Diving Into Digital Printing for Corrugated Packaging

As packagePRINTING has reported since June, one of the surprise themes of drupa 2016 was the level of innovation around digital printing for corrugated technology.

While digital printing has played a role in corrugated for some time, it has largely been relegated to multi-pass technology that was not well-suited for production packaging. However, at drupa, multiple suppliers unveiled single-pass, direct-to-board digital presses that can make high-speed digital corrugated printing a reality.

The EFI Nozomi C18000 was just one of the new digital presses for the corrugated market unveiled at drupa.

To help shed some light on what these digital breakthroughs will mean to the corrugated industry, packagePRINTING hosted three webinars since drupa, providing additional details on this new technology and opportunities it could provide.

The first webinar, sponsored by Barberán, featured insights from Robert Sweet and Craig Bradley of Bennett, a corrugated converter located near Kansas City. Bennett is the first corrugated converter in the United States with single-pass, direct-to-board digital corrugated capabilities, having installed the Barberán JetMaster 1680 in August of 2015.

What has been truly impressive about the technology, Bradley said, is the speed of the press, the sheet sizes it can run and its ability to print variable imagery.

Click here to access the archived webinar.

For a deeper dive into the technology and how it could impact the industry, TAPPI sponsored two webinars featuring the two principals of Karstedt Partners, Kevin Karstedt, CEO, and Jeff Wettersten, president.

The Durst Rho 130 SPC on display at drupa.

The first webinar in this series focused on eight potential myths surrounding digital printing and whether they will ring true for the corrugated industry. Specifically, the “myths” the webinar addressed were:

• Digital printing is disrupting the market
• Converters will be at a competitive disadvantage without digital
• Personalization/customization is a driving force for digital printing
• Digital print is too expensive
• Digital print quality is not acceptable
• Digital print does not have spot color capability
• Digital printing is for short runs
• Digital presses are not reliable

Click here to access the archived webinar.

In the second session of Karstedt and Wettersten’s presentation, a closer look at the specific products was presented. Karstedt and Wettersten touched on the digital corrugated presses that were either on display or announced at drupa, including products from EFI, Barberán, Durst, HP, Sun Automation and Bobst.

At drupa, HP announced that its HP PageWide C500 press for the corrugated segment was in the works.

The webinar addressed the roles that these presses will play in the industry overall and discussed the specific applications and production capabilities they provide. Additionally, Karstedt and Wettersten discussed the value creation opportunities that digital print provides through optimizing print cost, optimizing total cost and creating new consumer experiences.

Click here to access the archived webinar.