Shorter+Faster

Short runs are becoming business as usual for converters, with brand owners wanting more and more runs of reduced lengths. A recent InfoTrends survey of packagePRINTING readers set out to see to what extent such runs are becoming more common. We obtained responses from 69 companies, each a converter of labels, folding cartons or both. The general results indicate that respondents' print jobs now include a significant share that is less than a few thousand linear feet, and that the share is growing.

Respondents included 38 label converters, 16 folding carton converters, and 15 companies that convert both labels and cartons. While these are small sample sizes, they still yield useful data. The 45 companies converting labels provide a statistically valid sample, but responses from 24 folding carton converters are directional rather than projectable to a larger audience.

Equipment used

Label converter respondents operate a mix of conventional presses (87percent) and various digital systems, ranging from production level digital presses such as EFI Jetrion, HP Indigo, Xeikon (38 percent) to wide format printers such as Epson, HP, Roland, and others (18 percent). Notable in the equipment list is "Tabletop color label printer" (24 percent), evidence that printers by Allen Datagraph, Isys, Primera, QLS and others are earning their keep in print-for-pay shops that include small label converters.

Web widths and run lengths

Label converter press web widths are roughly representative of the industry in general, with a median response of 17 inches width for flexo webs and 13 inches on digital webs. These widths are helpful when reviewing the next two charts, which tally converters' estimates of the shares of their label jobs attributable to different run lengths. Not surprisingly, conventional presses (probably all or nearly all flexo systems) have higher shares of longer runs, while digital presses have higher shares of shorter ones. Regarding the digital presses though, remember that our sample includes 24 percent using tabletop color label printers. Because users of such machines print typically very short runs exclusively (i.e., 26 percent being less than 100 feet), their responses weigh down the total response for really short runs.

Average Growth Rate by Run Length

We also asked label converters to judge the rate of change in their orders in terms of run length, regardless of how they are equipped. Based on all 45 respondents, the data is roughly consistent with what one hears regularly, that short runs are growing, mid-length runs are stable, and that long runs are in slight decline.

Folding cartons

Although the sample for folding carton converters is too small to be statistically valid, the results are still indicative of a trend. Of the 24 folding carton respondents, 22 use conventional presses, seven use large digital presses such as Xeikon, and three use wide format inkjet (some companies use more than one technology). For their conventional presses—most likely sheet fed offset—the median dimensions of the sheets they print are 40 inches x 28 inches. For digital devices, which are mostly webs, the median width is 17.5 inches.

As with label presses, there is a clear division between conventional and digital systems in terms of run lengths. For conventional press users (21 respondents), the median is 15,000 sheets. For the 19 folding carton converters using digital presses, however, the median job length is just 750 linear feet, and most digital presses are narrow webs. As with labels though, color digital presses can print much longer runs of folding cartons than the survey results indicate. Some evidence of this shows up in the survey: respondents said 4 percent of folding carton jobs on digital presses are from 5,000 to 10,000 feet, and 1 percent are from 10,000 to 20,000 feet.

However, folding carton converters' responses about the rate of change in run length are not clear the way they are for labels. While label converters say short runs are growing and long runs are declining, folding carton converters attribute about the same growth rate to runs fewer than 1,000 sheets (3 percent) as they do to runs of 20,000 or more sheets. For digital press vendors and owners though, the response to this question should still be encouraging, because folding carton converters say that short runs are becoming more common, and short runs are what current color digital presses do best.

In conclusion, it is clear that, short runs are a key part of converters' work today, and will be more so in the future. Ultimately short runs result from the wishes of brand owners—they want to get the right products to the right groups of people. These brand owners are thinking first about short runs of products, and label and package printing are being pulled along in the process, making short runs more and more of an opportunity for converters. pP