Trendsetter — Tom Polischuk

The package-printing industry is unique in many ways. It’s a well-established industry that has a little bit of everything, and too much of some things (like competition if you’re in certain segments of the market).

It has its fair share of growth segments and some that are in decline. It has some huge areas, such as pressure-senstive labeling, that are holding their own and even growing at tolerable rates, while other large segments, such as cut-and-stack paper labels, are in a slow decline. It also uses dynamic new techniques, such as shrink labels, that incorporate state-of-the-art technology to provide state-of-the-art consumer appeal.

Within package printing, the beverage market reflects just about all the current trends. This was especially evident in the input provided by a number of package printers for this month’s article on beverage labeling. Here’s a short sampling:

On flexo printing—Scott Pillsbury, president of Rose City Label: “We have had two labels in the past two weeks that were formerly printed offset and were converted to flexo because they were on coated stocks and we could print them very well.”

On combination printing—John McDowell, VP of sales for McDowell Label and Screen Printing: “We’ve observed that the majority of the beverage brand owners that we serve are gravitating toward the use of combination-printed, pressure-sensitive labels and heat shrink sleeves (foil stamping, screen printing, multi-dimensional doming, HDUV inks—all in-line).”

On short-run printing—Nick Van Alstine, president of Macaran Printed Products: “In the fight to gain market share, beverage producers are regularly running promotions, introducing a new product or new look. Most often these runs are shorter, with a strategy in mind to test consumer reaction before flooding the shelves. I believe this trend will continue.”

On flexible packaging—Dan Muenzer, VP of marketing for Spear: “They [flexible packages] certainly have a market and I’m sure it will expand. Spear anticipates the majority of their application will be in non-alcoholic-based formats such as water, juice, milk, and isotonics.”

So, if you want to see what’s taking place in package printing, a good place to start is in the beverage isle of your local grocery store.

We welcome your comments regarding any part of packagePRINTING. They can be addressed to Editor, packagePRINTING, 1500 Spring Garden St., Ste. 1200, Philadelphia, PA 19130, or to tpolischuk@napco.com.