Green Gains

The global packaging market is approaching a half-trillion dollars, and North America represents nearly one third of this, most of it printed. While many print segments in North America are stagnating, packaging is growing at more than 4 percent per year. Market trends are creating the demand, and technology is creating solutions and opportunities.

Consumers, retailers, and brand companies are continually raising the bar:

• Better quality: fresh, natural, food ready-to-go;

• Environmental sustainability;

• Better graphics, more color, but with less material;

• Shorter runs, quicker turnaround;

• Packaging that delivers more than just the product;

• Supply chain efficiency.

Technology has not only kept pace with increasing needs, but in some cases is even ahead of the market, as certain emerging technologies have yet to realize the critical mass and economies of scale necessary for them to achieve their full commercial potential. Key developments include: digital technology, improvements in flexography, printed electronics, and new materials that enable smart paper, smart inks, and smart packages.

Digital packaging

Digital is making inroads in packaging in a number of ways. Supply chain efficiency requires that packaging be printed closer to the point of use, and this is also consistent with environmental sustainability—less waste, less fuel burned in transport. Digital also permits versioning—Peyton Manning on the package in Indianapolis; Eli Manning on the package in New York.

Improvements in color management and soft proofing techniques have also facilitated the growth of digital package printing. The product manager in Chicago can be sure that the color on the box in Indianapolis matches the color on the box in New York and that both match the color in the promotional brochure printed in Dallas—and this can all be done electronically. As globalization marches on, the boxes in London, Buenos Aires, and Tokyo will also match.

Digital prepress enables quicker turnaround and shorter runs, reducing waste and minimizing environmental impact. Outsourcing of prepress work to China or India further reduces cost and increases efficiency.

A key to optimizing the use of digital technology is the use of digital asset management systems to increase revenues through one-to-one marketing and integration with e–media campaigns.

Improvements in flexography

Laser engraving of flexo plates, improvements in flexo sleeves, and improvements in the presses themselves have allowed flexo print quality to compete with offset and rotogravure. Flexo allows shorter runs and quicker turnaround than rotogravure, and sleeve technology further facilitates this.

Computer-to-plate technology is rapidly moving into the world of flexo, and when the improvements in flexo printing are combined with digital technology, new opportunities open up. Brand companies are able to change their offers more frequently, offer seasonal or regional promotions, and combine packaging, point of purchase displays, and other print materials in a coordinated, focused campaign.

Printed electronics

RFID, of course, is an obvious and often-discussed example of printed electronics. Driven by the retail sector in order to achieve supply-chain efficiency, RFID is finding commercial application, albeit slowly due to limitations resulting from the relatively high cost of silicon RFID chips. Still, the potential is there for RFID tags to be printed by conventional printing processes at costs in the range of a penny per tag. Mass production of printed RFID tags should gain market share from 2008 onwards and it is predicted to have a 40 percent share of the RFID market by 2016. Potentially, printed RFID tags will be as common as UPC codes.

Through its “Print Horizons” program to explore emerging technologies, Pira International has visited companies such as PolyIC that claims the first mass-produced (i.e., printed), thin-film RFID tags. Other examples of developments include a printed RFID antenna from XInk Laboratories and a low-cost antenna from Precisia that uses conductive inks.

Unilever is to be the first company to use a new RFID standard developed by IBM and T3Ci of California, a supplier of RFID software and analytics. They have developed the Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) standard, which is designed to enable retailers, manufacturers, and organizations throughout the supply chain to overcome information overload and share information to improve business processes.

Printed electronics can be produced by screen, flexography, offset, or rotogravure and while it uses conventional printing techniques, it is printed on equipment that differs from normal commercial equipment. There are new mass markets for low-cost, thin, and flexible electronics that can easily be integrated into packages or other substrates because of their designs on flexible polyester substrates.

In addition to RFID, the main areas of application for printed electronics are displays, such as simple optical indicators combined with further printed components, and smart objects combined into systems of different polymer electronic components.

New smart materials

Wax in corrugated, polyethylene and foil in flexible packaging, wax and poly in folding cartons, and fluoro chemicals in pet food bags and fast food packages are all coming under attack. These materials are used because they work well at low cost. However, recyclable, biodegradable, and renewable materials are preferred and new materials are being developed. Rising oil costs have increased the cost of oil-based polymers, or polyolefins, reducing the cost gap, and at the same time, growing corporate social responsibility is increasing the willingness to pay a small premium for “better” materials.

The impact on the package printer is twofold. First it will be necessary to print on new plastic materials such as polylactic acid (PLA) from NatureWorks, a corn-based plastic that can be found as film, as an extrusion coating, and even in rigid packages such as bottles. Second, some of the barrier materials can actually be applied on a printing press. One example is EvCote, a barrier coating material made from recycled polyester (PET).

The capability to manipulate materials on a microscopic level, known by the overworked name “nanotechnology,” has enabled the development of many new materials and allowed them to combine with other technologies as barrier materials, and also with other applications such as smart inks that use nano-materials in printed electronics.

Advances in electronics and information technology are continuing to drive change in the graphic arts industry, with implications for packaging, signage, and displays. All these developments are driving to make these products lower cost, disposable, and easily recyclable.

In one development, Acreo, the research institute based in Norrkoping, Sweden, has developed a special polymer ink that can be applied and overlaid by an electrolytic layer. Where the two meet, an electronic component is formed and a protective plastic coating is then added. The technology is relatively inexpensive, and can be mass produced in an ordinary printing press.

Conclusion

For today’s package printer, most of this new technology involves new equipment and new skills. While there may not be an alternative means to optimize the equipment the printer or converter has in the plant today, it may be the right technology for tomorrow’s investment.

What are the key opportunities that new technology will bring to today’s package printer? According to Neil Falconer, head of print strategy consulting for Pira International, “One key takeaway is the absolute importance of color management. As the quality of flexography improves as a result of better plates, better processes, and digital prepress, the competitive bar is raised, not only to provide more color, but also to make sure that colors match in packaging, point of purchase displays, and other printed materials.”

Falconer adds, “Some companies are seizing the opportunity and are running with it. We’re seeing flexo and inkjet in tandem, with a massive shift to digital prepress and database management, allowing integration of technology and marketing.”

Clearly, opportunities in digital workflow and digital print are here today. Opportunities in printed electronics and smart packaging are not far off, and those technologies bear close watching. pP