David Savastano, Editor07.18.22
Digital printing has made major gains in numerous printing segments, and the packaging market is perhaps the greatest opportunity. Currently, digital printing has made sizable inroads into the label and narrow web business, with estimates placing it at approximately 20% of the market.
Corrugated printing appears to be the next big packaging market for digital printing. Estimates place the overall corrugated market in the area of $250 billion, and digital is a small fraction of that. However, leading inkjet equipment specialists, including EFI, HP, Canon and FUJIFILM, have already picked up market share, and packaging printers are adding new digital printers.
In speaking with digital printing industry leaders, their technologies are ideal for corrugated printing, and opportunities will continue to grow in the coming years.
For example, Evandro Matteucci, VP and GM, packaging and building materials, EFI Inkjet, noted that there is significant interest in the EFI Nozomi platform for single-pass inkjet digital corrugated packaging printing.
“While digital is a small portion of the overall corrugated space compared with analog litho lamination and flexo printing, it is growing because of the advantages it offers,” added Matteucci. “The global installed base of approximately 40 EFI Nozomi represents a significant share of the market among packaging companies – both large integrated paper companies and smaller independent corrugated packaging businesses – using single-pass digital today.
“By adding digital capabilities, packaging converters can make their businesses more versatile and more flexible, while improving overall plant productivity in both analog and digital printing,” Matteucci noted. “Converters are interested in digital not just for digital’s sake, but for the huge advantage it can create in freeing up analog capacity. By shifting inefficient analog jobs into digital, converters can remove a manufacturing bottleneck to create more profit opportunity.”
HP’s PageWide press series is also doing well in the corrugated market. Adi Shorer, HP PWI corrugated, product manager, post-print, noted that many print service providers realize that digital print for packaging has numerous advantages over litho or flexo for either pre – or post-print packaging production and are using the latest digital technology to enable more economic and imaginative solutions.
“We are constantly working on developing our solutions, following needs from our customers and from the industry,” Shorer observed. “Last year’s announcement of the HP PageWide T1195i Press – the third generation T1100 Series Press – is a great example of continuous development and improvement to our platforms.
“Another example for this commitment is the HP PageWide C500 feeder, a robust production solution designed to improve converters’ operating profit and reduce waste. It supports a wider range of sheets, including thin and micro-flutes,
while maintaining a smooth feeding process and fast job changeovers. To best meet the needs of the industry, HP is also broadening its relationship with partners to deliver end-to-end solutions that simplify and accelerate the digital business growth of customers.”
Randy Paar, marketing manager – display graphics, large format solutions for Canon Solutions America, noted that Canon has noticed a bit of an increase in interest this past year for packaging applications produced on its Arizona printers.
“I suspect that may be due to growing general awareness in the capabilities of flatbed printers and the new business opportunities represented by custom, short-run packaging,” Paar added.
Jim Wegemer, director of national accounts for INX International Ink Co., reported that the interest in digital printing for corrugated is definitely growing every year.
“Today, there are many more digital printer equipment solutions compared to three or four years ago,” Wegemer added. “This includes multi-pass, single-pass and roll-to-roll solutions. The quality and capability of digital printing also continues to improve each year. A much wider range of printing needs can now be accomplished digitally, adding to the growing interest in digital print solutions.”
There are other advantages that are coming to the forefront. One area is the ability to put short-run projects on a digital printer, freeing up space for the longer-run machines.
“The corrugated industry is challenged by lack of capacity, supply chain challenges, stressed time to market and sustainability demands. Digital printing of packaging provides solutions to all,” Shorer said.
“First and foremost, adding digital capabilities to one’s plant immediately increases the overall operational efficiency, as it frees up capacity of analog presses that now are capable to produce higher volume of long runs,” Shorer pointed out.
“In addition, digital production reduces inventories and obsolescence and eases some of the supply chain challenges with print on demand,” added Shorer. “Print what you need when you need it also support last minutes design changes and has fast turnaround time.”
Wegemer noted that digital printing certainly offers excellent value on shorter runs.
“Digital printing allows print buyers to focus on benefits such as variable data capabilities, quicker turnaround as there is no need for printing plates to be produced, and having the ability to make last minute changes to graphics and layout prior to printing - you can simply change the graphics file in the computer and then print,” Wegemer said. “Digital can produce strong vibrant colors, as good as high quality litho printing. All of these features improve speed to market.
“Another advantage is a printer can use digital to ‘run to order’, instead of using conventional print to run a longer ‘run to warehouse’,” Wegemer added. “They print shorter runs on demand, and ship everything that is printed. This has been more of a factor in the past 18 months with paper shortages. Digital can print immediately. Having a digital printer provides the opportunity to print a job that may have been done conventionally, but the timing needs for the customer were too short to get it into a conventional print format.”
Paar pointed out that with all digital printing compared to offset or flexo, there is no costly press setup before the first print is produced.
“Whether you print one or one hundred, the cost to produce the first one is the same as the last one,” Paar noted. “There are inherent time savings here too by avoiding the additional setup time required for conventional printing processes.
This can be highly beneficial if you are producing prototypes that are being evaluated by brands and subsequently requiring multiple revisions to the design. These design iterations can now be turned around much faster.”
Becky McConnell, segment marketing manager - wide format inkjet, FUJIFILM North America Corporation - Graphic Systems Division, observed that digital printing allows brands and print providers to bring products to the market faster, whether it is for a national or for test campaigns.
“Digital print has changed the way brands approach product launches,” McConnell added.
Matteucci said that packaging companies gain significant benefits in using EFI Nozomi single-pass digital solutions to maximize their overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
“Printers such as our new EFI Nozomi 14000 LED give converters the ability to free up capacity on existing equipment, especially by moving smaller-quantity or versioned/multi-SKU jobs to digital production,” Matteucci said.
Matteucci added that the advantages can be significant.
“The time and cost associated with art changes for a packaging job reduces the profitability of smaller-quantity and versioned jobs when done with analog processes,” said Matteucci. “Those jobs can be more profitable in direct-to-board single-pass inkjet production on a Nozomi printer. Plus, we have seen how removing those jobs from analog production can have a significant benefit in creating greater analog production capacity in a plant, giving converters the ability to take on much more work overall.”
“The corrugated packaging converters that own Nozomi printers also frequently use the printer for POP display graphics,” said Matteucci. “There are also several display graphics companies – businesses that are not specifically focused on packaging – that own Nozomi printers primarily to produce high-quality displays.
“In late 2020, the research company IT Strategies surveyed EFI Nozomi users and proved just how adding a Nozomi printer opened the door to new applications. For example, brown box packaging converters adding the printer started winning new opportunities to print corrugated displays, and display graphics printers adding a Nozomi printer started to win new opportunities to produce e-commerce subscription boxes,” said Matteucci.
“HP PageWide press portfolio provides the industry’s widest range of sustainable corrugated packaging,” Shorer said. “Our presses and true water-based inks, that comply with regulatory requirements to meet the most stringent industry health and safety regulations, cover a variety of commercial and e-commerce applications from large electronics supplies to the most sensitive food and beverage, pharma and cosmetics products, toys etc. They are ideal for production of high graphics packaging and displays with uncompromised color quality and consistency, offering recyclable and compostable corrugated products.”
Paar said that Canon is continually surprised by the innovative applications that its customers develop.
“We see Arizona printers in mostly large format print-for-pay environments producing POP, i.e. rigid signs, backlit graphics, banners, posters, window graphics, decals, ADA signage, fine-art reproductions and object decoration, but also manufacturing environments such as decorative glass and wood panels, tiles, membrane switch overlays, gauges, etc.,” Paar added.
“According to Pira, the corrugated market is estimated to reach $270 billion by 2025,” said HP’s Shorer. “The worldwide install base for all digital printing will grow to hundreds of units in the coming five years, and HP plans to take a dominant position. Although very long runs of 1-2 color jobs are currently more effectively done on analog presses, we expect digital will become more and more significant with time - this market has huge potential and HP looks forward to continuing to drive innovation in the market.”
“Packaging and store displays are not going away anytime soon,” Paar said. “Short run demand is expected to increase as smaller manufacturers look to new technologies to develop and produce their packages, and the increasing popularity of home delivery and take-out food during the pandemic are also market drivers.”
“EFI is a leader in several commercial and industrial printing markets in terms of the accelerating migration from analog to digital printing, including packaging & corrugated, display graphics, textile, and building materials/décor,” said Matteucci. “Among those markets, corrugated has both a high CAGR for digital and a high total addressable market, so it is one of the top areas of investment and innovation for EFI.”
“We feel very positive about the future of digital printing for corrugated,” INX’s Wegemer said. “Although there has been significant growth in the corrugated market for digital in recent years, it is very, very early in its life cycle. Digital printing is only a small part of the total amount of corrugated printing that is completed. With new and next generation digital print solutions being introduced every year, the use of digital for corrugated will continue to grow. INX is fully dedicated to digital solutions for corrugated and we are excited about what the years ahead will bring.”
Corrugated printing appears to be the next big packaging market for digital printing. Estimates place the overall corrugated market in the area of $250 billion, and digital is a small fraction of that. However, leading inkjet equipment specialists, including EFI, HP, Canon and FUJIFILM, have already picked up market share, and packaging printers are adding new digital printers.
In speaking with digital printing industry leaders, their technologies are ideal for corrugated printing, and opportunities will continue to grow in the coming years.
For example, Evandro Matteucci, VP and GM, packaging and building materials, EFI Inkjet, noted that there is significant interest in the EFI Nozomi platform for single-pass inkjet digital corrugated packaging printing.
“While digital is a small portion of the overall corrugated space compared with analog litho lamination and flexo printing, it is growing because of the advantages it offers,” added Matteucci. “The global installed base of approximately 40 EFI Nozomi represents a significant share of the market among packaging companies – both large integrated paper companies and smaller independent corrugated packaging businesses – using single-pass digital today.
“By adding digital capabilities, packaging converters can make their businesses more versatile and more flexible, while improving overall plant productivity in both analog and digital printing,” Matteucci noted. “Converters are interested in digital not just for digital’s sake, but for the huge advantage it can create in freeing up analog capacity. By shifting inefficient analog jobs into digital, converters can remove a manufacturing bottleneck to create more profit opportunity.”
HP’s PageWide press series is also doing well in the corrugated market. Adi Shorer, HP PWI corrugated, product manager, post-print, noted that many print service providers realize that digital print for packaging has numerous advantages over litho or flexo for either pre – or post-print packaging production and are using the latest digital technology to enable more economic and imaginative solutions.
“We are constantly working on developing our solutions, following needs from our customers and from the industry,” Shorer observed. “Last year’s announcement of the HP PageWide T1195i Press – the third generation T1100 Series Press – is a great example of continuous development and improvement to our platforms.
“Another example for this commitment is the HP PageWide C500 feeder, a robust production solution designed to improve converters’ operating profit and reduce waste. It supports a wider range of sheets, including thin and micro-flutes,
while maintaining a smooth feeding process and fast job changeovers. To best meet the needs of the industry, HP is also broadening its relationship with partners to deliver end-to-end solutions that simplify and accelerate the digital business growth of customers.”
Randy Paar, marketing manager – display graphics, large format solutions for Canon Solutions America, noted that Canon has noticed a bit of an increase in interest this past year for packaging applications produced on its Arizona printers.
“I suspect that may be due to growing general awareness in the capabilities of flatbed printers and the new business opportunities represented by custom, short-run packaging,” Paar added.
Jim Wegemer, director of national accounts for INX International Ink Co., reported that the interest in digital printing for corrugated is definitely growing every year.
“Today, there are many more digital printer equipment solutions compared to three or four years ago,” Wegemer added. “This includes multi-pass, single-pass and roll-to-roll solutions. The quality and capability of digital printing also continues to improve each year. A much wider range of printing needs can now be accomplished digitally, adding to the growing interest in digital print solutions.”
Advantages of Digital Printing for Corrugated
There are numerous advantages of digital printing that are well known – the ability to print short runs more efficiently, which allows brand owners to run regional or special edition packages, and of course there is the ability to customize boxes if it is needed. There is no set-up time. Reducing inventory by printing just-in-time to meet demand cuts down on warehouse space and overages.There are other advantages that are coming to the forefront. One area is the ability to put short-run projects on a digital printer, freeing up space for the longer-run machines.
“The corrugated industry is challenged by lack of capacity, supply chain challenges, stressed time to market and sustainability demands. Digital printing of packaging provides solutions to all,” Shorer said.
“First and foremost, adding digital capabilities to one’s plant immediately increases the overall operational efficiency, as it frees up capacity of analog presses that now are capable to produce higher volume of long runs,” Shorer pointed out.
“In addition, digital production reduces inventories and obsolescence and eases some of the supply chain challenges with print on demand,” added Shorer. “Print what you need when you need it also support last minutes design changes and has fast turnaround time.”
Wegemer noted that digital printing certainly offers excellent value on shorter runs.
“Digital printing allows print buyers to focus on benefits such as variable data capabilities, quicker turnaround as there is no need for printing plates to be produced, and having the ability to make last minute changes to graphics and layout prior to printing - you can simply change the graphics file in the computer and then print,” Wegemer said. “Digital can produce strong vibrant colors, as good as high quality litho printing. All of these features improve speed to market.
“Another advantage is a printer can use digital to ‘run to order’, instead of using conventional print to run a longer ‘run to warehouse’,” Wegemer added. “They print shorter runs on demand, and ship everything that is printed. This has been more of a factor in the past 18 months with paper shortages. Digital can print immediately. Having a digital printer provides the opportunity to print a job that may have been done conventionally, but the timing needs for the customer were too short to get it into a conventional print format.”
Paar pointed out that with all digital printing compared to offset or flexo, there is no costly press setup before the first print is produced.
“Whether you print one or one hundred, the cost to produce the first one is the same as the last one,” Paar noted. “There are inherent time savings here too by avoiding the additional setup time required for conventional printing processes.
This can be highly beneficial if you are producing prototypes that are being evaluated by brands and subsequently requiring multiple revisions to the design. These design iterations can now be turned around much faster.”
Becky McConnell, segment marketing manager - wide format inkjet, FUJIFILM North America Corporation - Graphic Systems Division, observed that digital printing allows brands and print providers to bring products to the market faster, whether it is for a national or for test campaigns.
“Digital print has changed the way brands approach product launches,” McConnell added.
Matteucci said that packaging companies gain significant benefits in using EFI Nozomi single-pass digital solutions to maximize their overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
“Printers such as our new EFI Nozomi 14000 LED give converters the ability to free up capacity on existing equipment, especially by moving smaller-quantity or versioned/multi-SKU jobs to digital production,” Matteucci said.
Matteucci added that the advantages can be significant.
“The time and cost associated with art changes for a packaging job reduces the profitability of smaller-quantity and versioned jobs when done with analog processes,” said Matteucci. “Those jobs can be more profitable in direct-to-board single-pass inkjet production on a Nozomi printer. Plus, we have seen how removing those jobs from analog production can have a significant benefit in creating greater analog production capacity in a plant, giving converters the ability to take on much more work overall.”
Products and Markets for Digital Corrugated Printing
While most people associate corrugated packaging with brown boxes, there are other important markets, beginning with display signage. EFI’s Matteucci said that has been a good market for EFI.“The corrugated packaging converters that own Nozomi printers also frequently use the printer for POP display graphics,” said Matteucci. “There are also several display graphics companies – businesses that are not specifically focused on packaging – that own Nozomi printers primarily to produce high-quality displays.
“In late 2020, the research company IT Strategies surveyed EFI Nozomi users and proved just how adding a Nozomi printer opened the door to new applications. For example, brown box packaging converters adding the printer started winning new opportunities to print corrugated displays, and display graphics printers adding a Nozomi printer started to win new opportunities to produce e-commerce subscription boxes,” said Matteucci.
“HP PageWide press portfolio provides the industry’s widest range of sustainable corrugated packaging,” Shorer said. “Our presses and true water-based inks, that comply with regulatory requirements to meet the most stringent industry health and safety regulations, cover a variety of commercial and e-commerce applications from large electronics supplies to the most sensitive food and beverage, pharma and cosmetics products, toys etc. They are ideal for production of high graphics packaging and displays with uncompromised color quality and consistency, offering recyclable and compostable corrugated products.”
Paar said that Canon is continually surprised by the innovative applications that its customers develop.
“We see Arizona printers in mostly large format print-for-pay environments producing POP, i.e. rigid signs, backlit graphics, banners, posters, window graphics, decals, ADA signage, fine-art reproductions and object decoration, but also manufacturing environments such as decorative glass and wood panels, tiles, membrane switch overlays, gauges, etc.,” Paar added.
Outlook for Digital Corrugated Printing
Digital printing is making gains in the corrugated market, and ink industry leaders anticipate further growth ahead.“According to Pira, the corrugated market is estimated to reach $270 billion by 2025,” said HP’s Shorer. “The worldwide install base for all digital printing will grow to hundreds of units in the coming five years, and HP plans to take a dominant position. Although very long runs of 1-2 color jobs are currently more effectively done on analog presses, we expect digital will become more and more significant with time - this market has huge potential and HP looks forward to continuing to drive innovation in the market.”
“Packaging and store displays are not going away anytime soon,” Paar said. “Short run demand is expected to increase as smaller manufacturers look to new technologies to develop and produce their packages, and the increasing popularity of home delivery and take-out food during the pandemic are also market drivers.”
“EFI is a leader in several commercial and industrial printing markets in terms of the accelerating migration from analog to digital printing, including packaging & corrugated, display graphics, textile, and building materials/décor,” said Matteucci. “Among those markets, corrugated has both a high CAGR for digital and a high total addressable market, so it is one of the top areas of investment and innovation for EFI.”
“We feel very positive about the future of digital printing for corrugated,” INX’s Wegemer said. “Although there has been significant growth in the corrugated market for digital in recent years, it is very, very early in its life cycle. Digital printing is only a small part of the total amount of corrugated printing that is completed. With new and next generation digital print solutions being introduced every year, the use of digital for corrugated will continue to grow. INX is fully dedicated to digital solutions for corrugated and we are excited about what the years ahead will bring.”
