Sean Milmo, European Editor11.01.14
Embossed and raised level printing, long dominated by screenprinting and to a lesser extent gravure and flexo processes, is the latest segment to be under pressure from digital technologies.
The trend poses dilemma for suppliers of embossing, spot UV curing and other special effect inks and coatings, because the digital enhancements are stemming in many cases from new, innovative technologies, particularly in the area of specialty polymers.
Inkjet and electrophotographic printing is turning embossed printing into a fast growing niche market with the potential to expand into sectors where previously there has been little need for 3D effects.
In fact, in some countries in Europe and elsewhere, so many printers want to buy the digital presses which can enhance a widening range of printed products that the press manufacturers cannot keep up with the demand.
The driving force is the desire among printers, in a slow growth printing market in Europe, to invest in technologies which enable them to offer differentiated, quality items which do not have to be highly priced but which nonetheless offer generous margins.
“The big attraction to printers of this type of digitally enhanced printing is the added value it gives to their customers so that they can be much more flexible with their pricing,” said Mark Nixon, managing director of Conversion, Watford, England, the UK distributors of the presses of Scodix, one of the pioneers of the digital enhancement process in inkjet.
Some digitally embossed products can be sold at a half to a third of the price of that charged for similar items printed by traditional processes. But even at this lower cost, the gross margins for the digital printers can be more than 50%, according to industry sources.
For ink producers with printed coatings businesses, this market is likely to be difficult initially to break into. The segment is currently in much the same position as in the early days of digital printing with the OEM manufacturers making their own consumables – in this case specialty varnishes and polymers rather than inks and toners – for their presses.
The creation of an aftermarket for the consumables used in digital embossing and related enhancements is possible in the long term, but may be difficult for third party suppliers. The polymers, in particular, can be highly complex, requiring expertise in polymer science beyond the reach of many ink makers.
Impact on Packaging
Printers in Europe using digitally enhanced processes tend to focus on short-run, highly customized items like invitations, business cards, photo albums, calendars, greeting cards, menus, brochure covers, direct mail and other promotional material.
The future direction of the segment could be changed by its expansion into packaging, where it is already making small inroads into the upper end of the folded carton sector.
The technology could also in future be heavily influenced by advances in materials in the closely related sectors of printed electronics and 3D fabrication. Already, companies active in digitally enhanced printing are moving into printed electronics because of their close links between the technologies and materials.
In Europe, ink producers and other suppliers in the printing industry have been responding to the increasing demand for value-added printing in packaging. Some have been collaborating in the development of enhanced products, but mainly by focusing on the application of traditional printing processes.
PrintCity, a German-based alliance of companies in the European printing, packaging and publishing value chain, has launched a value-added packaging initiative supported by approximately 20 of its members. These include ink producers Sun Chemical, Weilburger Graphics and Zeller+Gmelin, effect pigment maker Merck KGaA, Hinderer+Muehlich, an embossing dies manufacturer, foil maker Leonhard Kurz Stiftung & Co. and digital equipment manufacturer Oce B.V.
The objectives of the initiative are to increase awareness of the benefits of value-added packaging to brand owners and other packaging users. It is pinpointing techniques like multisensory surfaces, whose impact extends beyond visual to tactile features, such as soft and leather-type textures and embossing effects.
“Some of our members deal with coatings enhancements for digitally printed images but these coatings are not yet applied digitally,” said Rainer Kuhn, PrintCity’s managing director.
Meanwhile, digital enhancement equipment suppliers have been moving ahead fast with the improvement of their technologies, particularly in the creation of new polymers for application through inkjet printheads or liquid electrographic toners. They are also taking full advantage of the speed with which digital enhancement processes can be prepared and then applied.
“Screenprinting processes can take as long as two days to set up, whereas with digital enhancement the make-ready time is as short as a few minutes because the application data is all on file,” said Nixon.
Scodix, currently with approximately 150 customers worldwide after launching its first digital enhancement press in 2010, has been concentrating on the achievement of 3D effects through the application of clear polymers up to a height of 250 microns. It also provides processes for metal and glitter effects.
The company recently raised the versatility of its equipment with the introduction at the Graph Expo 2014 at Chicago of its Scodix Ultra Pro system. It enables operators to switch rapidly between multiple polymers for varying applications and effects. One of the polymers is scented.
Scodix is aiming to raise its sales in packaging by targeting the sector for folded cartons, which tends to be main form of packaging for luxury goods and other up-market items.
“The intention is to expand further in packaging by introducing enhancement polymers for plastics and flexible packaging but the idea is not to move too fast in the sector,” said Nixon.
“The polymers have to be liquid enough to go through printhead nozzles, accurate enough to be jetted onto exact spots and sufficiently viscous to attain the required height and become hyper-solid after UV curing,” Nixon added. “Their complexity will be difficult to copy. Scodix will at the same time be regularly bringing out new polymers for different effects.”
MGI Group of France, a family owned company that is the leading European digital enhancement equipment manufacturer, makes its own varnishes for its JETvarnish digital spot-UV system. It can process 1,300 A3 sheets per hour in 3D mode with heights up to 100 microns for 3D effects and tactile finishes.
“Our varnishes are proprietary to ourselves and are engineered for specific effects,” said Ken Abergel, vice president sales and marketing at MGI’s subsidiary MGI USA Inc., and whose grandfather founded the company. “The varnishes will probably get commoditized but it will take five to seven years. It’s a high growth profitable market which will attract outsiders.”
MGI has combined its spot-UV process with a foil technology, which has created digital embossed hot foil effects. The system won the Innovation Award at the 2014 Packaging/Embellage Exhibition at Paris in November.
The company also has ambitions to be a significant player in equipment and materials for printed electronics after taking over Ceradrop, a French company specializing in the design and manufacturing of high-end inkjet systems for printed electronics.
Since its spin-off from France’s state-owned National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS), Ceradrop has become the French leader in inkjet equipment for printed electronics and 3D components.
“The takeover of Ceradrop allows us to have a two-pronged approach to enhanced digital printing and printed electronics,” explained Abergel. “At the laboratory stage, there is a lot of cross-pollination between our research in digital printing technologies and Ceradrop’s into printed electronics.”
Soon after the deal, Konica Minolta, which is moving into printed electronics, bought a 10% share in MGI.
It has also already collaborated with MGI in developing improvements to its JETvarnish 3D technology by extending its printing width and enabling in-line registration and imaging corrections.
The other players in the digitally-enhanced printing equipment segment include the broadly-based Hewlett Packard, Kodak, Xerox and Canon and more specialist players like Roland DG, Mimaki Engineering and Autobond. Some are already active in or are planning to enter related sectors such as printed electronics.
For ink and coatings producers and their raw suppliers, the question is how its synergies with printed electronics and 3D fabrication will help to accelerate its expansion to a size which will make it mainstream.
“The digitalization of traditional enhancement processes which are currently analogue systems will be something that will take place step by step,” Kuhn predicted. “It will take many years before digital systems account, for example, for the majority of embossing processes.”
For more information on embossing and digital printing, see the online version at www.inkworldmagazine.com.
European Editor Sean Milmo is an Essex, UK-based writer specializing in coverage of the chemical industry.
The trend poses dilemma for suppliers of embossing, spot UV curing and other special effect inks and coatings, because the digital enhancements are stemming in many cases from new, innovative technologies, particularly in the area of specialty polymers.
Inkjet and electrophotographic printing is turning embossed printing into a fast growing niche market with the potential to expand into sectors where previously there has been little need for 3D effects.
In fact, in some countries in Europe and elsewhere, so many printers want to buy the digital presses which can enhance a widening range of printed products that the press manufacturers cannot keep up with the demand.
The driving force is the desire among printers, in a slow growth printing market in Europe, to invest in technologies which enable them to offer differentiated, quality items which do not have to be highly priced but which nonetheless offer generous margins.
“The big attraction to printers of this type of digitally enhanced printing is the added value it gives to their customers so that they can be much more flexible with their pricing,” said Mark Nixon, managing director of Conversion, Watford, England, the UK distributors of the presses of Scodix, one of the pioneers of the digital enhancement process in inkjet.
Some digitally embossed products can be sold at a half to a third of the price of that charged for similar items printed by traditional processes. But even at this lower cost, the gross margins for the digital printers can be more than 50%, according to industry sources.
For ink producers with printed coatings businesses, this market is likely to be difficult initially to break into. The segment is currently in much the same position as in the early days of digital printing with the OEM manufacturers making their own consumables – in this case specialty varnishes and polymers rather than inks and toners – for their presses.
The creation of an aftermarket for the consumables used in digital embossing and related enhancements is possible in the long term, but may be difficult for third party suppliers. The polymers, in particular, can be highly complex, requiring expertise in polymer science beyond the reach of many ink makers.
Impact on Packaging
Printers in Europe using digitally enhanced processes tend to focus on short-run, highly customized items like invitations, business cards, photo albums, calendars, greeting cards, menus, brochure covers, direct mail and other promotional material.
The future direction of the segment could be changed by its expansion into packaging, where it is already making small inroads into the upper end of the folded carton sector.
The technology could also in future be heavily influenced by advances in materials in the closely related sectors of printed electronics and 3D fabrication. Already, companies active in digitally enhanced printing are moving into printed electronics because of their close links between the technologies and materials.
In Europe, ink producers and other suppliers in the printing industry have been responding to the increasing demand for value-added printing in packaging. Some have been collaborating in the development of enhanced products, but mainly by focusing on the application of traditional printing processes.
PrintCity, a German-based alliance of companies in the European printing, packaging and publishing value chain, has launched a value-added packaging initiative supported by approximately 20 of its members. These include ink producers Sun Chemical, Weilburger Graphics and Zeller+Gmelin, effect pigment maker Merck KGaA, Hinderer+Muehlich, an embossing dies manufacturer, foil maker Leonhard Kurz Stiftung & Co. and digital equipment manufacturer Oce B.V.
The objectives of the initiative are to increase awareness of the benefits of value-added packaging to brand owners and other packaging users. It is pinpointing techniques like multisensory surfaces, whose impact extends beyond visual to tactile features, such as soft and leather-type textures and embossing effects.
“Some of our members deal with coatings enhancements for digitally printed images but these coatings are not yet applied digitally,” said Rainer Kuhn, PrintCity’s managing director.
Meanwhile, digital enhancement equipment suppliers have been moving ahead fast with the improvement of their technologies, particularly in the creation of new polymers for application through inkjet printheads or liquid electrographic toners. They are also taking full advantage of the speed with which digital enhancement processes can be prepared and then applied.
“Screenprinting processes can take as long as two days to set up, whereas with digital enhancement the make-ready time is as short as a few minutes because the application data is all on file,” said Nixon.
Scodix, currently with approximately 150 customers worldwide after launching its first digital enhancement press in 2010, has been concentrating on the achievement of 3D effects through the application of clear polymers up to a height of 250 microns. It also provides processes for metal and glitter effects.
The company recently raised the versatility of its equipment with the introduction at the Graph Expo 2014 at Chicago of its Scodix Ultra Pro system. It enables operators to switch rapidly between multiple polymers for varying applications and effects. One of the polymers is scented.
Scodix is aiming to raise its sales in packaging by targeting the sector for folded cartons, which tends to be main form of packaging for luxury goods and other up-market items.
“The intention is to expand further in packaging by introducing enhancement polymers for plastics and flexible packaging but the idea is not to move too fast in the sector,” said Nixon.
“The polymers have to be liquid enough to go through printhead nozzles, accurate enough to be jetted onto exact spots and sufficiently viscous to attain the required height and become hyper-solid after UV curing,” Nixon added. “Their complexity will be difficult to copy. Scodix will at the same time be regularly bringing out new polymers for different effects.”
MGI Group of France, a family owned company that is the leading European digital enhancement equipment manufacturer, makes its own varnishes for its JETvarnish digital spot-UV system. It can process 1,300 A3 sheets per hour in 3D mode with heights up to 100 microns for 3D effects and tactile finishes.
“Our varnishes are proprietary to ourselves and are engineered for specific effects,” said Ken Abergel, vice president sales and marketing at MGI’s subsidiary MGI USA Inc., and whose grandfather founded the company. “The varnishes will probably get commoditized but it will take five to seven years. It’s a high growth profitable market which will attract outsiders.”
MGI has combined its spot-UV process with a foil technology, which has created digital embossed hot foil effects. The system won the Innovation Award at the 2014 Packaging/Embellage Exhibition at Paris in November.
The company also has ambitions to be a significant player in equipment and materials for printed electronics after taking over Ceradrop, a French company specializing in the design and manufacturing of high-end inkjet systems for printed electronics.
Since its spin-off from France’s state-owned National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS), Ceradrop has become the French leader in inkjet equipment for printed electronics and 3D components.
“The takeover of Ceradrop allows us to have a two-pronged approach to enhanced digital printing and printed electronics,” explained Abergel. “At the laboratory stage, there is a lot of cross-pollination between our research in digital printing technologies and Ceradrop’s into printed electronics.”
Soon after the deal, Konica Minolta, which is moving into printed electronics, bought a 10% share in MGI.
It has also already collaborated with MGI in developing improvements to its JETvarnish 3D technology by extending its printing width and enabling in-line registration and imaging corrections.
The other players in the digitally-enhanced printing equipment segment include the broadly-based Hewlett Packard, Kodak, Xerox and Canon and more specialist players like Roland DG, Mimaki Engineering and Autobond. Some are already active in or are planning to enter related sectors such as printed electronics.
For ink and coatings producers and their raw suppliers, the question is how its synergies with printed electronics and 3D fabrication will help to accelerate its expansion to a size which will make it mainstream.
“The digitalization of traditional enhancement processes which are currently analogue systems will be something that will take place step by step,” Kuhn predicted. “It will take many years before digital systems account, for example, for the majority of embossing processes.”
For more information on embossing and digital printing, see the online version at www.inkworldmagazine.com.
European Editor Sean Milmo is an Essex, UK-based writer specializing in coverage of the chemical industry.