Growth Drivers, Untapped Profit Centers, PRINTING United Expo 2024
In the latest impressions Xchange podcast, Xeikon North America Sales and Marketing Director Mark Pomerantz speaks with PRINTING Impressions Content Director Ashley Roberts speaks with Xeikon about the North American debut of the TX500 Press with Kurz Digital Embellishment Solution at PRINTING United Expo 2024, Sept. 10-12, in Las Vegas.
Xeikon TX500 | Credit: Xeikon
Top Trends
In addition to talking about the TX500 with Kurz Digital Embellishment Solution debut and the largest booth Xeikon has ever had at a PRINTING United Expo, Roberts and Pomerantz discussed some of the top trends hitting the commercial, packaging, promotional, and industrial printing segments. Here are some of the highlights:
Premium Print Products Crucial for Brand Differentiation
In markets where consumers are feeling unsure about their economic futures, it’s crucial for brands to make a first impression that screams high value. Because of this, the printed products market is shifting towards high-value, luxury print products with unique substrates and elaborate embellishments. This shift is one reason, Pomerantz explains, Xeikon chose to invest big in this year’s PRINTING United Expo and have the TX500 Titan with Kurz Digital Embellishment Solution make its North American debut at the event.
Food and Environmental Safety’s Roles in Sustainability
Eco-efficient printing has long been a goal of the industry, but today’s sustainability conversation stretches beyond eco-efficiency to include food as well as environmental safety. Expect this trend to continue as regulations tighten, as we’ve already seen in Europe, and printing industry leaders such as Xeikon continue to make a commitment to sustainable printing as a core company value.
Convergence Trend Reshaping Printing Operations
Printing companies continue to expand into adjacent segments because this evolution enhances their business potential with a more diverse revenue base. When print service providers become part of this convergence trend, their operational needs change. Xeikon responded to this shift with the TX500, which can print innovative packaging products such as paper-based flexible packaging and labels with a food-safe toner. The press can also meet complex commercial printing needs, such as security printing applications.
Innovative Technologies Can Become Profit Makers
Pomerantz cited promotional and industrial products as markets with room for growth. These markets are served by a smaller group of print service providers (PSPs), he explains, despite the fact that so many brands need “tchotchkes” and “pails” for their products. Pomerantz has even already seen growth in these markets, with volumes growing at Xeikon customers serving these markets.
Another sign the time is ripe for PSPs interested in expanding into the promotional and industrial products market is the availability of digital heat transfer technologies. “Digital heat transfer combines all the required capabilities into a single-pass process with a lot less labor,” he explains.
To learn more about these trends, visit the Impressions Xchange podcast page to listen to the complete interview. To check out Xeikon’s solutions for these emerging trends, register for PRINTING United Expo at printingunited.com and visit Xeikon at the Expo in booth C1143.
As editor-in-chief of Packaging Impressions — the leading publication and online content provider for the printed packaging markets — Linda Casey leverages her experience in the packaging, branding, marketing, and printing industries to deliver content that label and package printers can use to improve their businesses and operations.
Prior to her role at Packaging Impressions, Casey was editor-in-chief of BXP: Brand Experience magazine, which celebrated brand design as a strategic business competence. Her body of work includes deep explorations into a range of branding, business, packaging, and printing topics.
Casey’s other passion, communications, has landed her on the staffs of a multitude of print publications, including Package Design, Converting, Packaging Digest, Instant & Small Commercial Printer, High Volume Printing, BXP: Brand Experience magazine, and more. Casey started her career more than three decades ago as news director for WJAM, a youth-oriented music-and-news counterpart to WGCI and part of the Chicago-based station’s AM band presence.
