Understanding Narrow-Web Needs

All companies have areas that could use some work, but they may not be top of mind if they don’t cause any harm. But there are also immediate needs — the issues that keep business leaders up at night, poring over solutions to these problems.

The package printing world is evolving, particularly in the dynamic sector of narrow-web and label printing. As both an industry supplier and knowledge resource, All Printing Resources (APR), spearheaded an in-depth

“Narrow Web Flexo Production and Digital Printing Study” to get a better sense of the most pressing pain points for narrow-web converters and the triggers leading these converters toward digital 
solutions.

The research, conducted by LPC, Inc., a market research and technical PR firm specializing in packaging, revealed several eye-opening statistics. On average, flexo presses are down nearly one-third of the time. The average percentage of jobs less than 5,000 linear feet has nearly doubled in the last five years to 28%. A desire to be more efficient topped the key decision-making points for adding a digital press, with keeping up with the competition as the lowest priority.

“We knew going in that narrow-web printers are being squeezed in terms of both price and delivery, so they’re trying to reduce costs and lead times,” says Dave Nieman, president and CEO of APR. “But we really didn’t know what in the hierarchy of challenges the bigger ones were, and what were the ones they saw as what they needed to fix first.”

Downtime on the Rise

More than 100 label converters spanning the United States and Canada participated in the study, taking part in surveys and individual interviews. The sample size includes a range of job functions, from owners and CEOs to plant managers.

Source: APR Narrow Web Flexo Production and Digital Printing Study

When the results of the study came back, Nieman explains that one of the most surprising statistics was that, on average, study participants said their narrow-web presses are down 32% of the time and average six changeovers per day.

While an increase in short runs is an obvious cause for flexo press downtime and high changeover rates, there were some technological reasons for downtime that surprised APR.

According to Richard Black, APR’s director of digital solutions, two of the top causes of downtime were matching color on press and matching proofs, which came in at No. 3 and No. 5, respectively

“There are so many technologies out there and we can make that so efficient, it’s surprising people haven’t adapted some of these technologies and still struggle as much as they do,” Black says.

Though this result did come as a surprise, Nieman and Black hypothesize that both a resistance to change and lack of awareness of available tools could be key factors in why color and proof matching are among the top causes of downtime. According to Nieman, due to the high-pressure, time-sensitive environment converters work in, it’s entirely feasible that they just simply have not had the time to spare to investigate how they can improve these processes.

“With [converters] being so pressed for time and running leaner these days, the people they do have that are technical are so busy,” he says. “I just wonder how many of them don’t have the time to fully investigate and see what’s out there to try to improve their processes.”

Jennifer Dochstader, a founding partner of LPC Inc., explains that results from a similar study done five years ago showed that average downtime ranged between 26% and 28%. With converters embracing lean methodologies and flexo press technology improving to accommodate fast changeovers, it would seem logical that downtime would decrease over time.

But, she explains that with average run sizes decreasing between 15% and 20% annually, even the fastest presses are having a hard time keeping up.

“We live in a time where you can change over a press faster than ever before,” she says. “But you have to consider the rate of those run size contractions and those job length contractions and how that is steadily marching downward.”

Short Runs Continue to Increase

The results of the study showed that on average, 28% of narrow-web jobs are shorter than 5,000 linear feet, nearly twice as high as it was five years ago. While this number is a jarring eye-opener as to how significantly short runs have increased, Black explains some converters may not realize just how many sub-5,000 ft. jobs they’re running.

For example, he says one of the first converters that bought a Colordyne digital retrofit system from APR had decided to enter the digital realm because they knew they had an increase in short runs. However, when they crunched the numbers, they realized more than 40% of their run lengths were less than 5,000 ft.

“They were so busy that there was no one really looking at the workflow and the run lengths,” Black says. “They knew they had a lot of quick change jobs, but when they did the research -— which is what made them pull the trigger on the digital unit -— they were in the 40% range of jobs less than 5,000 ft. For everyone else, this number is shocking. But for us, it kind of validated that it’s not just this one customer. Everyone is feeling this pain.”

Dochstader explains that as converters increasingly consider entering the digital realm, they are walking through this exercise of measuring their short runs to better understand if the benefits justify the cost of bringing on digital capabilities.

She explains that digital press suppliers are well-aware of this trend and are stepping in during this process to assist converters in gaining a better understanding of their needs.

“The North American narrow-web label industry is getting better at doing those cost benefit analyses because more converters are having to do it, and the digital technology suppliers are getting better at helping them with that process,” she says.

What’s Driving Digital?

The second aspect of the study was to gain a better understanding of what converters consider to be the key decision points in introducing digital to their workflow, or adding additional digital capabilities if they’ve already made the leap.

Source: APR Narrow Web Flexo Production and Digital Printing Study

Given the amount of conventional press downtime and increase of short runs, it may not be surprising that the top two digital press purchase drivers are the need for increased efficiency and the need for a better short-run solution.

Nieman says that one of the surprising statistics that came out of this question was that the desire for adding new customers was ranked as the No. 4 reason converters are considering a digital purchase. He says that from a return on investment perspective, sometimes adding new technology is easier to justify when it can result in expanding the business by growing its customer base.

But, he says that as narrow-web digital presses become more commonly implemented, it makes sense that customer acquisition becomes less of a priority as converter competencies level off.

“This was good news for us because we’re out there educating that one of the reasons to go digital is in line with what they’re saying — that it’s the need to be more efficient and have a better short-run solution for current work,” Nieman says.

The study revealed that the No. 5 driver toward a digital system is the need for converters to have the same offerings as their competitors. This statistic being at the bottom of the list lends credibility to the concept that despite the rapid rise of new technology, converters have not found themselves in an arms race.

Dochstader explains that the narrow-web culture is so rich with innovation that converters can frequently find ways to satisfy their customers with what they have. So, she says it makes sense that when converters begin the digital acquisition decision process, the internal factors of improving efficiency outweigh combatting external factors like competition.

“Label converters are really good at meeting their customers’ needs and staying a few steps ahead when it comes to application innovation and application functionality,” she says. “This entrepreneurial craftsman culture is also really good at producing quality conventionally. When you see the progress in technology and what is achievable today in flexo, do they need that [aspect of] ‘me too’?”

Making Sense of Stats

As an industry supplier, Nieman says that the study results validated many of APR’s expectations of what the biggest pain points are in the narrow-web industry. It was also encouraging, he says, that there are several areas in which APR can help.

For example, he explains that technical support is a critical need for converters, and APR has placed a major investment in its Technical Center and the technical support team on staff. With the results of the survey, Nieman explains APR can place a more targeted focus on where converters need the most support.

A technician inspects a plate at the APR Technical Center.

“On the plate side, although the survey said technical support was very important, often they said they weren’t necessarily happy with the technical support and innovation they were getting,” he says. “They also said there was so much anxiety in making a switch from one plate source to another … that they would probably stick with it even though they weren’t really happy. Those are the kinds of things we have to better understand. We’re making this big investment in tech support, where do we need to focus that to better help our customers?”

Dochstader says that compared to the other segments of the package printing industry, there is minimal information released publicly in regard to labels. With some of the statistics revealed in this study, she explains that label converters will now have an increase in benchmarking information that may have been lacking previously.

“Being able to see where they are and [what] their downtime [is], their flexo changeovers per day and what the hierarchy of drivers are if they’re thinking about purchasing a digital press certainly has value for label converters,” Dochstader says.

Similarly, she says that as the needs of converters and their customers change, they have to increasingly rely on outside expertise. Suppliers can also be knowledge providers, she explains, and as the demands increase on what labels must do, converters who reach outside their front doors to find this knowledge will be at an advantage.

“Labels are getting more complex and innovation is a major driver,” Dochstader says. “Labels are becoming more functional and label converters, whether you’re a $3 million dollar a year company or a $30 million a year company, there’s probably an area where that extremely high level of expertise would help your business.”

To learn more about the Narrow Web Flexo Production and Digital Printing Study, visit All Printing Resources at Labelexpo Americas in booth 937.