Digital Tech Is Set to Propel Packaging Into the Future

By Allee Bruce and Kalie VanDewater

For the 10th year, the Digital Packaging Summit opened its doors to package printers and converters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, to provide updates on the digital technology driving growth in the industry.

Kicking off the event with a bang, Andy Paparozzi, chief economist for PRINTING United Alliance, dove into a topic many have major concerns about: “What’s Next for the American Economy?”

In the video address, Paparozzi covered potential economic and market uncertainties for 2025, recent data on the state of the printing industry, and insights into the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize printing operations.

Top Concerns Among Package and Label Printers

Digital Packaging Summit attendees soak in one of the first sessions of the three-day event. | Credit: Packaging Impressions

Despite there being some unknowns about what’s ahead — from tax rates and government spending to tariffs — Paparozzi shared what we do know:

“Number one, the economy is not likely to give our industry any more help in 2025 than it did in 2024. Number two, the massive $150 trillion global bond market will have more to say about the direction of long-term interest rates than the Federal Reserve Board. Number three, sustained profitable growth in 2025 and beyond will require using all tools, including artificial intelligence to maximize productivity not just in operations but company-wide. And number four, sustained profitable growth in 2025 – and far beyond – will require robust databases, superior data analytics, and superior risk management. Because while our gamut of opportunity is expanding, our margin for error is shrinking.”

With that, Paparozzi gave attendees insight into what’s currently concerning their peers. In the most recent “State of the Industry” survey, 96 companies that offer package printing, label printing, or both responded with four top concerns: increasing sales, maintaining profitability, the economy, and rising labor costs.

Survey respondents also shared what impacted their businesses the most this year — positive or negative. On the positive side, it was all about actions taken within their companies and what they’ve done to invest. On the negative side, it was external factors — often what companies can’t control.

What’s Ahead for the Economy?

Paparozzi doesn’t see the economy doing the industry any favors in 2025 for two reasons:

Fiscal stimulus created during the COVID-19 pandemic is fading: “Washington ran record budget deficits averaging $2.9 trillion per year, an extraordinary 14.1% of GDP during the pandemic, deficits unlike we’ve ever seen in peacetime — and they worked,” he said. “They stimulated the economy and, frankly, they prevented the COVID-19 recession from becoming the COVID-19 depression.”
Long-term interest rates aren’t cooperating: “Regardless of what the Fed does, even as the Fed continues to cut short-term rates, the global bond market may keep long rates elevated depending on Washington's fiscal, tariff, and immigration policies,” Paparozzi noted.

With that, he cautioned business owners about waiting for interest rates to fall to make capital investments and he offered two must-do’s for package and label printers:

Increase productivity company-wide via automation, including everything from billing, estimating, and HR to risk management and operations.
Build robust databases and superior data analytics, fostering accurate decision-making.

The AI Revolution

With talks of increasing productivity and improving databases, AI comes into the equation. Many package and label printers already recognize the importance of AI, seeing it as a game-changer for production, workflow, and beyond. Those who don’t embrace it will be left behind, Paparozzi stressed.

Beyond automation of processes like estimating and invoicing, AI algorithms can strengthen pattern recognition, analysis, and forecasting; and they can analyze unstructured data (audio, video, text, images) as efficiently as structured data (financials, demographics, customer profiles), which Paparozzi said is the revolutionary part of AI.

“AI can enhance every mission-critical operation across our companies,” he added. These include predictive maintenance, quality control, cybersecurity, supply chain management, and logistics.

Paparozzi closed his presentation by stressing the importance of risk management — how to maximize, strengthen, and enhance risk management capabilities. He encouraged businesses to calculate key risk indicators (KRIs), calculate customer health scores, stress test their businesses, and use available big data and AI resources.

Members can download the “State of the Industry” reports at printing.org, and tune into webinars like the one on Nov. 19, titled “Artificial Intelligence in the Printing Industry,” to learn more.

Conference Co-Chair Marco Boer paints a picture of the labor challenges packaging providers are facing and will face in the future. | Credit: Packaging Impressions

The Labor Challenge

According to Marco Boer, conference co-chair and vice president of IT Strategies, labor is a major trend that will drive the package printing and converting industry into the future.

Not only are boomer employees set to retire, but younger generations are showing less interest in going into the printing industry. In fact, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that print careers are within the top 20 fastest declining occupations, with prepress jobs expected to drop 18.5% and finishing jobs expected to drop 17.5% between 2023 and 2033.

Boer anticipates digital technology and automation will become a higher priority in package production to counteract labor challenges, transforming companies within the packaging industry from labor-based to capital-intensive business models.

For packaging providers, the good news is that digital printing equipment manufacturers are investing heavily in packaging, Boer said. While some other segments of the printing industry are shrinking, that is certainly not the case for packaging.

“The one area that is not shrinking is packaging,” Boer said, “and in terms of the volume of output, we don’t stop eating and drinking; it’s going to continue to grow. If I’m an equipment vendor, where do I invest long term? … And I’m thinking five to 10 years and beyond — packaging is really where I think most of the effort is going.”

The Future of Digital Packaging Tech

Looking further into the future, David Zwang, principal at Zwang & Company, moderated a panel of experts who dove into what digital technology will look like for the package printing and converting industry.

Tina Ginger, business development manager for labels and packaging at HP, pointed out that — even now — investing in digital technology can help minimize downtime and capital expenditures.

“Oftentimes, when we do an upgrade in our technology, it's a field-upgradable event,” Ginger said. “Meaning: If you have last year's version and next year's version is available, unlike a car where you have to go trade it in and buy the new version, you could simply get the upgrade done without a lot of downtime. So, you could stay as current and relevant with the technology as possible without having to do a new install.”

Maximizing efficiency is key for brands, which Mike Barry, national sales manager for digital printing at Domino, said ties into some of the other trends in labels and packaging he sees growing now and into the future.

“One of the things they're looking at from inventory, tracking, logistics, all of that is going to end up affecting the labels and the packaging — and really needing the label and packaging to help with those transitions,” Barry said. “We're seeing a lot of that with RFID and incorporating that into labels and packaging, but I think we're going to see more of that with variable data. These are both areas where digital print technology really lends itself.”

Lior Krasnovsky, senior program manager for Transparency at Amazon, dives into the company's product authentication program that combats counterfeiting. | Credit: Packaging Impressions

Protecting Brands With Digital Tech

Digital technology also brings huge benefits for e-commerce, which grew exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic and has not slowed since. Lior Krasnovsky, senior program manager for Transparency at Amazon, explained that Amazon’s Transparency service has been key in combating counterfeiting for more than 40,000 brands and more than 1 billion products in 2024.

“Transparency uses secure, unique codes to individually identify a product,” Krasnovsky said. “... The way it works is basically to stop the counterfeit from ever leaving our fulfillment centers — it doesn’t go into the truck, it doesn’t go into the shipping process.”

This way, brands preserve their reputations and customers don’t receive counterfeit products. Further, when customers verify the authenticity of a product by scanning the unique code on a label or package with their phones, they can interact with brands through the Transparency app or Amazon app. This improves the overall customer experience and may increase brand sales.

The evening rounded out with a welcome reception where attendees took advantage of the opportunity to unwind and dine together ahead of two full days of education and networking.