Printing for Corrugated Packaging: What's Ahead for Color Digital Printing?

While flexo print technology is the most common means of printing corrugated (54 percent of companies), there is a strong mix of digital printing now among all the print options used. Wide-format inkjet is nearly as common for printing corrugated as flexo (47 percent), followed by offset (40 percent), other digital (37 percent), and gravure (17 percent). Color digital printing, and especially wide-format inkjet, is a natural means for printing prototypes, but most managers in our survey say that digital printing for corrugated is used for more than just prototypes and samples. Figure 1 describes how the companies collectively use color digital printing for corrugated today. As seen in the chart, 60 percent say that they use color digital printing for printing prototypes and short production runs, while just 13 percent say they never use it and never will.