Packaging Industry Addresses Challenges With Digital Technology
On day two of the Digital Packaging Summit, attendees were fully immersed in what’s going on with digital packaging.
To give converters and printers an idea of what their peers are doing, Marco Boer, conference co-chair and vice president of IT Strategies, led a panel discussion titled “Real Life User Experiences from your Peers in the Trenches…”
At American Packaging Corporation, flexible packaging is the name of the game, according to Josh Dearwater, corporate graphics manager. Dearwater said the company began its digital journey in 2018, which he sees as just the beginning.
“We still see digital as a long plan for flex pack,” he said. “We know it’s still early in the journey, but we’ve continually reinvested within our digital footprint, so with the purchase of two more digital engines that we just opened up, as well as finishing and converting equipment onto the same size, has been our big step to continue [coming up with new solutions].”
Fortis Solutions Group has invested heavily in digital technology for its packaging production — it has 75 digital assets between press and finishing equipment, noted Kurt Michalak, the company’s director of manufacturing.
Michalak said the biggest piece of the puzzle for integrating digital technology with legacy equipment is to focus on the front end of things, from estimation and sales to color management. He argued that if color isn’t dialed in, you need to, and that involves starting from the beginning.
“When you go in to add a digital asset to an already existing equipment base, you’re going to have problems matching between assets,” he added.
According to Jason Hamilton, president and CIO at Innovative Displays, which has used digital technology since 2008, the process of execution is a critical challenge when it comes to implementing digital packaging technology into a conventional production environment.
“When I'm looking at a piece of technology, I like to look at what the process or impact of the implementation is first in the business,” Hamilton said. “So, how does that vendor or that partner manage color management? How does it manage understanding our culture and our change of business? And then we create the engagement strategy.”
Michalak noted that while well-established companies often transition to traditional printing methods once they increase their volumes to a certain point, newer brands are tending to stick with digital technologies regardless.
“We have customers today who reach a certain point, and they want to keep their work on digital,” he said, “and they're willing to pay a premium to keep their work on digital because they love the quality so much — they don't want to deviate from the digital quality.”
Dearwater added that customers newer to the industry need guidance on what printing technology is right for them.
“A lot of these newer customers that are coming to us through digital — especially in digital pouching — they don’t know what they don’t know, and they need someone to keep them accountable,” he explained.
It can help to ask questions about where they see their product scaling, what they plan to do with iterations, and what volumes and speeds they’re looking for, Dearwater said.
Another challenge Hamilton identified was customers’ sometimes overestimating your capabilities — something that is partially due to how packaging providers are explaining digital technology to them.
“The oversimplification of what digital can mean to the customer changes their wants and needs from us,” he said. “To them, you do a conversion from traditional to digital, they think automatically it’s 60% faster to market — so then we get into the burst capacity problem. Or, ‘I know it took you 10 days before but, someone told us you're doing 700 boards an hour, so that's what, 48 hours?’”
To minimize this, Hamilton suggested countering the question of “How quickly can it be done?” with “How good do you want it to be?”
Hilda Murray, executive vice president at TPC Printing & Packaging, said the company uses digital equipment just for its embellishment work.
“I think the main challenge for packaging providers is really finding their way into [digital], because a lot of people think they have to market it to their customers,” Murray said. “For us, we just build it into design and we basically are able to communicate out that this is how it's being produced.”
Advice for Jumping Into Digital Technology
Before getting into digital technology, Michalak stressed the importance of knowing the equipment’s requirements.
“You want to get more efficient and reduce labor and reduce waste … what other requirements are there?” he said. “Are there any unique requirements? Do you need to look at low migration ink? You really need to understand the challenge you're trying to solve and then work with the partners, and not just talk to them conceptually about it — really pressure test it. Run trials at their demo centers. Talk to their customers who maybe have a similar asset in the field.”
Murray said it’s been fairly easy to integrate digital embellishment into TPC’s workflows. She noted that it takes a great operator and business management software. The challenge comes when integrating it with prepress and her current business model.
“That's going to be very challenging for us from a traditional shop,” she added. “We've not done that before, and we have the space for it, and we're planning for it, but it's going to be a big leap for us.”
Cory Francer, analyst at NAPCO Research, presents data from the new "Digital Packaging: The Pursuit of Prosperity" report. | Credit: Packaging Impressions
Digital Adoption and Its Advantages
It’s no secret that digital technology adoption is on the rise amongst packaging printers and converters. NAPCO Research Analyst Cory Francer shared key takeaways about the adoption wave, highlighting findings from the “Digital Packaging: The Pursuit of Prosperity” report.
In September 2024, the Alliance research team conducted surveys where 106 package printers and 131 brand owners offered key insight into digital printing adoption, why it makes sense for them, and opportunities in e-commerce.
From fast turnarounds, reduced costs, and equipment optimization to sustainability and personalization, digital technology is filling the gap. So much so that 61% of package providers plan to invest in digital in the next 24 months, using it for everything from pressure-sensitive labels (42%) and folding cartons (30%) to rigid boxes (23%) and flexible packaging (11%).
Digital technology allows printers to minimize changeover time between jobs and to take on a new level of personalization, Francer noted. It helps brand owners meet their average turnaround time of 6.5 days and keep up with sustainability goals, which 37% of brand owners noted as a top challenge.
“91% of our brand owner respondents said that to some degree, they are getting some of their packaging digitally, so that was great to see that brands recognize that,” Francer shared. According to the data, they recognize the digital advantage and even place efficiency benefits as a higher priority than creative benefits. That’s not to say creative isn’t important.
“They're thinking about the short runs, getting to market quickly, before they start thinking about what they do on the creative side,” he added. “Again, not to minimize that those are still big advantages of digital, and brands are absolutely thinking about that and recognize that.”
Thinking about opportunities in e-commerce, Francer points out that 88% of brand owner respondents offer their products via e-commerce. Personalization, unboxing, and enhanced shipping boxes are all fun, key opportunities for printers to jump on.
“Think of all the different areas where you can add print to enhance hardware packaging too, and again, help keep that consumer engaged," he added.
Additionally, consumer demand for increased variety is pushing SKU proliferation. Brands recognize digital printing’s ability to meet that demand. For this reason, and the reasons listed above, package provider respondents expect an increase in digital print sales.
Sara Osorio, environment, health, and safety affairs coordinator at PRINTING United Alliance, highlights the environmental issues packaging providers need to know about in the presentation “Navigating Compliance and Sustainability in Digital Packaging.” | Credit: Packaging Impressions
Navigating Sustainability and Compliance in Digital Packaging
Sara Osorio, environmental, health and safety affairs coordinator at PRINTING United Alliance, took the stage with plenty to share on the growing momentum around sustainability.
She covered the basics and highlighted the importance of a circular economy, key regulatory drivers like extended producer responsibility (EPR), and highlighted the Alliance’s work in shutting down the carbon black ban that was headed for legislation in New York.
Highlighting the three pillars of sustainability — people, planet, and profit — Osorio said:
“It's really important to understand that unless all three of these pillars are being met, that they're not truly sustainable. If you're making all of these environmental changes, and all of these environmental strides in your operation, but they're not providing profit for you, then it's not truly sustainable.”
She shared some of the major drivers pushing for change:
- Climate change and the need to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
- EPR legislation in various states, focusing on a package's end-of-life and who’s responsible for that.
- Concerns around PFAs and PCBs in packaging.
Some sustainability trends trying to address some of these issues include fiber-based materials, plant-based polymers (i.e., plastics made from seaweed, plants, and biodegradable and compostable materials), using recycled content, and monomaterial packaging.
Osorio closed out her session by emphasizing the seriousness of greenwashing and the importance of a sustainability business plan.
“If you take anything away from this entire presentation: Do not make environmental claims that you cannot back up,” she stressed. “It's demanding greater accountability to your consumer, to regulators, to your customers, these claims have to be really, really carefully considered.”
Throughout the day, attendees and vendors connected in both designated breakout rooms — where vendors spoke with groups of attendees in flexible packaging, label, corrugated, and folding carton — and during 1:1 meetings to understand how they could work together.
Following 1:1 meetings, everyone had the chance to kick back and have fun at Digital Packaging Summit’s annual casino night event.
Kalie VanDewater is associate content and online editor at NAPCO Media.
