FDBusiness.com

The potential for digital packaging printing is not new, but the announcement of new wider format presses that will launch later this year has attracted the attention of brand owners and converters who have not previously seen digital pack printing as fitting into their operations

The growth of just-in-time manufacturing and distribution and economies in warehousing has led brand managers to order shorter production runs with goods being despatched in smaller quantities. As part of this streamlining, brand managers are looking for ways to bring all aspects of production to the just-in-time business model, and this includes labels and packaging.

The features of digital label and packaging printing present an attractive, cost-effective and flexible alternative to the traditional print production. With digitally printed packaging, run length can be tightly controlled and changes, small or large, can be made easily and quickly, right up to the last minute.

This capability virtually eliminates the danger of large quantities of out of date packaging ending up in expensive storage. A product’s image can be kept fresh; contents, regulatory information readily updated and track and trace information adjusted on-demand.

The possibilities of what digital printing can do for businesses is increasingly recognised by brand owners and agencies. Digital printing offers a viable response to the requirements for quality and the ability to respond to shorter just-in-time supply chains based on the production of smaller, more targeted quantities.

Short-run packaging has already begun to be used by international brands in on-line promotions and other one-to-one customer relationship marketing activities.

These initiatives, carried out on HP Indigo presses have included customer-generated designs for shrink sleeves and labels for drinks and personalised packaging that includes customer photos on the boxes of branded products.

The new presses will make it possible to extend such creative initiatives to larger organisations like restaurant chains, retailers, hotels, airlines and other enterprises where profile-building and brand awareness are important parts of their growth strategies.