analytics and consulting to lead Keypoint Intelligence’s talented and innovative team to new market opportunities.”

Brothers joined the company after a comprehensive search process led by executive search firm ECA Partners, in conjunction with Atar Capital, which acquired Keypoint Intelligence in 2019.

“Mack is highly experienced in growth-oriented ventures that drive value for employees and shareholders. His passion for the industry and impressive performance in delivering results makes him the perfect choice to lead Keypoint Intelligence to its next stage of growth,” said Cyrus Nikou, Atar Capital’s founder and managing partner.

It’s an interesting story how this connection came together. During the TAGA Annual Technical Conference, Juanita Parris from Sun Chemical, who is also the President of the National Printing Ink Research Institute (NPIRI), asked if I could give her one of my business cards because NAPIM and NPIRI would like to get more involved with universities and students. Later, I was contacted by George Fuchs from NAPIM and arrangements were made so that Ryerson GCM students and I could attend the conference. The NAPIM conference was held outside of Chicago in Oak Brook, Ill.

The keynote presentation for the NAPIM conference was on how paper stimulates all our senses when we read. Delivered by David Sullivan from Sappi Paper, the presentation noted that we have increased information retention when we read something that is printed. Not only do we retain information better, it also has a calming influence on us. When we read something on a screen, we switch to a skimming mode, where we just try to look for the important parts. Sullivan’s main point was that reading information on paper helps us comprehend and retain information better.

The next presentation was about sustainability from a printer’s perspective. Laura Rowell from Sonoco predicted that by 2025, we will have 100-percent reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic packaging. Many major brands are already on board and are working towards this goal. She also stated that printing inks should not contaminate the recycling process.

Lee Marcoe from Lake County Press gave a very informative talk about “hot topics” their clients are asking for. Until 2009, their clients were demanding sustainable substrates and insisted that the energy used to print their jobs came from wind energy. Prior to 2010, customers demanded soy-based inks, vegetable inks, low VOC or VOC-free inks. All these requests are not top of mind anymore, but there has been an uptake in litho printing and direct mailings, Marcoe said. Direct mailings are now more targeted than before, resulting in more customized campaigns.

After these presentations, it was my turn to introduce Ryerson University and the Graphic Communications Management program to the audience. Not many attendees were familiar with us. The audience was also introduced to the two Material Science courses that are part of the curriculum. At the end of my presentation, I shared the project that students Layla Abdi, Catherine Di Luca and Pauline Reyes – who attended the conference – did in their Advanced Material Science course. The students prepared posters about their projects that were displayed during the tabletop presentations at the end of the first day.

John Jilek from Ink Solutions and Bill Giczkowski from INX International gave a presentation on the state of the industry. They noted that overall, the ink industry has an optimistic outlook for the future. Their main concerns are raw material costs and the availability of raw materials. As well, healthcare costs and transportation costs are also issues on their radar. Ink companies are committed to consistent product quality, competitive prices and tech support. The number of ink companies went down from 397 in 2014 to 192 in 2016. Also the number of print companies is down, but there is a slight upwards trend in ink sales.

The next day’s presentations were more on the technical side. Darren Gapen from WestRock introduced the company to the attendees. Did you know that WestRock has more than 320 manufacturing sites worldwide? Gapen demonstrated the many raw materials the company uses everyday and the other products, mainly solid bleached sulfate (SBS), that it manufactures. The numbers are mind-boggling. One surprising fact is that WestRock produces 18,000 t of air filter paper for furnaces every year.

Up next was a presentation by Sanjay Monie from Orion Engineered Carbons, formerly known as Degussa. His presentation gave an overview on how different types of carbon black are made and what their applications are. Carbon black can be surface-treated to make the material more polar, so it is easier to incorporate into different materials. Carbon black is also used for non-impact printing applications and Orion also manufactures a food packaging-compliant carbon black. It was interesting to learn how certain types of carbon black are surface-treated so they can be incorporated into waterborne inkjet inks.

Rachel Schwen from the Sherwin-Williams Performance Coatings Group spoke about colour measurement in the industry. First she spoke about colour, how humans perceive colour, how colour is measured, and how modern light sources, like LEDs, influence the way colour is seen and measured, since LED illuminants find their way into measurement devices. Her presentation also highlighted small and relatively inexpensive colour measurement devices, such as ColorMuse, Nix and Capsure. She said these devices are great to get a general idea about a colour, but are not a replacement for colour measurement devices from manufacturers like X-Rite, Techkon or Konica Minolta.

Jennifer Heathcote from Eminence UV gave a very detailed presentation about UV-LED curing. UV-LEDs were not able to produce UV-C light until recently, but these LEDs are not as powerful yet, as they need to be. She predicted that 275 nm UV-C LED curing will coming to the market in the near future. UV-LEDs are usually placed 15 mm above the web surface and sometimes at a distance of 25 mm to 100 mm. This is a lot closer than conventional mercury vapour lamps. If UV-LED is used for curing UV ink on 3D printed parts, the distance to the surface is usually 50 mm to 100 mm. An upcoming trend is also the inline measurement of UV intensity of the curing systems. Different systems are available that allow the inline control of the UV light intensity and energy density.

The remainder of the second day of the conference covered supply chain issues, smart manufacturing (also known as Industry 4.0) and inks for food contact. Inks for food contact are a very complex matter and as such, this presentation was given by a lawyer from a law firm that specializes in this area. The NAPIM conference concluded with a reception and an awards dinner.

John Copeland, NAPIM Executive Director (above), and Jim Leitch, NAPIM President and President of Braden Sutphin Ink (below), take the podium at the NAPIM awards dinner.

The following day and a half were dedicated to the Ink World Printed Electronic/eInk Conference. The keynote was given by Erika Rebrosova from Sun Chemical. She gave a very detailed and informative overview of printed electronics and eInks. There is a trend to use flexible circuit boards with screen printed silver-based inks. There is also the possibility of using materials called silver flex and copper flex to print electronic circuits. At the moment, it is not possible to make high power, high frequency, high density electronic circuits with silver-based inks. As I mentioned before, screen printing is the print process of choice for printed electronics, although some are done with inkjet or flexo technology. Conductive inks are made of conductive particles, resins and solvents. The conductive particles are silver, silver chloride, carbon black/graphite, conductive polymers, copper, silver-coated copper, graphene, carbon nano tubes and nickel. What is not possible at the moment is a UV-curable silver conductive ink. This is considered the Holy Grail of the printed electronics ink market.

Then, Robert Waldrop of DuPont Advanced Materials walked us through DuPont’s printed electronics history. It started in 1961 with screen-printed resistors and moved onto photovoltaic metallization in 1984, printed blood glucose sensors in 1985, printed electroluminescence in 1998 and printed heating elements in 1998. DuPont has also developed polyimide inks that can withstand temperatures of up to 320ºC, but cure at a low temperature of 60ºC to 100ºC. DuPont also has solutions for smart clothing. The challenge for smart clothing with electronic circuits is that the circuits need to be able to withstand stretching and washer and dryer cycles without breaking, which would render them unusable.

Casey Grenier from Tekscan presented the printed force sensor technology. The force sensors are also screen-printed. They are force-sensitive resistors that can be used in robotic surgical systems, wearable pump manufacturers, an impact-sensitive organ transplant container or force-sensitive theft detection.

Chris Booher from ChemCubed talked about jettable solutions for printed electronics. He spoke about 3D jettable solutions for rigid and flexible substrates using nano-particle free silver conductive ink. The ink needs to get sintered at 80ºC, meaning that only after the sintering process will the printed circuit function. The company also has a so-called NanoJet aerosol spray printing technology which allows them to print resistors and capacitors with low production variances, almost like conventional manufacturing of these electronic components. They are currently working on flexible, extensible inks that allow for a stretch of 130 percent.

I mentioned the sintering process before. It’s an important step to have printed electronic circuits conduct electricity. The sintering can be done either through temperature, basically “baking” the conductive particles together or through photonic sintering. This process delivers a very intense light pulse onto the printed circuit, fusing the particles together. Lou Panico from Xenon Corporation presented the technology his company can manufacture for the photonic sintering process. Panico gave the comparison of delivering 100 Joules of light energy. You can do this by shining a 10W light for 10 seconds or 1 megawatt for 1 µs. The latter is used in photonic sintering. Photonic sintering reduces the curing (sintering) time from up to 30 minutes to less than 10 seconds, an important timegain for the mass production of printed electronics.

A few presentations focused on wearable printed electronics. There are a few takeaways from these sessions. Fashion and electronics engineers are starting to collaborate on designing wearable printed electronics. Wearable electronics will be part of the Internet of Things (IoT). They can also be used to monitor the health of the person wearing the clothing with circuits and sensors in the fabric. Besides manufacturing fabrics and printing circuits on them, thin lightweight and renewable power sources also need to be made. As of now, wearables do not have the consumer market pull yet.

Overall both conferences were very interesting and opened my mind to new topics that relate to printing. It was worth attending these conferences and I thank NAPIM and Ink World Magazine for making it possible for the students and I to attend.

This article was originally published in the January/February 2020 issue of PrintAction, now available online.

According to APP Canada’s third annual Attitudes Towards Sustainability report, 74 percent of Canadians consider sustainability an important factor when making purchases. This trend was particularly reflected in food packaging where a majority of Canadian adults (62 percent) were willing to pay more for products packaged in sustainable materials, with 40 percent saying they would be open to paying up to 10 percent more.

“Canadians, especially adults between the age of 18 and 34, clearly value brands that are invested in sustainability and it is encouraging to see the demand for high-quality eco-friendly products and packaging,” says Ian Lifshitz, Vice President of Sustainability and Stakeholder Relations at Asia Pulp & Paper Canada. “This is what pushes the industry to stay focused on innovation and develop new merchandise supported by fully sustainable supply chains.”

The sustainability survey was administered online in August 2019 among a representative sample of 1,003 Canadian adults by Engine CARAVAN Surveys. Data was statistically weighted by age, gender and geographic region to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the Canadian population, 18 years of age and older.

While the survey indicated sustainability is most important to Canadians when making purchasing decisions related to food packaging (63 percent), it is also important to over half of consumers when buying retail goods (56 percent) and office goods (53 percent).

“When asked who was responsible for improving sustainability, roughly half (49 percent) of consumers felt individuals themselves played an important role,” says Lifshitz. “That’s a lot of people feeling empowered to affect change without waiting for governments or brands to take the lead. This tells me that our industry must continue to innovate and offer alternative solutions.”

Regardless of who Canadians felt was responsible for change, almost the entire nation demonstrated a commitment to act. Ninety-seven per cent engaged in some form of sustainable activity such as recycling (90 percent), using reusable food containers or shopping bags (79 percent) and limiting use of single-use plastics like straws and cutlery (66 percent). Other sustainable activities included printing less paper (56 percent) and composting (48 percent).

“There is a definite global shift in purchasing sustainable products and Canada is no different,” says Richard Tomasco, vice-president, Engine CARAVAN Surveys. “Canadian consumers clearly place a high value on sustainability and recognize the collective role they can play to address the environmental issues our planet faces today.”

Built on the foundation of the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) Expo, Printing United featured the latest solutions for apparel, graphics/wide-format and functional printing applications, while also extending into the commercial, packaging, and in-plant printing segments. Ford Bowers, CEO and President, SGIA, explains the show’s new direction is in response to market demands for a single exhibition that provides “one-roof” access to all printing technologies. From October 23 to 25, over 650 exhibitors and tens of thousands of attendees gathered to explore a broader, more comprehensive range of leading print technologies across 720,000 square feet of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

“The industry has asked, and we are delivering,” Bowers said. “In 2017, when SGIA and NAPCO came together with a vision to meet the widespread need for an invigorated tradeshow and educational format to address the convergence of industry verticals, we immediately got to work. The fact that we sold out of our exhibitor booth space in our inaugural year is a testament to our idea of bringing together all printing disciplines under one roof.”

“There are so many different variables in print and I think this shows the future [of the industry],” Jason Hamilton, Solutions Architect, North America for Agfa, said. “Sometimes we make printing more difficult than it needs to be. I think this [convergence] really helps people understand that with the right tools, the right partners, new [technology and solutions] can impact their business in a positive way.”

Heather Poulin, Senior Director, Marketing, Commercial Printing Business, Ricoh USA, notes that print shops are becoming all-encompassing solutions providers. “A lot of our customers want to bring in new and different technology — we have wide-format printers that want to bring in production sheetfed products so they can provide shorter run jobs, and we also have commercial printers and in-plants that are looking at wide-format, either it’s bringing those jobs in-house that they [have been] outsourcing or offering new applications to their customers.”

SGIA and NAPCO in January 2018 surveyed nearly 500 commercial, graphics, in-plant, garment, packaging and industrial printers about the changing market dynamics.

“Printers, across all segments, see the opportunity to better serve their customers with an expanded set of offerings. An overwhelming 95 percent see opportunity, are researching it, or have taken steps to expand their offerings,” according to the Convergence in the print industry report. “As one printer stated, ‘those that deliver value are the ones that grow and get the opportunities.’ Some of the reasons printers see such strong opportunity is because of increasing customer expectations – whether directly within the printing industry or from their perspective as consumers (e.g., Amazon two-day delivery) – which, in turn, raises the bar for all.”

Meanwhile, 93 percent of respondents say they are experiencing some or a significant degree of expansion. “In addition to expansion in their own businesses, the perception of widespread expansion occurring within the industry as a whole is significant: 80 percent of printers see it as accelerating,” states the report, with the most interest in the areas of commercial printing, graphics and signage, and printed product applications within packaging. As well, the survey finds there is strong interest expressed by both graphics and garment printers in each other’s segments, in addition to commercial’s interest in packaging, and graphics’ interest in commercial.

“The next few years for the printing industry are likely to be just as challenging as the recent past, with the changes in technology, customer needs, and the seemingly ever-shrinking amount of time to get an ever-increasing amount of work done. However, it also promises to hold substantial opportunity for those printers savvy enough to stay connected to the opportunities within their own market and to explore opportunities that exist within adjacent markets,” SGIA and NAPCO conclude.

As Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, the only constant in life is change. Can you afford to sit on the sidelines?

This column was originally published in the November 2019 issue of PrintAction, now available online.

While such apprehensions are valid for any product category, visions of printed paper piled high in the recycle bin often leave the pulp and paper industry’s reputation in tatters. And it’s time to reverse the stigma. Here are four myths about paper and how the new, data-driven pulp and paper industry really stacks up.

Myth: Paper is a dying industry
Fact: Sales are up and the industry is thriving
According to reports, paper is a 19th-century industry on the wane — and 25 years ago, that was correct. However, paper prices are higher than they’ve been in years and specialty packaging is up. Additionally, as anti-plastic sentiment continues to grow, new opportunities will continue to arise. Today, about 60 percent of paper waste is recycled compared to just 9 percent of plastics, putting paper firmly in the position to replace single-use plastics, such as straws. These opportunities are paving the way for a new paper industry, allowing innovative mills to reposition themselves to produce fresh types of packaging products and increase return on capital.

In 2010, Fortress Paper purchased a closed pulp-based paper production mill with the goal of converting it to a dissolving pulp production facility. Dissolving pulp is manufactured in the mill and is then sent to textile customers where it is converted to rayon. To produce this pulp, Fortress installed completely new cooking equipment and a cogeneration plant, but the company found itself in uncharted terrain. Fortress decided to leverage a data infrastructure to monitor all assets and, with the influx of real-time data, it gained visibility into processes and overcame many challenges. By defining, measuring, analyzing, improving and controlling all parts of the plant floor, the plant now produces 170,000 tonnes of dissolving pulp per year.

Myth: The paper industry is antiquated
Fact: It’s ripe with new processes, new products and machines
When tablets became widely available, many predicted paper books, magazines and even greeting cards would fall by the wayside. However, there’s a sensory aspect to books and cards, and physical book sales are on the rise. While many mills are producing new items to meet changing demands, others are finding innovative ways to manufacture the products consumers know and love.

For one mill, reducing variability in pulp viscosity was critical to maintaining its product quality. However, it lacked visibility into the digester, which affected downstream quality. Using operational data, it analyzed 8,000 cooks and 450 million data points within a data infrastructure, and used that information to build a model that predicted outcomes based on current viscosity. Its goal is to provide operators with enough information to comply with product quality requirements before the furnish goes into the digester.

Myth: The paper industry is not environmentally friendly
Fact: Resource usage is down and the industry is very efficient
When consumers think of paper, many think of excessive waste and environmental damage, but that’s simply not the case. Certified wood promotes sustainable forest management policies. Inventories on private timberlands, which provide more than 90 percent of the domestic wood and paper products, have increased nearly 7 percent since 2008. Waste products, such as lignin, are used to generate power in paper mills, and close to 70 percent of waste is turned into energy. In addition, an estimated 65 percent of the fibre brought to recycling centres gets reused.

For every paper mill, energy consumption and conservation are imperative to operate profitably. Due to paper grade changes, production rates and time of year, Verso Paper’s Androscoggin mill experienced wide variances in water and energy pricing. With over 2,000 tonnes per day of freesheet and groundwood coated paper, even small energy pricing changes resulted in hefty energy bills. By connecting the water and energy meters into a data infrastructure, the mill analyzed information to gain an understanding of present and future consumption. Management reconfigured the water system to use water and energy when prices were optimal, resulting in a 20-percent reduction in cost. With the help of these insights, 80 percent of Verso’s mill energy requirements are now generated onsite using renewable resources.

Myth: The paper industry is not tech savvy
Fact: It’s incredibly sophisticated
For years, the pulp and paper industry operated using antiquated systems and lacked data to gain operational visibility. However, changing demand and shifting consumer preferences have changed how mills operate. The first and most common production problem mills attempt to tackle is predictive maintenance. Reactive maintenance, or maintenance performed after equipment fails, can be 60 to 90 percent more expensive than predictive methods. After maintenance strategies, many mills work toward extracting more product from the same production footprint. While this can be more profitable, it’s far more challenging.

Klabin’s recently opened Puma plant, the largest ever industrial investment in the state of Parana, Brazil, and produces 1.5 million tonnes of pulp per year. Klabin created a digital twin of plant operations, providing complete visibility into the entire production line. Using models within the data infrastructure, Klabin stimulates production changes and schedules stops to improve production forecasts and process stability. By tweaking processes, Klabin has increased output by 3,400 dry tonnes a year.

Consumers are seeing new, sustainable product options from the pulp and paper industry that span far beyond traditional perceptions. And it’s all thanks to the right combination of capital investments and data. As data has permeated mills, pulp and paper companies are finding new and innovative ways to meet consumer demand, increase sustainability and drive bottom line results.

Mariana Sandin is industry principal for the forest and paper products sector at OSIsoft.

This article was originally published in the November 2019 issue of PrintAction, now available online.

New cannabis classes
The current Cannabis Act allows for the legal sale of specific groups of cannabis products described as “classes,” which currently include dried cannabis, fresh cannabis, oils, plants and seeds. This year’s regulatory amendment introduces edible, extract and topical classes, while oils will be reclassified as either extracts, edibles or topicals depending on their method of consumption.

Analysis: New cannabis classes and resulting products will create new packaging format opportunities. As is the case with current regulations, each cannabis class will have its own requirements for packaging and labelling, and careful examination of these differences will be required for proper cannabis packaging execution. For example, edibles will require food-grade primary packaging/immediate containers, as well as a cannabis-specific Nutrition Facts Table (NFT). Those currently producing cannabis packaging – especially for oil, which will be reclassified – should thoroughly examine the updated regulations to ensure compliance.

Maximum THC limits per container
Currently, an immediate container can hold up to 30 grams of dried cannabis (or its class equivalent as per the regulations). Products within new cannabis classes each have their own maximum weight limits based on the THC content of a given product.

Analysis: Knowing the maximum THC amount for each type of cannabis product helps to inform packaging development, particularly with respect to determining packaging dimensions. There will be a 10 milligram THC limit introduced for cannabis edibles — and this causes some concern given legal products may not be able to compete with the black market, where edible THC content can often approach 40 milligrams. The 10-milligram limit for edibles also effectively limits the number of units per container, which indirectly impacts packaging cost and efficiency.

Control measures required for dispensing cannabis extract
Not all cannabis extracts will be packaged in discrete units, such as capsules. For extracts that are not packaged in discrete units, are not intended to be inhaled and/or contain at least 10 milligrams of THC, immediate containers must:

• Be designed to ensure the extract cannot be easily poured or consumed directly from the container, and
• Include an integrated dispensing mechanism (e.g., a metered spray) or accessory that dispenses no more than 10 milligrams of THC of the extract.

Analysis: The updated regulations will eliminate certain packaging formats currently used for cannabis oil (e.g. bulb dropper bottles). Metered spray bottles or bottles that include a syringe for dispensing will also have to be examined to ensure they dispense no more than 10 milligrams of THC at once.

Matte finish no longer required
Updated regulations eliminate the current requirement for matte finish on cannabis packaging.

Analysis: This update will reduce confusion surrounding packaging materials that are naturally glossy (e.g., glass) and will eliminate the need for additional matte varnishes and coatings.

Fewer rotating health warnings
An updated set of Cannabis Health warning messages will accompany this cannabis regulatory update. There is now a maximum of eight health warnings that must be displayed in rotation on any given cannabis product, compared to 14 warnings currently.

Analysis: Lowering the number of warnings reduces layout variables per SKU, which will translate into improved packaging efficiencies.

Expanded labels and fold-out panels now allowed
Updated regulations will allow expanded panels and alternative display formats in cases where the immediate container is too small to accommodate all required information on the exterior display surface.

Analysis: It is now possible to use smaller packaging formats that could not previously accommodate the high volume of required regulatory copy. This update also nicely coincides with Health Canada’s Plain Language Labelling (PLL) regulations, which require significantly more information to be printed on over-the-counter drug product packaging. As a result, pharmaceutical brands and manufacturers have required new packaging formats to accommodate more information while minimizing supply chain impacts and shelf footprints.

Final word
This upcoming regulatory update addresses many complaints surrounding current packaging regulations for cannabis products in Canada, but also introduces new complexities. For anyone involved in packaging cannabis products, understanding these updates will be essential to ensure continued compliance. For those suppliers whose solutions do not satisfy current requirements, these updated regulations may create an opportunity to participate in the cannabis market.

Please be aware this article does not cover all of the upcoming regulatory updates — for example, wording for THC and CBD amounts have been updated to facilitate easier comparison between products. Another major update are the new requirements surrounding “wrappers.” Unpacking the implications of Health Canada’s new wrapper requirements will require further time than this article allows.

I would highly recommend that anyone planning to use wrappers examine the new regulations carefully and if possible, confirm their application with your Health Canada contact. It is also important to remember that cannabis regulations, like any other regulation, are written with room for interpretation. Reviewing the actual regulatory documents is essential to ensure compliance and maximize value for your packaging solutions.

Further investigation
By the time this article is published, the updated regulations and all of its supporting documents should be freely accessible on Health Canada’s website. These documents can be found by entering their name on any major search engine:

• Directory of Nutrition Facts Table Formats for Edible Cannabis
• Cannabis Health Warning Messages
• Cannabis Regulations
• Cannabis Act

Review the publishing date of those documents to ensure you are referencing the latest version.

Andrew Wong is Manager of the Innovation Solutions Group at Jones Packaging, a developer of packaging solutions for complex, highly regulated industries, such as healthcare and cannabis.

This feature was originally published in the September 2019 issue of PrintAction, now available online.

Two classifications of tools that can be used for colour measurement are colourimeters and spectrophotometers. Spectrophotometers perform full spectrum colour measurement and record the reflectance of an object across the full spectrum of visible wavelengths, whereas colourimeters imitate the human eye’s three-cone method of seeing colours and result in a measurement that closely mirrors what a human would perceive the colour to be. These tools provide objective measurements in various colour systems and are used in many industries, such as food and agriculture, fashion, print and graphics.

Historically, these devices were deemed as high-ticket items, often bulky, delicate and difficult to use. They were typically used in controlled lab settings, where they are fixed to a single location. However, a new generation of portable colourimeter tools has opened up new opportunities for accurate colour measurement in a variety of industries, both for lab and field use.

Nix Sensor Ltd., based in Hamilton, Ont., is leading the industry with its portable colourimeters and reshaping society’s perception of classic colourimeters. Its patented diamond-shape devices fit in the palm of your hand and connect to smartphone apps via Bluetooth. Its smallest device, the Nix Mini Color Sensor, was designed to be durable, portable and affordable. It has no moving parts, does not require user calibration, and comes with a lanyard for easy carrying.

Devices like the Nix Mini and Nix Pro Color Sensors are examples of measurement tools that allow for portable and accurate colour readings that harness the power of smartphones. The benefits of innovative technology, like Nix devices, are user-friendly functionality and durability that do not compromise colour accuracy. Since these tools interface with smartphones and tablets, you are no longer tied to a fixed location and can bring them to jobs in the field. Due to the devices’ shape and built-in calibrated LEDs, the Nix Mini Color Sensors can block out ambient light and provide a controlled lighting environment. These features have allowed for a much wider range of uses in industries that previously would not have been able to obtain expensive colour measurement tools.

Nix Digital
One of the smartphone apps created by Nix Sensor Ltd. is Nix Digital. It is available for both Android and iOS devices, and connects to the Nix device through Bluetooth. Once the Nix colourimeter is paired with the app, it is ready to be used. To gather colour readings, users place the Nix Mini on any surface and initiate the scan from within the app. After that, it provides the colour measured in different colour units, such as sRGB, HEX, CIELAB, CMYK, LCH and Light Reflectance Value (LRV). LRV is the amount of visible and usable light that is reflected from a surface after being illuminated by a light source. It is useful for lighting designers, interior designers and architects. You also have the ability to share the measured colour and use the application algorithm to generate colour palettes, such as monochromatic, complementary and triadic colours.

The app can be useful for professionals who work in both physical and digital colour spaces, such as graphic and web designers. With the Nix Digital app, you can scan real-world colours and incorporate them into their digital designs.

“We love that we are able to support professionals in so many industries that we initially didn’t consider when developing the device,” says Katie Myciak, Director of Marketing at Nix Sensor Ltd. “We’re constantly discovering new and exciting ways people are using our products and learning from their feedback.”

^{Photos courtesy of Nix Sensor Ltd.}

Nix Paints
Another app from Nix Sensor Ltd. is Nix Paints, which has a database of almost 30 paint brands available on the market internationally. With the Nix Paints app, users can scan any surface with their Nix Mini and find the nearest available match to the selected paint brand or collection. When a colour is scanned, the app organizes the results by nearest to furthest match. Paint colours can be saved into folders and shared through email to clients, friends or even directly to the paint store. Similar to the Nix Digital app, users can find automatically generated colour palettes that work well with their selected paints. This changes the process of finding a colour match to repaint a wall, saving trips to and from the paint store. It also opens the possibility of finding new ways to pull inspiration from one’s surroundings, like fabrics, nature or foods.

A world of possibilities
The biggest difference between Nix devices to other colourimeters in the industry is its capability to measure not only solids, but also liquids, powders, gels and soft or textured surfaces. With special adapters, they can measure the colour quality of blood, concrete, skin and more. The industries that can benefit from this are: Health and beauty, food and beverage, fashion, agriculture, painting and industrial quality control, to name a few. The Nix Sensor Ltd. team is challenging the capabilities of measurement for colour quality control. Over the past several years, they’ve developed methods to measure translucent liquids, like whisky, and worked to guarantee colour uniformity in mass-produced products.

Focusing on the future
When looking at the future, the team sees a bigger focus on building exciting new software updates and improvements for the industry. Myciak says we can expect a shift to user experience: “Our hardware pairs with the Nix apps that we provide for free and that isn’t going to change. We have grown our in-house software development team to expand and improve the capabilities of each app, continuously innovating and updating the user experience.”

At the faculty of Graphic Communications Management at Ryerson University, there is growing interest for the applications of Nix devices in student learning and education. Prof. Dr. Abhay Sharma teaches a course in colour management and uses 25 Nix Mini colourimeters to measure L*a*b* values and compare colour differences between print samples.

“The students enjoy being able to use their smartphones in class for a valuable purpose, and the affordability of the device means that the students can have more of a hands-on experience in colour management,” Sharma says.

He also conducted a study that evaluates the accuracy of devices like the Nix Pro Color Sensor. He gathered the L*a*b* values from the measurement of many colour samples to calculate and compare the ΔE between the Nix and a competitive colourimeter to see if there was a match between measurements. He published the results in his new book, Understanding color management, 2nd Edition, a guide for users in all market segments.

This feature was originally published in the September 2019 issue of PrintAction, now available online.

The first brand to buy into the ad offering is skincare company StriVectin, and the print ad – which addresses the subscriber by name and includes a brief message from the magazine – will be available with the latest issue of Elle.

“Researching and shopping for skincare is a personal journey. We’re always looking for ways to make 1:1 connections with consumers…Harnessing the power to target and personalize the insert took a great campaign concept to the next level,” said Alison Yeh, Chief Marketing Officer at StriVectin in a statement.

The MagMatch ads could also appear in other Hearst brands, according to Adweek, including Car & Driver, Cosmopolitan, Esquire and Food Network Magazine. Charles Wolrich, Head of Hearst Data Studio, told Adweek that under MagMatch, a magazine like Car & Driver could distinguish whether a reader should receive a print ad for a SUV or a sedan, depending on their online behaviour. While most subscribers aren’t logged onto Hearst’s magazine websites, the company anonymously matches their behaviour through third parties, he explained.

With many advertisers in the same market segments, Elle publisher Kevin O’Malley told Adweek the offering is a way for Hearst Magazines to stand out from the crowd. “It’s not just about scale. It’s about mining and creating audience segmentation within that,” he said.

As author and entrepreneur Seth Godin puts it: “Personalization wasn’t supposed to be a cleverly veiled way to chase prospects around the web, showing them the same spammy ad for the same lame stuff as everyone else sees. No, it is a chance to differentiate at a human scale, to use behaviour as the most important clue about what people want and more important, what they need.”

Trends in customer trust by Salesforce Research reinforces the notion that brands can win more business by creating personalized customer experiences — a message we’ve heard for some time now. Based on a survey polling over 6,700 individuals from more than a dozen countries including Canada, the 2018 report finds consumers are demanding greater personalization and will often disclose the kind of personal information needed to create more personalized experiences if they feel the business is being transparent about how the data is used.

“Welcome to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, an era defined by continuous technological innovations that are transforming customer expectations. As lines between digital and physical worlds blur, today’s customers demand deeply relevant, personalized experiences across devices, channels and interactions,” according to the report. “In fact, the average customer uses 10 different channels to communicate with companies. Despite this, today’s customers expect tailored engagement across all channels.”

Fifty-four percent of respondents say the marketing messages they receive aren’t as relevant as they would like them to be – suggesting that some companies drastically need to improve their personalization capabilities – while 84 percent say “being treated like a person, not a number” is very important to winning repeat business and maintaining brand loyalty. “Customers expect businesses to understand not only what they are purchasing, but why, as well as how they use products and services, and they expect it fast,” the report reads.

The majority of survey respondents say they are willing to share personal information if it is used to deliver more personalized engagements, and expect that personalization to be coupled with transparency. What’s more, 51 percent of respondents across all age groups say they are comfortable with companies “applying relevant information about me in exchange for personalized engagement,” as compared to 64 percent of millennials and Gen Zers.

What’s interesting is 86 percent of total respondents – and 91 percent of millennials and Gen Zers – say they are more likely to trust companies with their personal information when they explain how it is being used to deliver a better experience for them, suggesting that strict security and privacy protocols alone may not be enough to dispel fears of data misuse and breaches.

“As time goes on, businesses will contend with a more savvy customer base that expects greater personalization, along with respect for the data they swap for it,” the report concludes.

This editorial was originally published in the September 2019 issue of PrintAction, now available online.

The packaging sector is currently being disrupted by five trends that are affecting the bottom line:

•     The growth of the e-commerce market
•     A shift toward sustainable materials
•     Changing consumer preferences
•     Disruptive technologies
•     Greater margin pressure on retail and consumer packaged goods

“These trends will create new opportunities for companies to improve their performance against all dimensions of quality of revenue and drive the next wave of operational efficiency,” says Nick Santhanam, McKinsey senior partner and leader of the Industrials Practice in North America, in a release.

Turning a profit
Since 2013, packaging solutions companies have generated profits, closing the gap with the industrial sector as a whole.

McKinsey found that after more than a decade lagging the industrial sector, packaging solutions improved operational performance with a two per cent EBITDA margin expansion. Companies used capital more efficiently and realized higher revenue growth, which contributed to a 2.2 per cent compound annual growth rate from 2013 through 2017.

The industrial sector declined 1.4 per cent in the same period.

Asia-Pacific demand
Packaging companies have a strong global presence, though demand patterns are shifting. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for about 43 per cent of total demand, followed by North America with 24 per cent and Western Europe with 18 per cent.

Between 2017 and 2022, about 70 per cent of packaging growth will come from emerging markets. Annual growth is forecast to be highest in China (5.2 per cent) and India (5.8 per cent) during this six-year period.

To understand these numbers in context, consider that North America is expected to see only 1.2 per cent annual growth.

Proof point: China’s online retail market accounts for 80 per cent more internet sales than the U.S., even with the growth of targeted efforts like Amazon Prime days.

Fragmentation and consolidation
Packaging generates about $900 billion in annual revenues worldwide. But the sector is highly fragmented and extremely competitive. Its businesses measure 0.002 on a scale of 0 to 1 in relation to their industry typical size based on the Herfindahl-Hirschman index.

The top 25 to 30 companies account for less than 25 per cent of the total market. More than a thousand small, private companies that serve mostly local customers account for the bottom 25 per cent. Between these groups lie more than 500 small-to-midsize companies.

Many packaging companies are using acquisitions to gain scale and acquiring technologies in search of an advantage.

In the past decade, most packaging innovation typically originated with consumer products good brand owners or raw material suppliers. An analysis of 45 large packaging companies showed an average of more than three technology-targeted acquisitions per company over the past five years. The targets are typically small companies. The median transaction value is about $70 million.

“We need to focus on innovation,” says Ted Doheny, president and CEO of Sealed Air, a food and product packaging company. “And if we’re not moving fast enough, that’s when we should think about M&A to fill the gap and drive more growth.”

Quality of revenue
Improving Quality of Revenue (QoR) is key to driving sustained value creation in packaging, says the report. QoR is a measure of market and customer attractiveness with the strength of product offerings and business model.

How a company improves its QoR depends on its strengths and current position. For most companies, it will require considering where the market is today and where it is headed.

This article was originally published on Pulp & Paper Canada’s website, a sister publication of PrintAction.

There are labels on our food, medicine, clothes and technology. They tell us crucial information to help guide our decisions: Nutritional information about the food we consume; how to wash our clothes; how and when we should take medicine; and potentially life-saving warnings about certain products, such as chemicals or prescription drugs.

How often do we actually read these labels? How much information do we actually absorb? For most of us, the answer is “very little.”

Today, brands deliver a disconnected customer experience. They rely on the consumer to make purchasing decisions and understand a product’s intended use by piecing together information from labels, packaging and traditional retail displays. While some of us may read the fine print or visit the brand’s website to learn more, many of us buy what is familiar or perhaps what is on sale. We assume we know how to use a product based on what we’ve done in the past.

But what if our labels, packaging and retail displays could be smarter? Instead of us mining the fine print for information, what if these intelligent devices could simply tell us what we need to know?

As it happens, Xerox scientists and engineers are digging into that question right now. They are carrying out research that promises to bring intelligent elements, such as printed electronics and smart sensors, to product labels and packaging that they say will revolutionize business operations and help make the Internet of Things (IoT) a reality.

Imagine a world where a simple cardboard shelf displays product information – benefits, ingredients and even special offers – on a screen the moment you pick up a package or touch a sensor. Technology embedded into the display would detect your smartphone’s signal and immediately direct you to the brand’s website for more information about the product you have just selected or similar products that might be of interest to you. And, if you choose to receive more information, the brand could customize discounts and offers specific to you before you even leave the store.

This connected customer experience could even continue beyond the store. For instance, a smart drug package could remind patients when and how to take their medication. It would also send information directly to their pharmacy about when a dose has been taken, if the patient needs a refill and even how the patient feels. Patients could connect to their pharmacist and receive ongoing support, and pharmacists could monitor medication adherence and know if the treatment needs to be adjusted.

Meanwhile, the brand and their retail partners gain a better understanding of how customers engage with products. They would know which products their customers purchase, and which ones they pick up and put back on the shelf. They would learn how long customers look at the display and what information is considered most important. They could use this information to improve pricing, discounts and future interactive displays.

Batteries and wires wouldn’t be a problem — they would be printed right onto the shelf and package. Assembly of the smart displays would be completed in mere minutes.

As these technologies mature, new opportunities will become available for players across the value chain, from print providers that create these smart, customized displays and packaging, to retailers and brand owners that hope to create a more meaningful experience for customers by connecting their physical world to the digital realm.

What may have sounded too far-fetched a decade ago is now not only credible, but also well within reach.

Dr. Paul Smith is Vice President and Centre Director of the Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC), one of Canada’s leading materials research centres. With more than 40 years of innovation research experience, XRCC’s mission is to drive business growth through the commercialization of breakthrough materials, technologies and services.

This article was originally published in the July/August 2019 issue of PrintAction and Summer 2019 issue of Packaging for Printers, both available online.

“Most survey participants are positive overall about the future, despite very clear concerns about the economic and political prospects for 2019 and beyond,” Richard Gray, Operations Director at Printfuture, explains. “It is striking that many show an increasingly confident grasp of how to exploit the rapidly changing opportunities for print, as the wider markets make increased use of digital communications.”

The Printer Barometer for economic confidence finds North American participants scored the highest positive net balance among all regions. Respondents were asked, “How do you rate the current economic situation of your company and what are your expectations of your company’s economic situation for the next 12 months?” In 2018, 40 percent of  printers said their company was in ‘good’ economic state and 13 percent described it as ‘poor,’ while the balance answered ‘satisfactory.’ This gives a positive net balance of 27 percent and it is that net balance that makes up the Printer Barometer numbers. Regionally the 2018 results are uneven: North America enjoyed strong growth, Europe and Australia/Oceania saw steady growth, Asia, South/Central America and the Middle East were cautious, while Africa was in decline.

For suppliers, the positive net balance came in at 19 percent. Both groups remain optimistic, the report finds, with 50 percent expecting better conditions in 2019.

It’s interesting to note conventional print volumes continue to decline at a slow pace. In 2013, 23 percent of printers reported that digital print was more than 25 percent of their turnover. In 2018, the proportion of printers had increased to 29 percent. Nevertheless, sheetfed offset remains the most common form of print technology, present in 66 percent of all printers. The report finds the volume of sheetfed offset continues to grow in packaging, but there is a clear decline among commercial printers for the first time. Meanwhile, web-to-print (W2P) volumes are increasing slowly. In 2014, 17 percent of participants with W2P installations reported more than 25 percent of their turnover came from that source, and by 2018, that number had increased to 23 percent.

Despite challenging conditions, 41 percent of printers spent more in 2018 than 2017, while just 15 percent spent less; capital expenditure grew in all regions except Africa. Expenditure patterns largely mirror the overall regional performance, with North America being the most positive, followed by Asia and Europe. According to report findings, those in packaging and functional markets were very confident, and those in commercial and publishing markets were more cautious. Participants named finishing equipment as their top priority, followed by print technology and prepress/workflow and MIS solutions, when asked about their investment plans over the next 12 months. Digital toner sheetfed colour was the most common target for print technology investment for commercial, publishing and functional markets, the report notes, except for packaging where sheetfed offset ranked first.

When asked about the barriers to future growth, printers and suppliers named ‘strong competition’ as their key constraint, followed by ‘lack of demand’ and ‘lack of skills.’ Given that market conditions are largely outside their control, what can printers and suppliers do to improve matters? ‘Reduced staffing/improved productivity’ followed by ‘systems integration’ were the most common responses from printers. For suppliers, it was ‘new product launches’ and ‘new sales channels.’ Both printers and suppliers chose ‘automation and data exchange’ – often referred to as Industry 4.0 – as the long-term technological disruption with the most impact.

“Global print is in good shape overall. Most of our global indicators have climbed over the last five years and whilst there are some leading indicators of challenges ahead, they are commonly with regard to non-print issues, namely politics and the broader economic conditions,” the report concludes. “Clearly there are some regions doing better than others. Equally there are stronger and weaker markets. The industry has found its collective confidence again after the twin shocks of the last decade — the global recession and the impact of digital media.”

This editorial was originally published in the May 2019 issue of PrintAction, now available online.

“Personalization is a powerful tool to create meaningful experiences with consumers. It increases brand loyalty and engagement and at the same time accelerates business growth and speed to market,” says Nancy Janes, Global Head of Brand Innovation, HP Inc. “HP’s digital printing capabilities are transforming how consumers connect to brands through personalized packaging and products.”
 
“In our eyes, personalization encompasses far more than just customized or stylized products,” says Charles Ohiaeri, Chief Fulfillment Officer, Zazzle. “It’s about how we can intelligently curate and contour the whole experience for those in our community – makers, designers and consumers alike. HP’s digital printing solutions allow us to serve our customers in ways we would not have considered previously.”
 
HP’s research uncovered the digital print advantages of the Personalization Pinwheel:
• Fingerprinting: drive share of market through collectability of unique items,
• Flying Your Flag: drive engagement by personalizing products according to heritage/codes,
• Letting It All Hang Out: increase connection with Millennials and Gen Z by celebrating consumer stories individually,
• Permission to Indulgence: allow consumers to tailor their experience of the world to their own unique preferences,
• Bringing Bonds to Life: grow penetration by expanding into gifting and e-commerce through fully customized products, and
• Mindful Materialism: build value and differentiate through purpose by enabling consumers to express their own voice in solving social or environmental issues.

“Technology changes at a rapid pace and what consumers once barely even imagined, today they barely even notice,” said Natalie Sauvé, Senior Vice President, Technology Practice Lead at FleishmanHillard HighRoad. “By examining the conversations that have taken place and the technology on the horizon, we’ve been able to make predictions about tech in 2019 to help brands understand consumer expectations and plan for the future.”

According to FleishmanHillard HighRoad, 2019 technology predictions include:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) will get detailed. Brands that use AI to engage in detailed and explanatory conversations – seeking to place AI in real-life contexts – will be next year’s big winners. Discussions on conversational AI increased 54 percent in Twitter topic volume from 2017 to 2018.

• Augmented analytics will go mainstream. AI’s potential to enhance human intelligence, rather than replace it, is central – consumers will want to understand both what augmented analytics means by itself, and what it means against technology’s other big trends.

• Blockchain will find new opportunities. Moving beyond cryptocurrencies, Blockchain could expand, supporting developments like smart cities and digital transformation. Discussion volume share increased 52 percent between 2017 and 2018 – and the opportunity for deeper, more forward-looking conversation is growing.

• Edge computing will come to the fore. Edge computing streamlines the flow of traffic from IoT devices and provides real-time local data analysis. Look for 5G to spur on the continued hype and interest in edge computing in 2019.

• Immersive reality will transform new sectors. Virtual, augmented and mixed realities will join to create new experiences for consumers and will creep even further into areas like retail, manufacturing and healthcare.

• Smart fabrics and e-textiles will rise in popularity. Expect smart fabrics and exoskeletons to hit runways and warehouse aisles alike, challenging what the term ‘wearable’ really means.

• Tech for good. FleishmanHillard’s Authentic Insights global report revealed that more than 80 percent of consumers rate data security and protection as ‘very important’ – ahead of only healthcare and education in the U.K. and healthcare and freedom of speech in the U.S. Against all this, responsible data protection measures will continue to be a major trend.

For 2019, the aggregate operating income forecast has been revised to two to four percent, from four to six percent.

Moody’s notes that the consolidated operating income of the 44 rated paper and forest product companies will be lower than originally expected in the coming 12 to 18 months, while global GDP growth will also slow.

“The stable outlook for the global paper, packaging and forest products industry reflects operating income in the 2 to 4 percent range over the next one to two years and is driven by lower prices and weaker demand, as well as higher input costs across most subsectors in most regions,” says Ed Sustar, a Moody’s senior vice-president.

North American & European markets
The outlooks for the North American and European paper, packaging and forest products industries likewise have been revised to stable from positive. Annual pulp prices are expected to remain fairly stable. Recycled fibre costs are expected to increase slightly, but will likely continue to remain below long-term average prices. Moody’s cites the restrictions on recycled fibre imports into China as the reason for increased North American and European supply.

Operating income for rated North American firms is expected to grow one to three percent over the next 12 to 18 months, and these firms represent about 55 percent of the global rated industry’s operating earnings. Moody’s says that modest earnings from rated paper packaging, market pulp and timberland companies will offset declining operating earnings from tissue, commodity paper and wood product producers.

Paper packaging producers in North America will benefit from announced price increases and slightly increase e-commerce packaging demand, but will face slightly higher freight, labour, energy and recycled fibre costs.

Moody’s also predicts the North American and European printing and writing paper subsector changing to negative from stable growth, based on digital alternatives available to replace paper, and predicts a fall in the current higher-than-normal paper prices for 2019 as lower demand catches up with the available supply.

European companies’ operating income is expected to grow 2 to 4 percent over the same period, with these firms accounting for around 25 percent of the global total.

Latin America
Meanwhile, the outlook for the Latin American paper, packaging and forest products industry remains positive. Moody’s projects that the earnings of rated Latin American firms will grow 6 to 8 percent in the next year or so on the back of increased production volumes from the ramp-up of capacity additions and productivity improvements. Latin American producers represent about 20 percent of the global rated industry’s operating income.

Year-over-year comparison
Moody’s global macroeconomic outlook for 2019 projects GDP growth of 2.9 percent for the combined G20 countries, down from an estimate 3.3 percent for 2018.

Last year, Moody’s predicted a stable global outlook for the paper, packaging and forest products industry in 2018. However, it records the year as positive due to the industry’s consolidated income surpassing 10 percent. This was a result of stronger market pulp prices and higher demand from stronger environmental restrictions in response to China’s limitations on recycled fibre.

This post was originally published by Pulp & Paper Canada, a sister publication of PrintAction at Annex Business Media.

This attractive growth prospect contrasts favourably with the overall outlook for printing, where declining output of graphics and publication print means value increases are only a 1.0 percent year-on-year.

As the worldwide print market transforms, shifts in buyer demands – shirt runs, versioned and personalized products and higher quality are aligning with the capabilities of inkjet. This is making it a key focus technology developers. Smithers Pira analysis shows that across the next five years inkjet will grow, both by deepening it penetration into existing markets, and exploiting new emergent market opportunities.

Productivity returns
With the market proposition of inkjet printing now qualified, there is an increasing drive to improve the productivity of inkjet presses. In May 2018 HP, for example, announced it was upgrading its PageWide T1100S press, adding extra colours and boosting the top speed in the T1190S model to 305m per minute. This makes the most productive digital print engine 67 percent faster, raising output (without bleed) from 8,215 to 13,692 A4 prints per minute. That is more than five times faster than a B1 printing press operating at 20,000 sheets per hour.

Simultaneously less powerful machinery is being aided by improved workflow solutions and greater automation in material handling. This is common in high-performance flatbed printers but is also being witnessed on other formats. This trend was illustrated in May at Fespa 2018 by Cannon Océ, with a sophisticated robotic handling system that enables its Arizona 6170 XTS machine to interface with a ProCut cutting table from Rolan Robotics. The robot positions boards onto the Arizona bed, it can turn them over and place them accurately on the cutting table and then remove cut sheets or individual products into stacks for delivery or into a further production stage in a totally unattended operation.

For the user, like Dutch print service provider (PSP) Van Vliet Printing, the arrangement allows it to move to round-the-clock unattended printing for a range of medium-volume applications.

Changing priorities
In 2018 advertising – direct mail, promotional leaflets and fliers, display and signage – remains the most significant end-use market for inkjet printing. It will account for 55 percent of global inkjet revenue in 2018.

Advertising will remain a mainstay of the industry across the next five years, but its relative importance will decline to a 44 percent share in 2023. This is due both to a drop in end-user pricing of advertising inkjet print falls through changes in required media and use of more productive equipment; and also due to rapidly increasing use of inkjet in several other key sectors.

The three most noteworthy are:

• Book printing
• Commercial print
• Packaging print

Book printing
As book printing adjusts to the realities of a world where much media is in electronic format and shopping is dependent on online e-commerce channels, it is increasingly turning to inkjet print. Total value in this market will almost triple across 2018-2023, topping $11 billion at its end, and overtaking transaction print as the second largest inkjet segment by value.

Its ability to produce short runs or single books, minimal set-up, and easy integration with online ordering systems is benefiting book publishers and sellers, allowing them to minimize stock holdings and risk, improve turn around, and monetarize extensive back catalogues more rare or fringe interest titles.

The single-pass web inkjet press is central to this revolution, linking mono and colour presses to slick cutting and folding systems to deliver sections or blocks for near-line binding.

Commercial print
Inkjet is increasingly being used in commercial print applications, with wide-format and high-speed presses now being joined by the very high-quality sheetfed inkjet presses.

Many commercial print shops have focused on lower run work, but this is now changing high-quality sheetfed presses come onto the market and web press users broaden their applications. This is allowing inkjet to target the whole range of commercial products, like greetings cards, forms, business cards, stationery and envelopes, folders, postcards, playing cards, training and product manuals, newsletters, badges, programs, posters, non-promotional signage, and leaflets.

As inkjet builds in the commercial segment – roughly doubling in terms of value across the next five years – the share of work in mono overprinting will diminish in favour of full colour.

Packaging print
Packaging print is another segment set for an explosion in inkjet production across the next five years. Growth in labels will still be appreciable at around 10 percent year-on-year, but the most rapid transformation will be in direct packaging substrates with a suite of new machines targeting specific formats expanding the market at more than 25 percent each year.

Inkjet has long been used in preparation of prototypes and proofing of packaging, but has been slow to take off in production. There is real traction in 2018, however, as high-performance inkjet platforms come to market to print folding cartons, flexibles, rigid plastics, metal; and in particular corrugated board, with the single-pass preprint and postprint machines being adopted enthusiastically by converters.

At Fespa 2018, EFI Nozomi and HP announced new installations for their corrugated board presses And there was news of technical developments from Erajet, Macarbox, HP (see above), Koenig & Bauer, Durst and Sun Automation in the sector.

Equipment formats
In 2018 the value of new inkjet equipment is $3.6 billion, up from under $2.5 billion in 2013, and will top $4.1 billion in 2023. The thousands of wide-format printers sold currently amount to the largest sector; by 2023 this will be overtaken by high-performance web presses, with new designs for packaging applications becoming significant.

High growth is forecast in sheetfed platforms, where the single-pass B2 and B3 presses are being joined by new B1 designs and fast-developing larger-format corrugated postprint presses. The B1 presses shown at drupa 2016 are now coming to market. Innovative designs ­­– including from Inca Digital with its traversing head Onset M B1 inkjet press – is seeing installations. The Landa S10 is the first indirect inkjet system in operation, while Canon is continuing to develop its Voyager machine.

Narrow-web inkjet presses, including the hybrid flexo/inkjet systems, are rapidly gaining share in label production, with flexible packaging a significant if secondary application. Most narrow web equipment uses UV curing inks, supplemented by water-based systems coming onto the market including the Memjet system in the new Gallus SmartFire.

The market for bespoke inkjet designs in graphics and packaging is falling as turnkey systems are developed for more applications. A key trend is the use of robotics to move heads into position to print irregular shapes, with industrial applications being explored, with direct printing of automotive and aircraft components one potentially lucrative area.

The full report, The Future of Inkjet Printing to 2023, is available for purchase now.

Founded in 1944, Random Lengths provides price assessments and market reporting for the global wood products industry, with a core focus on the North American lumber and panels markets, publishing over 1,500 prices each week. Random Lengths explains it will compliment and expand RISI’s existing wood products price reporting.
    
“Random Lengths is a leading source for prices in the lumber and panel markets, with a rich history of delivering trusted, unbiased insights,” says RISI CEO Daniel Klein. “We are excited for customers and the market to receive the most comprehensive offering of pricing data and information across the entire forest products supply chain, through the combination of RISI and Random Lengths, and as a core part of Euromoney’s cross-commodity PRA division.”

“Combining Random Lengths with RISI and Euromoney’s commodities price reporting organization is an exciting step,” says Jon Anderson, President of Random Lengths. “It enables Random Lengths’ customers and the market to continue relying on our price guides and market information, while enhancing Random Lengths’ business with RISI’s and Euromoney’s extensive resources and worldwide footprint.”

RISI Global Head of Price Reporting Matt Graves will relocate to Eugene, Ore., to lead the integration, working directly with Anderson and the Random Lengths team. Both organizations plan to continue their market reporting and publishing schedules as normal.

“What’s special in this case is the model for collaboration between BillerudKorsnäs and Uppsala University that has resulted in technology adapted to large-scale production processes. We’re combining the deep theoretical expertise of the researchers with our understanding of innovation and production technology. By successfully creating a joint platform, we can focus our work on the future, on creating an advanced product that can still be produced in an effective way,” says Lars Sandberg, project manager for innovation at BillerudKorsnäs.

In the long term, the paper battery opens up possibilities for developing packaging that is both smart and more sustainable. Small paper batteries with sensors can in the future open up for packaging that can be traced through the entire transport chain. This includes, for example, packaging that measures temperature or position in real time and provides information on what is happening with an item during transport.

A paper battery entails many new ways of using packaging and can offer new opportunities for the packaging industry and BillerudKorsnäs customers that wish to establish systems that safeguard quality and delivery reliability. For example, a light sensor along with a BillerudKorsnäs paper battery could provide information on where in the transport chain a product disappeared from its packaging.

With electrodes based on cellulose from wood fibre, the ambition is that in the future, it will be possible to recycle batteries along with their boxes and make them into new boxes or paper batteries.  

“The paper battery is a key piece of the puzzle in efforts to produce smart packaging that requires small, sustainable power sources. By enabling this type of sustainable packaging, the work on the paper battery is fully in line with BillerudKorsnäs’ vision of challenging conventional packaging for a sustainable future. Storing energy in paper instead of in lithium batteries, for example, allows for bio-based batteries that can form part of a circular system, which provides major sustainability benefits,” says Magnus Wikström, technical director at BillerudKorsnäs.

Results of a recently released GlobalData global consumer survey finds 75 percent of consumers worldwide now think that living an ethical or sustainable lifestyle is important to creating a feeling of wellbeing.

“This sudden interest in sustainability has been driven by more open discussion via social media, and increased government lobbying resulting in action against plastics. The result of this pressure is evidenced by changes to legislation, such as the UK introducing a minimum 5p charge for plastic carrier bags,” Mayu Teeven, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, says. “Using sustainable packaging to reflect cleaner and healthier living has become a priority for many consumers. As demand for organic and natural products grows, and the clean label trend continues to increase in popularity, having non-recyclable plastic packaging will start to limit the success of products which rate highly on ethics and sustainability in other parts of the supply chain.”

Research continues into recyclable materials, with the University of Warwick recently discovering lignin, a new type of biodegradable plastic made from tree glue that can be discarded with food scraps.

Lignin normally holds cellulose fibres to stiffening plant stems, and researchers found that it can be turned into a strong, moldable plastic. Although the process of creating this material is still difficult at this stage, it could be on shelves within five years if scientists can ascertain a more efficient way of breaking down lignin, explains GlobalData.

“Currently, the biggest challenge for producers is to convince consumers that sustainable packaging materials are worth the extra cost,” Teeven says. “Although there are long-term savings to be made by manufacturers moving to more sustainable materials, in the short term, prices will likely need to increase to cover the research and development costs of developing new materials and upgrading machinery to work with the new packs.”

Founded in Paris in 1958, FINAT is an international association for manufacturers of self-adhesive labels and related products and services, with more than 550 members in over 50 countries.

Since 2010, demand for PP-based materials has grown 78 percent, direct thermal papers are up 51 percent, and white coated papers have seen a 24 percent increase. The figures show while paper based materials continue to dominate label materials demand, there has been a shift from basic primary and VIP labels toward more sophisticated, high-end applications.

“The continued growth in demand for packaged consumer goods, especially in emerging economies, has increased the need for white, coated materials as end-users are looking to differentiate their branded products on the shelf,” says Jules Lejeune, FINAT Managing Director. “Labels containing variable product data in sectors like retail, logistics, process automation and inventory management demand an ever growing volume of direct thermal papers. But above all, the need for high quality (transparent) product decoration in high speed, high volumes sectors like food, health and beauty care and premium beverages is driving the surge in the consumption of PP-based labels.”

The trend is encouraging self-adhesive label producers to offer adjacent high-end packaging solutions like pouches, sleeves and other flexible packaging items. They are also investing in the corresponding knowledge, facilities and accreditation programmes like in the case of food safety.

These findings are based on the backdrop of a 4.7 percent European growth rate in total consumption of self-adhesive label materials, up to 7.45 million m² in 2017, slightly below the 5.4 percent average over the preceding four years.

Eastern Europe drives growth
The continued evolution of Eastern European markets also remains a key growth driver and has helped European label companies on aggregate record an increase of almost 1.7 billion m² in their annual demand since 2010.

Geographically, established markets Germany, U.K., Italy, France and Spain, still account for 58 percent of the total European market size with emerging Poland and Turkey catching up. They are expected to challenge the top five in the next few years.

There are, however, significant European disparities when comparing demand in terms of consumption per capita. While the European average of 9.7 m² is approaching the 10 m² benchmark, Denmark, Lithuania and The Netherlands (all small, export oriented countries) consumed almost 17.5 m² per capita. The bottom 10 countries recorded consumption less than 5 m² per capita.

Among these are Romania, Russia and Turkey, between them representing almost 250 million inhabitants or one-fifth of the total population in the countries under review. This indicates there is still a huge potential for future structural growth. This potential does not consider the continuously widening scope of the labels sector into short term flexible packaging.

Signs of economic slowdown
There is a clear statistical correlation between roll labelstock demand and the general economic climate according to FINAT’s statistical agency Panteia. Unsurprising is the fact that labels are an essential enabler in a wide variety of sectors of the business community. Looking back, general economic cycle change in the EU28 countries over the past 15 years was ‘announced’ by a reversal of labelstock demand in the previous quarters.

Lejeune states: “Given the present uncertainties associated with Brexit, escalating trade wars between the EU and the U.S., continued trade sanctions against Russia and, finally, re-emerging concerns about the euro following the installation of the new Italian government, it should come as no surprise that the gap between annualized growth rates in the label industry and GDP has been shrinking in recent quarters after five years of continued well above GPP growth rates.”

RADAR signals buoyant markets
FINAT’s other market research partner LPC Inc. completed technical surveys and one-on-one interviews with brands across Europe for the spring 2018 edition of FINAT RADAR. It confirms the buoyant state of the label industry. Average annual sales growth over the past five years was 7.1 percent, although this slowed in 2017 compared to previous years. Interestingly the highest growth rates were recorded in non-prime markets like automotive, consumer durables and industrial chemicals while the largest labelling sectors of food and beverages continue to be among the top five growth markets.

It gives FINAT members a unique perspective on the European labelling sector, and on the trends and forces that are driving brands to adopt and implement specific labelling technologies and decoration formats. Two trends dominate: prime labels are becoming increasingly complex and non-prime labels are becoming increasingly functional.

The Eurozone economy’s robust performance thanks to a recovering labour market and healthy external demand supports ongoing label sector growth. As a result, brands are persistently seeking ways to connect with their customers. One method is through package decoration. As brands strive to achieve a market-specific approach late in the supply chain they require shorter runs and fast turnaround to accommodate late-stage design and label functionality requirements. This is driving digital press adoption and shapes how marketing and R&D departments create consumer captivating campaigns.

Lejeune concludes: “The future remains bright for labels. When asked which printed packaging sector delivers the most innovation, again and again brands claim their label suppliers offer more innovation and agility over their flexible packaging, carton and corrugated suppliers.”

The Smart Printing Factory Platform collects job status, machine condition and production-quality data for factory-based printing equipment using integrated sensors. It then delivers production and predictive maintenance plans. Users can monitor and control printing equipment through an IT/OT management console. For legacy printing facilities without digital devices, sensors can be attached to send, store and analyze data.  

“As in other manufacturing industries, the printing industry is required to respond to mass customization and must improve processes in order to stay competitive. However, replacing a legacy printing system with a fully automated one is not easy because companies use equipment from various manufacturers,” said Fujifilm IIoT Team Leader Izumi Watanabe. “An open ecosystem is the best way to connect equipment from many manufacturers. An open ecosystem will also allow factory operators to analyze data and integrate new printing developments more easily. We look forward to working with IIC member companies to make improvements on printing industry processes and technologies.”

“The Smart Printing Factory Testbed is a perfect example of an IIoT application that will help improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of an industrial application through IoT-based automation,” said IIC Executive Director Dr. Richard Soley. “We’re excited that IIC members are working on a cutting-edge problem like smart printing for factories.”

Fujifilm hosts the Smart Printing Factory Testbed at its site. Supporting IIC members – IBM, Fujitsu, Toshiba and RTI – provide enabling technologies for data acquisition, management console, production planning, design implementation and security.

The first keynote presented by Mike D’Angelo, Managing Director Americas for Goss International, focused on why offset printing remains today’s dominant printing process around the world. D’Angelo pointed to a key trends affecting the current print market, including: Many magazines are still being printed, the book market is stable, the newspaper decline has stopped, and packaging is a growth business.

Commercial printing seems to have turned a corner, according to D’Angelo, but there is no doubt the run lengths are shorter, less pages per job are printed, more localized versions are produced, and the use of automation has increased. Newspaper printing needs a new business model, according to D’Angelo, with smaller, more agile presses. This in turn will translate into printing localized content to help stabilize newspaper sectors.

The packaging market sees increased competition and more versions of the same product are being printed. Web offset printing also offers some price and speed advantages in comparison to sheetfed offset. Offset plates are cheaper to make than flexo plates and web offset printing offers a unique speed advantage, not only in press terms, but also in the number of times materials need to be handled and stored.

The second keynote was given by Liz Logue, Senior Director Corporate Business Development with EFI, speaking about printing on textiles and ceramics with inkjet technology. Logue stressed a little-known fact that 50 percent of ceramic tiles and 40 percent of display graphics are digitally printed. Digital textile printing is gaining traction and currently only five percent of all textiles are digitally printed.

Rotary screen printing is still the dominant print technology for textile printing. Inkjet inks are adapted for textile printing and fast fashion turnover provides digital-printing textile opportunities. New digital designs enable new profits. Increases in print speed and resolution for digital textile printing helps with the transition from conventional to digital print technologies. From an environmental standpoint, Logue explains digital printing is also less water polluting than conventional print methods.

The next keynote speaker was Kevin Berisso from the University of Memphis, who talked about The Internet of Things (IoT) and posed an intriguing question to the crowd by referencing The Terminator movie series: Are we building Skynet? In truth, Berisso was really asking what exactly is IoT, because there are now so many definitions out there about this critical movement in business processes.

Berisso explains IoT is based on physical devices that are networked, collect data and make automatic decisions. An IoT solution needs to combine hardware and software, has to interconnected, and must interact with its environment.  

The fourth keynote was given by Janos Verres, Program Manager at Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), speaking about the next generation of Printed Electronics. First, Verres give a brief historical overview of PARC and some of the many innovations made there that are now part of everyday live, such as the Graphical User Interface, ethernet connection and laser printing.

Verres also talked about how energy will be democratized and why the future will be personalized. He explained how this future will be driven by smart devices, smart analytics and smart infrastructure. In the future, electronics will have any form, any shape and will reach new levels of complexity. Yet, they still need to be easy to fabricate using flexible printed and hybrid electronics. IoT will change from Internet of Things to Internet of Everything. This will lead to ubiquitous intelligence and computing. Printing technologies will help shape the Internet of Everything, with integrated printing platforms that will be part of multi-process printing workflows. Simple electronics will be printed with very small memory capacity, which will be printed.

The fifth keynote was given by Don Schroeder, Director of Solutions Development at Fujifilm North America, speaking about key trends in inkjet printing. The use of inkjet technology is growing fast based on new print heads even as more paper products must be adapted to work well with inkjet inks. Although the use of inkjet printing is growing, Schroeder explains it still is only 0.5 percent of global print production volume.

High-speed inkjet printing is gaining traction beyond its current primary use for transactional printing. Its main challenges remain paper quality, costs and availability, in addition to capital costs and printing speed. Inkjet presses have become more expensive and people shy away from the risk of buying a new, expensive inkjet press that might become superseded in two years time. The amortization period is too short.

Schroeder also pointed to inkjet printing benefits: Less set up time, less waste, quick turnaround, variable data printing, low volume reprints, less consumables and less maintenance. Inkjet printing also offers a larger gamut than offset printing, as it makes inroads into the packaging and label markets. Looking at folding cartons, for example, the new Heidelberg Primefire 106 will be shown at drupa 2016 running with Fujifilm’s inkjet technology, reaching speeds of 2,000 sheets per hour.

The remaining TAGA program outlined critical technology progress, including a presentation on expanded gamut printing and, importantly, asking what is the correct colour sequence of CMYK plus OGV (seven colours) to find the best combination to achieve maximum gamut.

Another presentation showed how the FOGRA 51 dataset and resulting ICC profile was put together before its public release. Other key topics printers should investigate included: Cross-media communications, PDF X/4, the influence of optical brighteners, new colour management tools for digital printing, shorter product cycles for packaging, print quality of 3D objects, printable films based on hemicellulose, inline direct-mail automation, on-press control of metallic inks using M3 measurement condition, CxF/X4, lamination for consumer packaging, spectral colour control, resistive gravure inks made with soy protein, print gloss, and how to extract capacitors out of recycled printed electronics.

TAGA once again delivered the message that innovation remains a key driver of the printing industry and that its proprietors must embrace change.

Parents know this refrain well “Are we there yet?” – just as they know the answer, “In a little while.” I spend my working life with printing technology and have heard this for many years. In the case of inkjet, it is a recurring theme. And while we are not there yet, we are getting much closer.

Approaching the destination
Some print providers have arrived. A great example is REAL Digital International based in South London. In 2004, the company was founded based on the belief that transactional and direct mail production could be improved using a flexible inkjet solution. They invested heavily in secure premises and powerful workflow with finishing systems to cut, fold, collate and insert almost anything.

REAL Digital invented 650-mm-wide high-quality colour duplex web inkjet printing by mounting a pair of single pass inkjet presses on a flexible transport system. Further, the company developed new paper coatings to reach acceptable quality for leading brands, printing personalized carriers, mailers and magazines. The business proved out the belief, winning multiple awards, including the PrintWeek Company of the Year, while inventing new business models as the marketplace matured. They identified inkjet’s potential and went for it, making good money in the process.  

REAL Digital’s journey continues by upgrading to a pair of Screen Jet520 duplex lines in 2014, but is not stopping there. They continue to monitor the technology to see what the future holds.

“Inkjet technology provided the flexibility enabling us to deliver solutions that address latent customer demand and to drive new demand in areas where we have seen further opportunities,” David Laybourne, REAL Digital’s Managing Director, explains. “The technology continues to evolve, and inks are more flexible with increased colour gamut, reducing the need for special substrates whilst increasing productivity. As the ink manufacturers accept more viable pricing models, the proportion of the marketplace that inkjet solutions are able to address will only increase.”

Viable ink costs are key
Laybourne’s opinion about viable ink pricing models is informative. Ink cost makes medium to long runs with high ink coverage uneconomical in inkjet, as compared to analogue print. Suppliers want to maximize profit and this disconnect is holding back adoption of inkjet in commercial print, publishing and packaging applications.

Printers using analogue presses think the ink is too expensive. There are several supply models for equipment, service and consumables (mostly ink, but cleaning fluids and replacement heads must be considered). High value recurring consumable revenue is attractive to suppliers, but print service providers are not used to this. They buy a litho press and negotiate for plates, inks and support from the established supply base – although some press manufacturers are competing there. Costly ink is turning some potential customers away from inkjet.

Substrates also important
Another historical barrier to wider adoption of inkjet, especially for commercial printing applications, was the need to use specially treated papers and the inability to effectively print on glossy coated stocks. The latest generation of production inkjet presses is rapidly eroding those barriers.

“With the latest system introductions of the ImageStream, the reachable range of applications extends even further, due to the printability of offset coated material for matte, silk and glossy applications,” says Peter Wolff, Director of Commercial Printing Group Canon EMEA “With these new capabilities, additional applications like magazine printing, catalogue printing and others are now doable on inkjet with all the benefits in regards of individualization and customer targeted content without additional cost related to special inkjet treated papers.

“This offers commercial printers the opportunity to combine a broad range of applications on one digital press with productivity and quality equivalent to offset.”

Books leading the way
It is important to note that the costing of inkjet production is different from that of analogue print. It has lower prepress and set-up cost, but ink – and until recently, paper – is more expensive, often much more expensive. This means long run, high ink coverage inkjet is not cost effective, so there is little appetite for printers to change.

In book production, however, there are advantages in combining inkjet with in-line finishing, delivering finished blocks ready for cover application and final trimming. This is particularly true for monochrome books. Publishers and book printers have gone beyond just comparing print costs to considering the total cost of manufacturing, since inkjet can deliver folded, collated and glued blocks for a simple cover application and final trim for books in any format or pagination with minimal waste. The flexibility of inkjet allows book production to be re-engineered with overall cost and service advantages, enabling book publishers to reduce their stocks and their publishing risk. Colour books are quickly following the mono lead.

For other products, the benefits of changing manufacturing processes to inkjet are not so clear yet. Well-established analogue methods are meticulously honed to minimize cost while delivering high quality. This will change as more companies install inkjet equipment, learn the capabilities and exploit new opportunities. New inkjet equipment will provide higher return on investment for many print products.  

Production inkjet: a growth opportunity
In 2015, there are many inkjet early adopters and profitable users. Ricoh is at the forefront of quality with the high speed Pro VC60000 press launched in 2014. It has several early adopters, including HansaPrint in Finland, a €70m turnover firm specializing in retail and publishing.

“Prior to experiencing the Ricoh Pro VC60000, I did not believe that there would be a major shift from offset printing to inkjet. But the new press has changed my mind,” says Jukka Saariluoma, HansaPrint Business Unit Director. “Our clients are very excited by the new level in quality and the increased flexibility offered and are moving significant amounts of their work from offset to inkjet.”

The print world is certainly changing. All the key analyst organizations predict very high growth continuing for inkjet print volumes and values. Smithers Pira forecasts that the value of inkjet printing output for graphics and packaging more than trebles over 10 years, from €23 billion in 2010 to more than €70 billion in 2020 (in current values), with CAGR forecast of 12.7 percent between 2015 to 2020.

HP alone reports that its customers have produced more than 100-billion inkjet pages since its first installation of a production inkjet press in 2009, a clear indicator of overall market trends, with other inkjet press manufacturers reporting rapidly growing volumes as well.

Beyond traditional print
The applications for inkjet are many. There is coding and marking, addressing, security numbering and coding, photo-printing, wide-format (sheet, roll-fed and hybrid), flatbed imprinting systems, narrow web, tube and irregular shapes, high-speed wide web and sheetfed, to name a few. Outside of traditional printing and graphics, inkjet has revolutionized ceramic tile printing and it is growing very strongly in textiles and other industrial decoration applications – from pens and memory sticks to architectural glass and laminated decor.

“Inkjet has become the preferred decoration process for ceramics and other decorative materials,” explains Jon Harper Smith, Fujifilm Specialty Ink Systems Business Development Manager.

Thus, inkjet offers opportunities for expansion into related areas that may not normally be considered by traditional print providers. “Not too long ago, inkjet was praised as an alternative to conventional systems for its ability to offer single-off sheets, short runs and personalized prints. In the meanwhile, the technology is challenged to offer higher speeds and higher volumes to replace some of the conventional systems,” says Paul Adriaensen, Agfa Graphics PR Manager. “But the technology is also introduced in new areas never related to the printing industry before. This creates interesting dynamics in the industry.”

Mimaki and other manufacturers are bringing innovative digital inkjet solutions on the market delivering higher speed and productivity to meet demands of the booming textile market.

From a technical perspective, inkjet has a major advantage over all other print processes because it is the only non-contact, high quality, high performance process. The advances are primarily in new and better control of print heads, better inks and a much wider selection of readily available and more affordable inkjet treated papers.  New applications are developing almost daily. For example, Canon has installed lines in Nigeria to print election ballot papers.  

Think ink
Ink manufacturers spend lots of money on developing new inks that perform well in the heads and provide excellent print quality. Such research is not cheap. But the result is that ink properties have improved, with higher density levels that result in more offset-like quality with lower coverage. There are also now more substrates that perform well with inkjet, aided by colour management improvements.

There are many routes to market for inkjet inks. Some equipment manufacturers formulate and manufacture their inks; others sell ink that is made under license by ink specialists. In low-end wide-format inkjet, there are independent third-party ink suppliers competing with the OEM. That is probably the healthiest part of the market for end users, with thousands of machines sold each year consuming millions of litres of inks. This is not the case for high performance systems, where the equipment supplier typically provides the ink tailored to optimize performance within the overall system.

There are indications, however, that this is changing. Collins Inkjet is an independent inkjet ink manufacturer who sells a range of inkjet inks, innovating in many applications including new electron beam curing. It makes water-based inks for many of the high speed single pass presses. It remains to be seen how effective this company and others will be in establishing itself as a third-party ink provider, in competition – or partnership – with OEMs.

“Low consumables costs promote growth and easier adoption. When customers see competitive pricing for the more efficient inkjet technology, it is easier to switch, and they are more willing to change,” says Chris Rogers, Collins’ VP of Sales & Marketing. “Our business model is a traditional ink company; our manufacturing scale allows us to price inks at lower profit margins. This long-term strategy has proven successful over 25 years and it seems that OEMs are now starting to agree. They realize the easiest way to grow market share is to price their consumables fairly and we can help them with that.”

Driving new market opportunities
Inkjet has been around for some time. Today, a huge amount of money is being spent developing print heads, inks, substrates, control software, transport, drying and turnkey print systems. While these investments have forced changes on the world of print, it is nothing compared to what we expect to occur over the next few years. The inkjet markets today are largely new.

As productivity grows, inkjet is becoming greedy, with suppliers now turning toward siphoning volume from analogue print markets for additional growth and offering directly competing solutions. The productivity, quality and economics are pushing inkjet firmly against sheetfed litho and narrow web flexo, and it has larger format flexo and web offset in its sights.

While a few inkjet suppliers may be guilty of hyperbole (sorry, they are very guilty of it in some instances!), it is good to see users and customers voting with their feet and their wallets. That being said, we will continue to see enhancements to productivity and boosts to the cost performance of inkjet. Some totally new formats and systems are coming to market. At least a couple of these will be on show at drupa, in new formats and markets. What is also new is that these will be firmly aimed at the heartland of offset and flexo printing.

Choice of printing methods changes because of one or more reasons: to reduce cost, to improve quality, to achieve greater levels of service, or to do new things. Inkjet allows printers to do all four – and no doubt there will be other new reasons going forward. Flexibility. Agility. Power.  

In addition to graphics and packaging, inkjet is making rapid progress in textile printing, ceramics and industrial/architectural decoration. Then there is the new arena of 3D printing, where inkjet is an important enabler. These have the potential of opening huge new opportunities for companies that are smart enough and brave enough to explore the potential and exploit new markets.

In technology terms, inkjet is state of the art. In business terms, inkjet is being used to re-engineer supply chains, making money. That certainly is not fiction.

The Vista Inkjet process developed by TTP is capable of printing with standard industrial paints. TTP states it has already tested Vista Inkjet successfully with cellulose and two-part part polyurethane paints used for car and aircraft body manufacturing. After testing such high-end uses, the company explains this opens up many other possible applications including the use of thermoplastic fluoropolymer paints like Kynar for decorative finishes on architectural metallic structures.

TTP states it is also exploring the printing of low cost and high functionality materials for ceramics, textiles, security and brand protection along with high conductivity patterns and 3D printing.

TTP’s patented print head design overcomes what the company describes as the limitations of existing inkjet printing processes, restricted by ink formulations and the use of closed chambers and narrow channels. Instead, Vista Inkjet is based on a planar construction that allows free-flowing ink circulation and accurately controls the movement of the nozzle plate to eject droplets, from 0.5pl (pico litres) to over 1nl (nano litre).

TTP explains this means that fluids with large particulates and high viscosities can be used along with aqueous pigmented inks and a range of solvent inks such as alcohol based fluids, ethyl acetate, MEK and Dowanol. Motion of the nozzle plate is controlled by customized electrical drive signals to eject droplets on-demand or on a continuous basis.

TTP reports its prototype array of 128 Vista nozzles has delivered drop placement accuracy with a standard deviation of just +/- 3 milli-rads. Print heads can also be designed with specific nozzle diameters, pitch and number of rows for different inks, paints and applications. And with the inertial transfer mechanism and fluid recirculation, the ejector system features priming, self-cleaning and refill attributes.

“We have taken the principles of inkjet printing and re-invented the ejection mechanism and print head to create a potentially disruptive technology for digitally printing industrial paints, opening up exciting new opportunities from customizing car and aircraft bodies to creating architectural finishes and printed electronics,” said Dr. David Smith, head of business development for Vista Inkjet at TTP. “As well as providing greater flexibility, the process also saves time and money and reduces waste.”

TTP is currently looking for partners to commercialize the technology.

“Every sector of the economy has felt the effects of government mismanagement. From sequester to the recent government shutdown, the government’s lack of activity is hurting people,” says Dave Regan, CEO of Semper. “Semper is in the unique position of seeing the pain from both sides of the coin. We see companies struggling to keep their doors open, and we see jobseekers struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. We need Washington to step up and provide the stability and incentives businesses need to see to start hiring and investing. It’s the only way we’re going to get the economy moving again.”

Survey participants include more than 300 small, medium and large printing companies in the U.S.; both clients and prospects of Semper International. While a few Canadian companies were asked, none participated in this survey. Participants provide data on revenue and hiring as well as estimated outlooks on future trends. Data is requested from a random sample and is not screened. Semper has been running quarterly surveys since February 2003.

Key findings from the study include:

The PEPIO F20 is a flatbed gravure offset press designed for producing touchpanels on both glass and film. The PEPIO R20 is a roll-to-roll offset gravure device aimed at fine-line electronics production on film.

“First and foremost, Komori is an expert in precision manufacturing, and the entry into the printed electronics marketplace reinforces Komori’s message at drupa 2012 that we are expanding into new markets,” says Kosh Miyao, President and COO of Komori America Corporation. “We are very excited about this new product offering, not only for the opportunities for business growth it provides, but as further evidence of Komori’s commitment to the advancement of printing technology.”

The company calls the new press offerings “the next logical addition to the Komori press line.”