Digital Printing--Coming on Strong

The role of digital printing is starting to take shape in the package-printing industry.

by Tom Polischuk, editor-in-chief

DIGITAL PRINTING FOR packaging is out of the starting blocks. It's new; it's exciting; it's expensive; and it's here to stay. As with any new technology, some are jumping in and some are watching from the sidelines, waiting to see if it's right for them.

Kevin Karstedt, president of Karstedt Associates, a consulting firm for the consumer product and package-printing industries, is in close touch with the movement of digital printing into packaging. He easily rattles off a number of recent installations including a range of digital printing solutions from Mark Andy, HP Indigo, Xeikon, Xaar, dotrix, and others.

Karstedt sees different implementations taking shape: digital printing in combination processes that include coatings and conventional flexo; stand-alone digital processes; and most recently, digital printing incorporated off press, onto the packaging lines. The following is a look at some of the different implementations and the companies that are pioneering the use of digital printing for packaging.

Digital label printing

Prestige Label Co. first got into digital printing in early 2001 when it purchased an Indigo Omnius Webstream digital press. What got the company into digital printing, says Prestige Label's President Elisha Tropper, was the belief "that a major segment of the label printing business will ultimately be digital." While his company is still committed to flexo printing, Tropper sees the market for digital label printing beginning to take shape within the conventional label printing market.

Prestige Label expanded its digital capabilities with the addition of an HP Indigo ws4000 Digital Press, which provides seven-color printing on a wide range of papers, films, foils, and card stocks. "We originally selected this technology [Indigo] because we felt it was the most advanced digital printing technology on the market for labels, and that it would readily mesh with our existing label business," says Tropper.

Digital printing enables Prestige Label to provide short runs of process labels more competitively. With the ability to provide variable information and quick turnaround times, the company can offer more and better services to its customers, reports Tropper. "While digital printing does not necessarily open up new markets for us, it enables us to compete on more levels within our existing markets."

Digital printing is different, says Tropper, "different on the front end (from estimating through graphics), different on the production side, and different on the finishing end. The biggest obstacles for us were finding and training capable digital press operators, ones who combine certain traditional, mechanical press operator skills with graphics and prepress skills."

Vendor support was absolutely critical for success. "Digital printing is not something career flexo personnel are prepared for," says Tropper. "… With the help of HP, we were able to train press operators, and develop the kind of internal education and training required to succeed."

Meeting customer needs

Innovative Creative Packaging Solutions' core business is supplying folding cartons for the private label pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. The company decided to get into digital label printing because it recognized that some of the needs of its clients were unachievable with conventional label presses, says Shawn Smith, president.

"We selected the HP Indigo ws4000 because of its ability to deliver on-demand, superior quality labels, while incorporating numerous special features," states Smith. The ws4000 allows Innovative to accommodate short- to mid-run sizes with special colors, security features, image changes, numbering, and personalization.

Smith sees benefits that extend beyond the existing customer base. "In addition to better servicing our existing clients, we feel that the versatility and cost savings achievable with this new technology will allow us to more deeply penetrate our target markets and make us more competitive," he says.

One of the key challenges faced by Innovative was the conversion of artwork to the digital format. Smith says that HP was instrumental in helping the company integrate the new process into its workflow. In addition, HP provided key training support for production, sales, and estimating, all necessary ingredients for overall success in digital printing.

POP markets

The Menasha Display Group concentrates on point-of-purchase (POP) markets. Digital Product Manager Scot Tennyck says that his company first looked into digital equipment at drupa in 2000. "We are constantly evolving as a company, staying on top of the latest technology," says Tennyck. "We could see that the world was starting to go digital."

Tennyck's operation currently has two Scitex Cor-jets that print four-color process, plus light magenta and light cyan, on a sheet size of 63˝ x 102˝. At the time it purchased the Scitex system, it was the only equipment Menasha could find that was specifically designed to print direct to corrugated.

For mass merchandisers and consumer goods companies (CGCs) looking to market to smaller, more regional areas, digital printing is the answer, says Tennyck. "It is not cost effective to try and produce 1 to 500 displays with traditional methods." With digital printing, there is no need for films, plates, and dies, so Menasha is able to offer economical prices for high-quality graphic printing.

"The value we add to our customers' POP programs is shorter runs, test marketing, more targeted marketing, and customization to their national programs," says Tennyck. "The technology has definitely brought us more customers."

For Menasha, success in digital printing starts with experienced operators and good production workflow. "A good, experienced operator is key to getting the operation started. You can train from scratch, but an experienced operator can take months off of the learning curve as you get into production."

Integrating the new digital printing workflow into its existing systems was an area that got a lot of attention at Menasha. Many times the digital equipment comes with the manufacturer's front end that may not seamlessly integrate with the existing computer systems, reports Tennyck. Any front-end issues need to be worked out early in the game. "A good production workflow needs to be determined prior to ramping up for production," says Tennyck. "You can spend months trying to run production and struggling because the workflow is not set up."

Totally digital

Odyssey Digital Printing is an eight-year-old company that focuses exclusively on digital printing. In its printing arsenal, it has two Xeikon printers, a 50D duplex printer and a 50SP simplex printer for packaging; two Heidelberg Quickmaster DIs; and three large-format inkjet printers, two from Océ and one from Vutek.

According to John Roberds, president of Odyssey Digital Printing, the company first got into business using an IBM version of the Xeikon press. In 2001, Roberds had three customers approach him about producing small quantities of folding cartons. The Xeikon 50D couldn't run the heavier stock, so he decided to purchase a Xeikon 50SP simplex press.

"When we decided to get into packaging, the Xeikon 50SP was the only printer that we thought would work, primarily because of the larger sheets that it can produce compared to other digital printers," says Roberds. "Inkjets can print large sheets, but the production costs of inkjets are very high compared to the Xeikon."

Roberds says the company has built its package-printing business on short-run video, CD, and DVD packaging; short-run custom golf boxes; and short-run specialty packaging like gourmet foods. "Most of our packaging customers are new customers for our company."

When Odyssey got into packaging, it wasn't digital printing that was new. "Most of what we found new was in finishing," says Roberds. "Because digital jobs are small quantities, finishing equipment must be simple to set up. If a job is for 200 pieces, it can't take 1,000 pieces and half an hour to set up the diecutter or folder/gluer. … We had little experience setting up jobs to be diecut, so we spent a fair amount of time initially getting to understand the issues of diecutting."

One diecutter that Odyssey uses for longer-run jobs that repeat is a roll-fed press from Preco. It uses standard steel rule dies, but because it uses optics to read registration marks on the prints, it can be changed from one die to another in two minutes, says Roberds. "That kind of flexibility is necessary for short-run, quick-turn jobs because it is difficult to gang like jobs together, and there may be 15 to 20 jobs that have to be produced in one shift."

Developing inkjet for packaging

Rock-Tenn Co. is going into digital printing with both feet. Last year, it announced a strategic partnership with dotrix NV to not only purchase equipment, but to work with dotrix to help develop inkjet technology for the packaging and display industries.

The Alliance Division of Rock-Tenn, which specializes in POP and promotional packaging solutions, is in the final stages of installing and starting up dotrix's the.factory inkjet digital press. According to Jim Einstein, executive VP of the Alliance Division, "Acquiring the.factory technology will provide consumer products companies the flexibility to customize in-store advertising by region or by retailer at an affordable price and with a short lead time. This equipment will deliver short runs or long runs that require variable copy or graphics."

A digital future

Now that digital printing for packaging has entered into the mainstream, the degree of its longer-term impact is still an open question. And those who have their hands into it already have a range of views.

Roberds sees three kinds of digital printing applications in packaging: comps for jobs being designed, small quantities of standard boxes, and custom or specialty packaging. He sees growth opportunities in custom packaging and small quantities of standard boxes. However, for the foreseeable future "digitally printed packaging will continue to be a niche business because of the cost of production and the amount of investment required to get into digitally printed packaging," he projects.

For his part, Tennyck believes that digital printing in packaging and POP is growing every day. The key issue for opening up new opportunities relates to speed. "The faster these units get, the bigger the window widens for applications that today are impossible. I foresee today's traditional printing processes losing ground or market share to digital printing as the technology evolves."

Smith is very clear on his thoughts on the future: "Digital printing will play a definitive role in the future of package printing." He believes digital will provide a desirable solution for those companies looking to reduce production costs without sacrificing quality. Innovative will build on its digital printing capabilities, with plans to purchase its first digital carton press within the next three years.

Tropper sees a big role for digital solutions in label printing, but also looks at speed as being a main determining factor. "Certainly, digital printing will have to increase its speed in order to truly move beyond a niche technology and compete head to head with conventional printing methods. That this will happen is inevitable; it's just a question of how soon. … ultimately, I believe that digital will take a significant chunk of market share in the package-printing industry."

Resources

Aquaflex www.aquaflex.com

dotrix NV www.dotrix.com

HP Indigo www.hp.com/go/indigo

Innovative Creative Packaging Solns. innovativecps.com

Karstedt Associates www.karstedt.com

Mark Andy www.markandy.com

Menasha Display Group www.menasha.com

Odyssey Digital Printing www.odysseyprint.com

Prestige Label Co. www.prestigelabel.com

Rock-Tenn Co. www.rocktenn.com

Scitex Digital Printing www.dotrix.be

Xaar www.xaar-usa.com

Xeikon www.xeikon.com