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

Readers of packagePRINTING know that digital printing has made big advances in primary label converting, especially in the color printing of short runs that are not easy to print with flexo. Other package-printing applications adjacent to labels, though, are being addressed by digital printing as well. This month, we look at one of them, the color printing of corrugated packaging. What is the role of color digital printing there? What is the outlook for color digital printers? To find out, packagePRINTING and InfoTrends partnered recently to survey senior managers at 30 companies that print corrugated packages in the United States.

Of the companies that responded, 13 are print-for-pay enterprises and 17 are in-plant print shops at various manufacturers and a few retailers. Most have color printing of corrugated in their own operations, but a few buy the needed print services from outside suppliers. The total group has an optimistic view of market's future: asked about the growth outlook for the different types of corrugated printing that they do, 46 percent say the market is stable, 36 percent expect growth of up to 10 percent annually, and 18 percent expect annual growth of 10 percent or more; no one predicts a decline in corrugated 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.

Drivers

What is behind the growing use of color digital printing for corrugated? The main driver is the growth of "litho lam"—that is, fine color offset printing that is laminated to corrugated and used widely in retail, such as in retail-ready packaging on shelves at Costco or BJ's. It is also seen in free-standing display units at food retailers and many other outlets. Ultimately, it is brand owners who spur litho lam growth—they want graphically rich packaging wherever their products might be seen. Meanwhile, they are exploding the number of SKUs on offer to better to target markets and sub-markets. While litho lam is analog printing, just like flexo in the label industry, it has its limitations when printing short runs—the jobs where color digital printing excels.

In response to one question, 50 percent of respondents say they think the overall litho lam business at their companies is growing, which is about four times the share that think it is declining. When print service providers were asked about the future, 30 percent "agree completely" and a further 17 percent "agree somewhat" that point-of-purchase (POP) signage and display will be a driver of short-run, high-quality laminated color printing at their companies (Fig. 2). Meanwhile, "retail-ready" packaging got a vote of confidence nearly as strong, with a combined 63 percent saying that it would also be a driver of the same type of printing, based on 13 percent agreeing completely and 50 percent agreeing somewhat. Interestingly, even for primary packaging, there is a strong total vote (46 percent) saying it will be a driver of litho lam. On that, we note that two microflutes, F and N flute corrugated, are good replacements for direct litho-printed solid board packaging.

As retailers push store seasons to be closer together and with complete store display changes occurring more frequently, InfoTrends has found that turnaround times for such print jobs as POP displays and retail-ready packaging have shortened, commonly to one business day or less. That is good for color digital, where jobs set up rapidly and any needed short-run printing can be done efficiently.

As good as color digital printing is for the corrugated market, such printing has its own limitations. When asked to name the top barrier for color digital printing of corrugated, cost per image ranks first, chosen by 36 percent, followed by speed/productivity, chosen by 27 percent (Fig. 3). Notably, print quality ranked last as a barrier (17 percent), a tribute to the technical advances that suppliers have made. InfoTrends' judgment is that the overall response cited here is fair: color digital printing needs to cost less and to be more productive, but today its print quality is compelling for most users.

Given the large part that flexo plays in printing corrugated, our survey asked about the role of companies and products that support the digital imaging of flexo plates. Most the companies (23 out of 30, or 77 percent) do not use digital imaging for flexo plate creation. Of these non-users, we asked whether they were aware of four of the best known suppliers—DuPont, Esko, Kodak, and MacDermid—and 48 percent were not aware of any of them (DuPont was the best known, but still with only 17 percent awareness). In a similar question, we asked if the managers were aware of several of the most modern "direct engraving" systems for the digital creation of flexo plates. As seen in the Figure 4, 67 percent had no awareness at all. InfoTrends' judgment is that vendors of such systems need to do more to educate the corrugated printing market that flexo serves so well, because digital imaging of flexo plates can also help make the printing and decoration of corrugated more efficient.

All things considered, the managers surveyed give a strong vote for the future role of color digital printing of corrugated. As seen in Figure 5, their expectation is that color digital will be most useful for fine color printing, for later lamination to corrugated, and for more use with short production runs (57 percent) than for prototypes (17 percent). That result again is likely related to the strong growth in litho lam printing of corrugated, in general. Given brand owners' growing need to target markets or even individual stores, short runs are an inevitable part of the litho lam phenomenon, and color digital will help print those runs.

One final note, however, concerns the results for the direct printing of corrugated by color digital. Expectations for such printing have much lower tallies than is true for digital printing of laminates, as seen in the preceding figure. That said, a top story from the FESPA show in London last June was the introduction of the HP Scitex 10000, a huge flatbed using a new, variable drop size inkjet technology (HP's High Dynamic Range technology), one that yields impressive full color print directly onto corrugated media's kraft liner. Not surprisingly, a stated objective of HP Scitex for its 10000 system is the replacement of short run litho lam in packaging and displays. On that, we have to note that we saw at FESPA some beautiful primary packaging printed by the HP Scitex 10000—sturdy boxes for consumer electronics, all printed on what looked like C-flute corrugated. InfoTrends' opinion is that even in direct printing of corrugated, color digital printing will have a growing role as a resource for short runs of fine color graphics. pP