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Running in Both Directions
Packaging experts discuss advances in digital and offset printing for this niche market.
Global sales of packaging-related print from digital print-on-demand and wide format presses reached $1.95 billion in 2009 and are expected to climb to $4.05 billion by 2014, according to InfoTrends research. The study reports two major causes for this increase: advances in the productivity, image quality and total ownership cost of digital color printing, and the growing demand among manufacturers of consumer goods for shorter runs of packaging-related print.
Bob Leahey, associate director at Infotrends who led the study, says a greater emphasis on marketing precision, 1-to-1 marketing and environmentalism are also contributing to the shift. Leahey says companies such as Hewlett Packard, Xiekon and, recently, Xerox continue to supply better digital printing technology for packaging, and he predicts the advances will continue. Meanwhile, new offset technologies are being embraced by a daring few in the industry. As digital quality rises and offset becomes more efficient, will the two meet in the middle to complement each other or continue to be seen as competing methods?
From Brew to Bean Greens
Of the $1.95 billion spent on digital printing for packaging in 2009, the majority was attributed to the production of full- and spot-color prime labels to decorate consumer products such as food, beverages and drugs. “There is great emphasis on marketing with precision,” Leahey says. “It can be seen from the biggest brands such as Procter & Gamble, down to the smallest such as estate wineries, and everything in between.” He adds there are more than 1,000 high-end digital printing systems installed in the operations of converters worldwide, label converters in particular.
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