Digital printing in labels – The way forward
The Label Manufacturers Association of India (LMAI) organized a networking and marketing event called 'Digital Printing in Labels – The Way Forward' in Chennai on xx Dec 2019. The kickoff LMAI outcome in Chennai was sponsored by four companies offering digital solutions for labels – Xeikon, HP, Domino, and Astronova.
LMAI board fellow member Harveer Sahni kicked off the effect by talking about LMAI and the evolution of the Indian label industry. In his brief history, Sahni recounted the advent of narrow-web flexo presses in India in the 1970s, to the incorporation of UV curing on flexo label presses in 1993, and to the subsequent inflow of digital label presses in the first decade of this century – the topic of the event.
Presentations by AstroNova, Domino, HP and Xeikon
In his presentation, Goutham Reddy, regional sales manager for US-based AstroNova, emphasized the growing need for digital. Reddy said, "There are diverse factors that are driving converters to go for digital setups. For instance, there is a shift towards shorter runs and shorter turnaround times. The factors include globalization, product variants, environmental pressure level, peer pressure, contest, in-store merchandising where new brands are cropping up, and individual labeling."
According to Reddy, mass brands earlier dominated the market, simply at present at that place is a sudden proliferation of new and smaller brands in the market. Versioning, serialization and variable data labels are driving the demand for digital setups. Some other factor is the rapid increment in SKUs. Reddy so talked virtually driblet-on-need and continuous inkjet systems and explained the difference between thermal DoD and Piezoelectric systems.
Photograph PSA
"When information technology comes to ink systems, we have two types of aqueous inks – dye-based and paint-based. Dye-based inks are less expensive than pigment-based inks, and their viscosity is much lower. When it comes to durability, pigment-based inks are better. These are some of the advantages when compared to any other ink system. Aqueous inkjet printing systems accept very low initial capex . . . . Moreover, aqueous inkjet printing is extremely eco-friendly, making it a preferable choice for nutrient and pharma applications," Reddy said.
He and then shared details of the diverse AstroNova printers and the features and specifications of AstroNova's Trojan characterization products, based on the Memjet print engineering. AstroNova is associated with Weldon Celloplast in India, of which the same Harveer Sahni is the founder.
The flexible solutions from Domino
The second presentation by Ajay Raorane, banana vice president for Sales at Domino India, described the variety of technologies used in digital printers and the benefits they offer. "Our digital printing business talks about monochrome solutions used for high-speed variable data press. We accept a digital color printing, and we have controllers and binary printers, which print at 400 meters per minute. Our digital printing solutions are used by and large by label and packaging converters. We understand client requirements and offer solutions accordingly," Raorane said.
He next explained how digital printing entered the labeling segment. "The problem that label converters confront is that of run lengths getting shorter and SKU proliferation from the brand owner side. Digital printing has a very low setup cost. Today customers want shorter pb times and minimum raw textile wastage. Brand owners, on their part, want to launch their products much faster to the market, and speed is where digital press helps. However, we cannot say that digital can altogether supersede conventional press technology. Digital is only complementary to a converter's conventional printing setup. In multiple press technologies, 1 of the printers tin be digital," he added.
Co-ordinate to him, with digital printing, many printers have been able to offer supply chain simplification benefits to their customers. Digital is a powerful way of calculation value to a production in terms of customization and personalization. There are many pharma customers today who become their labels printed within 24 hours with the help of digital printers, he said. "It offers value-add together, faster time to market place, production versioning, target marketing, differentiation on shelf space, mass serialization and reduced response time," said Raorane.
Talking about the digital printing offerings from Domino, Raorane explained the advantages of Domino K Series machines for monochrome printing and the Multibar North-Series, which is a complete digital label solution.
Combination solutions & ePac coming to Asia
HP's Business concern Manager for HP Indigo Inkjet & Printing Solutions – India and Sri Lanka, Ashok Pahwa, talked almost the changes in the consumer space that are leading to the shift towards digital. He emphasized on changing consumer behavior, whereby online shopping requirements dominate, and visits to physical stores have become a thing of the past. "If this is the kind of change that has come about in consumer behavior, imagine the condition of a brand that wants to sell its product! Adding to the challenge is the stiff competition out there. If your customer is facing such a problem, how do you see them as a converter?" he asked.
Pahwa added that while electricity, labor and material costs have risen, the price of labels has come down. The solution to this, he said, was for label converters to join easily with the client and requite value to a make so that they attain a consumer perfectly and get the sale out of them. Campaigns and express editions have become a mode of life for marketers of big label brands. He added, "What brands want today out of a label convertor is for them to come upwards with an idea to appoint with consumers. They want increased returns on their marketing investments. They want to cutting costs just not on labels – to cut costs on the overall productivity of their organisation. They too want to optimize their supply concatenation so they can innovate new products in the market – to connect digital campaigns to the real product, reduced fourth dimension to market, and, most importantly, they desire to be eco-friendly."
He asked characterization converters to call back from a marketer's perspective and encounter what they can do to assistance brands overcome their concerns, "The answer to all these problems is digital, and the applied science that nosotros are talking most here is from HP Indigo . . . . Yous should invest in technology, which helps you achieve higher revenue and higher profitability."
He pointed out that at that place are many label converters in the pressure-sensitive labels business but none who are in the combined activity of pressure level-sensitive plus shrink sleeve business organization or pressure-sensitive, compress sleeve and wrap-around market plus in-mold. Urging converters to recall beyond PS labels, he said, "We are stuck with the outset business segment, which is pressure-sensitive labels. Only we never thought of actually going a lilliputian beyond and working with the other business segments. As a brand, I await forrard to a solution from the label convertor. The solution is not limited to only labels. The solution of appointment with a consumer may be a characterization, or a shrink sleeve, folding carton, or flexible packaging. If, as a marketer, y'all tin cater to all those needs, then you will emerge as a consummate service provider," he commented.
Citing the instance of various campaigns and express edition labels that HP has delivered, Pahwa talked about ePac, which has ordered 24 HP Indigo 20000 presses in its disruptive move to aggrandize to 52 presses operating from 20 sites in the US, Canada, and the UK. The deal, at over US$ 100 1000000, includes hardware, supplies and services over several years. "This is the largest packaging deal to date for HP, and the good matter is ePac is coming to Asia very soon," concluded Pahwa.
Xeikon – The terminal word
Vikram Saxena, general manager – Xeikon sales, Flint Group (India), fabricated the final presentation. A division of the Flint Group, Xeikon manufactures digital presses for labels, cartons, and commercial printing. "We are amongst the earliest companies to bring in digital printing in the industry. Right from the year 1988 when nosotros started, and over the years, nosotros take invested heavily in R&D and proved our supremacy. I e'er tell people to be more receptive to digital. Even so, since the time I joined the labels and packaging segment of the business, I have met a lot of converters who accept an interesting misconception most digital. They feel buying a digital printing would mean irresolute 1'southward consummate press environment, but that is not true. If y'all sit down and piece of work it out with the press manufacturer, you can actually avert additional investment in prepress. Yous can print with a PDF, which you employ for your flexo environment. So, there is no boosted investment," he said.
He emphasized that digital tin reduce the cost of short runs and besides open up new income streams. This was followed by a presentation of Xeikon'due south portfolio of presses, starting with the entry-level Xeikon 3020 to the Xeikon 3300 flagship digital label press and the Xeikon Panther PX 3000, which offers LED plus mercury cooling and comes with Fusion engineering science.
"With a single Xeikon machine, one tin can practice all kinds of labels – cocky-agglutinative, wrap-effectually, peel and reveal, scratch awarding, cartons and newspaper cups. Xeikon has FDA-approved toners and expertise in heat transfer, fifty-fifty on very depression density soft, squeezable bottles, pouches, security printing applications and long banners," he shared.
Source: https://packagingsouthasia.com/type-of-article/industry-news/digital-printing-in-labels-the-way-forward/
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