Converter Perspectives: 
Digital Printing in Packaging

Figure 1 focuses on the 36 percent that say they have some kind of color digital printing capability, and asks them what digital equipment they have. Stand-alone, full-color electrophotographic (EP) press, i.e., either HP Indigo or Xeikon, is the most chosen option at 51 percent. For label converters with color digital capability (85 out of 182 total), 45 percent say their companies have these color EP presses. Of the flexible packaging converters with color digital presses, 44 percent have color EP; for folding carton converters with digital capability, 73 percent have EP systems. It is important to note that these results for folding carton and flexible packaging are based on small samples (30 for folding carton, 18 for flexible) and that they are not representative of the broader market. High-end color EP presses are still rare among companies that are primarily in flexible packaging and folding carton converting.