Digital Does It

Digital printing is in its early stages of adoption in package printing, but it promises to add real value to any converter's capabilities.

packagePRINTING POSED A series of questions to experts from companies that are actively involved in different aspects of digital printing. The following are their responses.

pP: What are the main strengths that digital printing has to offer package printers?

Chris Faust, director of business development, Chromas/Aquaflex: The main strength is variability—this can be in the form of barcodes, numbers, and languages.

Don Bence, VP, labels and packaging, Xeikon America, Inc.:

• Low cost proofing on actual substrates;

• Very short runs are economical to produce and affordable for the package buyer;

• Prototyping for market testing can be expanded with numerous entries;

• Sequential barcoding, numbering, and marking can be integrated in the print run;

• Package postponement—printing only what is needed, when needed results in inventory reduction, reduced obsolescence and waste, and the ability to make last minute changes;

• Demographic and regional positioning/customization is affordable.

Ken Daming, product manager, Mark Andy, Inc.: The two obvious strengths that digital printing offers to package printers are the ability to drastically reduce set-up time and to reduce turnaround time. By eliminating the need to mount plates and set up the printing station, the converter can reduce set-up time and waste to almost nothing, drastically increasing productivity. Because they don't need to make printing plates and can get the job on the press quickly, they can gain an extremely short turnaround time back to their customer—and be able to charge for this service.

Ray Dickinson, product marketing manager, HP Indigo: Broadly speaking, digital printing can help a converter be more profitable and grow his business. Digital printing supports smaller quantity runs and faster turnarounds because it cuts out many steps in the printing process. A typical time requirement for a user of packaging materials to change a product averages 17 to 24 weeks, and most of this time is due to the change in packaging (design, implementation, and working through inventories). Digital printing can significantly reduce this time, allowing the user of the packaging materials to be more flexible and competitive.

pP: What package printing applications and/or markets is it currently being used in?

Bence: It's being used in tags, tickets, and labels; folding cartons; promotional packaging; and point-of-purchase/displays.

Daming: Digital printing is currently being used in most any label application—from prime labels to simple industrial labels. We see it as a substitute process for converters that are currently printing ultra-short-run jobs on narrow-web label presses. This is just a much more efficient way to produce the labels.

Dickinson: The current markets for digital printing are neutriceutical, HABA, private label/ regional brands, and some pharmaceutical, mainly in the area of labels. It only has a toe hold in flexible packaging because of speed limitations and the fact that most packs are wider than can be printed with current solutions.

pP: What are some current drawbacks to digital printing and what development efforts are taking place to address the current weaknesses?

Faust: The current drawbacks to digital printing are the high cost of equipment and consumables, as well as ink properties in some cases. The cost of equipment should decrease as production increases, R&D costs are recovered, etc. This would also hold true in our case with the UV-curable inkjet inks. We fully expect this price to decrease as the technology advances forward. They will not be at the same price level as traditional inks due to the fact that they require a more advance manufacturing process. However, they will become less of an obstacle each year and should not restrict future growth based on ink costs.

Bence:

• Special line colors are not readily available, and they are expensive. However, as the digital press population grows and print volume increases, imaging cost is coming down.

• Run length is restricted now, but is increasing as costs drop.

• Not all substrates are currently compatible, but the material range is growing.

Daming: One of the drawbacks is that the equipment currently made to produce digital labels is too complex to operate and maintain. The toner-based systems, whether dry or wet, are all very complex systems and not really made for a pressroom environment. Another issue is consistency of print quality. Systems that rely on toner and photoconductive drums are very sensitive to wear and changes in temperature, humidity, static electricity, etc.

Industrially-designed inkjet systems currently being developed are much more robust and require a lot less maintenance. These systems, when integrated with a complete label finishing system, will allow the converter to produce the label all in one pass. Inkjet systems also give the ability to print a consistent color, every day. The inkjet head is like a fixed displacement pump—it pumps exactly the same amount of ink each time, giving exactly the same shade of color.

pP: What are some of the issues that have to be managed when implementing digital printing for the first time?

Faust: The main items to be managed by an operation are certainly operation and maintenance training, but also include a proper analysis and planning for the prepress aspects of digital printing. Having the right equipment and people to handle the files required for digital printing is key.

Bence:

• The press environment and the stock storage environment should be climate controlled.

• Cleanliness is paramount to a successful operation.

• Pricing the output should take into consideration the value-added component that digital offers. The output should not become priced as a commodity.

• Workflow procedures and training should be approached early on in the installation cycle.

Daming: In setting up a digital printing operation, the converter will have to be very strong in prepress operations. They will be able to run many more jobs than before, but to be more profitable, they will need to be able to support the press with increased capacity in the prepress department. The digital printer is like a hungry animal, gobbling up the short-run jobs very quickly. To be profitable, it will need to be fed.

Dickinson: Digital printing is a disruptive technology. Any process is comprised of man, machine, and materials, and digital printing will impact all of these components, both downstream and upstream of the actual printing operation. From order entry to fulfillment, it requires a lot of management over a six-month learning curve.

The trend will be to keep a print job in digital form until the last possible moment, to increase flexibility and responsiveness. This will allow a product to get to the market in the shortest possible time.

pP: Do you see the addition of a digital printing station to conventional (or combination) presses being a significant way digital printing will move into the mainstream of package printing?

Faust: At Chromas/Aquaflex, we fully believe the integrated digital and conventional press is the way things will advance. It is too much to ask of one process to address all of the converters' needs. The combination of processes allows the converter to fully utilize the strengths of each process, not its weaknesses.

Bence: The only digital process that is fast enough for integration into a conventional press line is inkjet. This technology is currently used in conventional press lines for variable data marking, coding, and numbering. The digital, electrophotographic processes are too slow and restrictive (at the current time) to be productive for conventional press lines. Although there are some digital installations that incorporate inline converting, the vast majority of installations run roll-to-roll with converting done off-line.

Daming: Integrating digital printing into a conventional press is the ONLY way that digital printing will become commonplace in the packaging market. When the costs of the consumables come down, it will allow the converters to increase the run sizes of the jobs and produce them more efficiently than with a normal label press.

Dickinson: It is definitely a good way to get started. Mark Andy's entry into the market with this approach is good for the digital printing movement.

pP: What impact do you see digital printing having in the package printing industry over the next several years? What markets and applications?

Faust: I see the Argio product allowing the converters to satisfy their customers' demands for market-defined production. This can be in terms of adding product ingredients or descriptions, marketing promotions, barcodes for tracking, or personalization. These orders would be triggered by what is being sold in the market. This brings together the entire supply-chain management cycle.

Bence: Penetration will continue into the label sector, which is the most successful market so far, and short-run folding cartons will continue to grow. As more packaging applications decrease in run length and increase in order frequency, digital print will continue to grow. Costs will continue to decrease and regionalization/personalization will grow more popular. Additional substrates will become possible and expanded color space capabilities will all contribute to growth in digital print popularity. Digital will become more common as a complementary process to flexo and offset in ever-expanding applications of package printing.

Daming: Consumable costs will decrease, speeds will increase, and more and more jobs with higher run lengths will be eligible for digital printing. These may be the same labels that are currently produced on conventional presses. But as print buyers understand the increased capabilities of digital printing, they will demand even shorter runs and other forms of personalization that add value to that label.

Dickinson: Digital printing will give converters another arrow in their quiver, especially for use in variable data applications. However, digital printing is not going to be a replacement for analog—it's a complementary technology.