Brands are embracing digital printing at an all-time high, and this extends beyond the corrugated packaging space. They are seeking global solutions across all four packaging sectors: corrugated, folding cartons, labels and flexible packaging. With the advent of production systems that can handle all four sectors, brand engagement is starting to grow exponentially. As a result, the future of digital printing looks bright.
Converters must seriously consider and start investing in digital printing. Brands are adopting digital printing technology, which brings competitive differentiation to the market. By looking at other markets, we have found that once a technology is digital, there is no going back to analog technology. Therefore, converters absolutely need to start the transformation to digital printing.
The introduction of water-based inks, especially for the corrugated packaging market, is a major change for the industry. It brings great value not only to corrugated packaging converters, but also to brands. It is well known that color drives sales, whether on chemical white or bleached white board, or on industrial packaging of common process materials. Similar to e-commerce or many other industrial applications, color is desired but could not be achieved before. This is the first time I have seen color achieved in process, and it is a major change that provides high value to brands and converters, increasing flexibility and use cases, opening up the process world to digital printing.
The application space is definitely expanding because of water-based inks and the ability to print white on process. From an e-commerce application or any industrial application, the use of white has always been a bottleneck for converting operations, not only from a supply perspective, but also from a printing perspective. The productivity and flexibility provided by using process and water-based inks, as well as the ability to achieve higher productivity by using process and water-based inks, is a huge change for converters and provides opportunities for their brand delivery.
"Historically, digital printing has been targeted to high-graphic printing on white corrugated board, which accounts for approximately one-third of the market. The remaining two-thirds of the market needs to be addressed. This innovation addresses the other two-thirds of the market, and therefore, the delivery of water-based inks will accelerate the adoption and spread of digital printing across the market."
The ability to print process materials with water-based inks in the corrugated market will have a significant impact on adoption at the converter level and usage at the brand level. So it will be a game changer in the market, and the evaluation of converters around digital printing and the adoption of brands around digital printing will be the catalyst or potential catalyst to drive this market forward.
Digital white printing is definitely finding applications in the food and beverage space and will extend well beyond food and beverage into the industrial market. In the food and beverage space, when you start to see retail-ready packaging on the shelf, craft packaging is acceptable, but you need that image quality and that image standout compared to what’s out there. Digital white printing provides that, whereas traditional printing methods don’t. As a result, it’s bringing craft back as a low-cost alternative for brands in many applications in retail environments.
Sustainability will also play a role around this. Both from a materials perspective, you are no longer using proprietary materials around chemistry or bleached white, which are not as sustainable as process positive. It will also have an impact on recycling and waste streams because of de-inking and recycling virgin process fibers. So the availability of white inks and white inks printed on process will have a positive impact on the sustainability message of brands and converters.