How Market Trends Are Driving Inkjet Adoption in Packaging

If you are a print provider producing labels and packaging, you know that customer demands are quickly evolving as you try to keep pace.

To better understand this changing market – and how providers can meet these challenges – Memjet commissioned a survey by NAPCO Research, a unit of NAPCO Media, the parent company of Printing Impressions, Packaging Impressions, and In-Plant Impressions magazines.

The survey included responses from over 300 companies involved in label and package printing, including commercial printers, package printers or converters, in-plant print shops, and digital printing specialists.

These conversations reveal how today’s inkjet printing systems enable printers and converters to transition work from analog to digital, meet new customer demands, and create new opportunities.

Today's Package and Label Market

In today’s uncertain markets, packaging and label printers ask two essential questions: What do consumers want? And when do they want it?

The NAPCO survey reveals that buyers of labels and packaging expect their providers to produce high-quality, customized products that are visually compelling and can engage consumers.

Moreover, the package and label production must accommodate the expanding number of SKUs and comply with changing regulations and environmental standards.

And, the survey shows, these quality labels and packages must be produced under tight deadlines and fast turnaround times.

The following chart breaks down areas of growth in customer demands for label production:

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In packaging, the demands are the same, but the growth rate in most areas is happening even faster:

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Whether a provider is producing labels, packaging, or a combination of both, it is clear that inkjet printing solutions are a requirement for success in this market.

Today’s Inkjet – Meeting the Need

Recent developments in inkjet innovation like Memjet’s DuraFlex and DuraLink technologies are creating a new breed of printing solutions for the label, corrugated, folding carton, and flexible packaging markets.

Memjet technologies come in modules designed to provide OEMs much greater flexibility and creativity to build a range of different solutions – from simple yet powerful entry-level inkjet presses to high-end production equipment.

These solutions have the speed and affordability that providers need right now and have raised the bar for beautiful, high-quality output that package providers demand producing sharp images, smooth gradations, and an expanded color gamut with resolutions up 1600 x 1600 dots per inch (dpi).

Ink is another area of advancement – inkjet presses powered by Memjet’s newest technologies use aqueous-based pigment inks. These inks can achieve offset-quality output on a wide range of coated and uncoated substrates and are also resistant to light and moisture.

Memjet’s water-based inks are safer to use than other inks, making them an excellent choice for food and beverage packaging.

Expanded Markets

In the NAPCO survey, providers reported that they print various types of packaging applications on inkjet devices. Over 50 percent of respondents printed folding cartons, labels, flexible packaging, corrugated packaging (and displays), and tags on inkjet devices.

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This expansion is due in part to the expanded variety of inkjet-friendly substrates available to providers. Today, inkjet can print high-quality output on a wide range of substrates from paperboard to foils to corrugated.

Inkjet manufacturers have also developed coating and priming solutions to enable inkjet printing on existing media at a lower cost, including packaging materials like corrugated and flexible plastics.

This expanded availability of media not only gives providers better options for creating labels and packages that stand out, but it also enables the print provider to quickly expand their product offerings and create a more extensive range of packaging than ever before.

Learn More about the Packaging Opportunity

Working with NAPCO Research, Memjet has recently published a research paper titled “Opportunities in Inkjet Label and Packaging Applications.” This research paper explores the market trends, innovations, and forces that reduce obstacles for organizations looking to either enter or expand offerings in label and packaging printing.

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