Reading Between the Hues
Package printers still put metallic inks to work more often than other specialty formulations, but printing with custom-blended colors is even more commonplace.
By Kate Tomlinson, Assistant Editor
TWO YEARS AGO, packagePRINTING's annual ink usage survey asked tag and label, flexible packaging, and folding carton converters to identify their top specialty inks choices. The response was overwhelmingly in favor of metallic inks—83 percent of respondents had put metallics to work during 1998.
pP's 2001 survey revisited this topic to find not much has changed. Due to some new options in specialty ink, usage percentages are spread over a wider spectrum, but metallics are still the most widely used specific type of specialty ink. Fluorescents and pearlescents follow. However, the hands-down favorite specialty option of package printers over the past year is printing with custom colors.
The numbers tell the story
Sixty-five percent of respondents reported they are currently using metallic ink. Deanna Whalen, marketing communications manager at Akzo Nobel, believes this is true because metallics are easy to work with and popular on the store shelf. "Consumers like the look of a nice, shiny gold or silver on a package. It gives off the feeling of prestige," she notes.
Conversely, receiving only two percent of responses, photochromic inks came up as the least commonly used of all the specialties. According to Whalen, "Photochromics' time is yet to come. Printers do not have the experience with this type of ink, therefore, they are more hesitant to try it." Many ink suppliers, including Akzo Nobel, do not yet offer photochromic inks in the United States. "The American market doesn't require it right now, so currently we are importing it from Europe on a needed basis," Whalen adds.
According to 48 percent of respondents, color matching is the biggest challenge encountered when working with specialty inks. Jim Wittig, vice president/technical director at Rad-Cure Corp., believes color matching with specialty inks is "pushing the limits of flexo heads." He believes in order to get the full effect of everything these inks have to offer, a screen process is the way to go. Approximately 70 percent of respondents currently use specialty ink on screen presses or screen printing units. Wittig adds these inks are most difficult to use with digital presses: "Most specialties are too grainy for a digital process; there is also a very limited color selection available right now." Many printers agree with this, as specialty ink usage on digital presses trailed other print processes at 24 percent.
The benefits of specialty inks are numerous, but respondents flocked heavily to a few key favorites. Fifty-six percent like the ability to achieve brand looks and/or colors. Thirty-seven percent indicated they use specialty inks to offer a broader variety of color capabilities, and 11 percent employ specialty inks to replace more expensive materials and processes.
The need for technical support when using specialty inks remains substantial—with 46 percent of respondents reporting a need for a medium level of assistance, and 30 percent noting a high-level support requirement. John Samony, president of Braden Sutphin Ink, believes knowledge of specialty inks such as metallics and fluorescents has improved, and overall, the need for technical support has significantly decreased. But new technologies can bring new calls for assistance, as may be the case with conductive and anti-dissipative inks, technologies Braden Sutphin is now working with as a result of its recent acquisition of Milwaukee-based Roli Ink.
To blend ...
Eighty percent of the package printers who responded to pP's survey report using custom colors, and of that percentage, 70 percent blend these colors in-house. Don Duncan, director of research at Wikoff Color Corp., sees this trend primarily in flexo printing. He points out because lithographic inks require extra milling, in-house blending is not as common for offset printers.
"For flexo printers, we would agree that 3⁄4 [of printers] are mixing colors from either a Pantone mixing system or from a base/letdown system." He believes this method is becoming more widely used because the cost of ink kitchen hardware is going down. This is due mainly to reduced per-item manufacturing costs as an increasing number of blending systems are put into use. Growth in the number of suppliers manufacturing this equipment has also driven prices down.
John Sarik, business manager at SICPA, says the cost of blending systems is going down because printers are realizing how easy the systems are to work with. "Companies can now just pull someone off the floor, put them in front of the machine, and in two or three days they can have the whole system down pat. It's a major improvement from the past when it could take weeks to learn the ins and outs of the system," says Sarik.
Another advantage to having an in-house ink kitchen is the turnaround time it could save. "With the ink already there, the seven day turnaround required to get color separations and plates back to the printers becomes just a three-day wait," says Sarik. "It also saves on shipping, downtime, and overtime costs. For a printer with very low labor costs, it is beneficial to have an in-house kitchen there to do the work."
... or not to blend
Off-site blending remains a preference for forty-three percent of pP survey respondents. Several
factors could keep them looking to outside assistance. According to Sarik, the labor costs associated with these systems could work against printers. He explains in some situations, labor costs depend on who is doing the blending. "In many cases, the printer's ink supplier will bring in one of their own people to blend the ink. The printer doesn't have to worry about having one of their own people there to do it, but saving money there could significantly come off the end product's value when the ink supplier charges you for their employee's time."
Some printers hire permanent blending manpower and give them multiple jobs. "This can work well when there are various things to do, but having a person on staff whose only job is to blend can be detrimental when there are days that do not require this service."
Specialty's future—E-ink?
Electronic ink (or e-ink) is a liquid made of millions of microcapsules which are suspended in a dark dye, each one containing light-colored particles. When an electric field is applied, these particles move to one end of the microcapsule where they become visible and appear as a white spot. An opposite electric field pulls the particles to the other end of the microcapsules, where they are hidden by the dye, appearing to be dark. The ink can be printed onto nearly any substrate and controlled by a remote driving device.
Eighty percent of package printers said they will consider implementing the new technology as it becomes more widely available. Sarik, however, questions the feasibility of e-ink, bringing up factors such as the eventual necessity for new presses, additional expenses, and accessories the consumer will need to fully enjoy the benefits the technology has to offer.
The Web's specialty wares
Only nine percent of responding printers said they were very likely to order specialty inks online. Sixty-seven percent said they were not likely to venture onto the Web for inks, leaving almost a quarter of respondents teetering on the edge, saying they were somewhat likely to give it a try.
David Callif, president of BCM Inks, says these numbers seem to be fairly representative of the online ink market, as BCM currently receives less than five percent of its orders on-line.
Brian Templeman, general manager of Kolorcure Corp., says Kolorcure has not had a single order placed online since its site was launched in 1999. Kolorcure serves many companies outside of the United States, and does receive many orders via e-mail, which absolves time zone problems. "We have received many inquiries online, but no one has ever made a direct purchase wholly online without speaking to a person," Templeman notes.
One advantage to online ordering is many ink supply sites have the ability to save preferences, such as on Braden Sutphin's proposed "INKformation" site. According to Samony, this site, scheduled to be launched this quarter, is fully interactive, offering technical information, ink management, and a "favorites" section that remembers key customer information. INKformation also allows customers to set up a homepage that stores applications, presses, and stock history.
