Labels and Packaging: 2020
2020 was a transformative year for packaging. Not so much for new and significant developments, of which there were some, but rather for triggering increased awareness of the value of digital packaging production.
2020 will be remembered for many things, although for some it may also be worth forgetting. For packaging, however, it really was a transformative year, not so much for new and significant developments, of which there were some, but rather for triggering increased awareness of the value of digital packaging production. This in itself is significant since it will help to drive and accelerate the ongoing migration from analog to digital production. In packaging, just as we saw and still see in commercial print, the shift from analog to digital is multifaceted. There is the technology shift, which brings with it lots of new developments in both analog and digital production solutions, but there is also a significant and more difficult shift in how businesses adopt and adapt.
New Technologies and Products
There were some interesting new product announcements this year even in the absence of drupa, and they are still coming. As an analyst and media person I was used to visiting the manufacturing plants and seeing the new technologies, although this year we all learned how to do business virtually. Like the original moon landing, we need to believe what we saw on the screen. So, I guess it really isn’t that different from "some" of what we would have seen at drupa anyway.
Packaging spans such a wide application area, that we can’t cover it all. However, I will highlight what I believe are the seminal developments that will affect the migration from analog to digital packaging production. Some of these developments reflect in the digitization of analog technologies and some new developments in toner (EP), and some in inkjet.
Analog Digitization
For folding carton and even label work, in addition to flexo, offset is still the most productive high-quality solution. To keep up with the changing demands, both offset and flexo are digitizing and automating. This digitization and resultant automation haven’t changed the basic imaging concepts, however, the digital enhancements are affecting everything from the transport and material handling to imaging quality. The use of visual and other sensing technologies combined with digital servo controls, and even robots, enables less operator involvement and better control.
Caption: Heidelberg’s new plate-to-unit technology further extends their push-to-stop concept. In addition to Heidelberg’s push-to-stop productivity enhancements, they have introduced FoilStart Cure, which permits metallic finishing effects with cold foil on in-mold labels (IML) with LED UV on a Speedmaster XL 106.
There has been a lot of digitization and upgrading of flexo presses as well.
There are many new CI (common impression) flexo presses making it to the market, providing much better registration and media handling. The Koenig & Bauer Evo line of 3 CI flexo presses designed for short, mid-sized and long runs can run up to over 600 m/min with web widths up to 2000 mm. Bobst has focused on digitizing their entire line of products as evidenced by the DigiFlexo solutions with ink on demand (IOD). While no longer part of Heidelberg, the Gallus Labelmaster, supports up to 16 different process positions, including ink color, embellishment and die cutting and can run up to 200m/min.
Digital Presses
2020 has been a big year for digital press introductions. The new Xeikon PX 2000 and PX3000 7 color UV label presses are based on their Panther inkjet technology and can run on a wide variety of media at up to 50 m/min.
©Xeikon
The HP Indigo line has been refreshed increasing the processing speeds by up to 30%. They have increased their process speed to 180 m/min. That doesn’t mean that the presses will necessarily run at that speed today, but it does provide an imaging platform to support higher speeds.
©HP
HP has also announced a new imaging architecture LEPx for their new “Series 6” press moving the imaging from the current CI drum to inline print stations with an imaging belt.
©HP
The HP V12 label press will be the first to use this new technology platform and will currently run at up to 120 m/min (400 fpm), providing a competitive solution against so it production inkjet and even flexo or flexo hybrid.
©HP
Of course, if we are speaking about digital presses, we need to mention Landa. While they didn’t officially release a new product, they have been installing a lot of their sheetfed S10 and P10 perfecting presses. The W10 web press is ready and I believe in beta at this point, but I guess they are waiting for the right place and time to announce.
Managing Data
One of the constraints on production inkjet reaching the speeds needed to compete with flexo is how to handle the volume of data required to drive the imaging engines. Global Graphics has developed the first direct-to-printhead processing pipeline using desktop class CPUs creating a future-proof solution to keep up with the latest production inkjet presses. This is a very significant development and is truly a game changer and will undoubtedly open the way for more productive digital print packaging solutions.
©Global Graphics
Hybrid
In packaging, the concept of hybrid equipment approaches that combine different printing and finishing technologies is commonplace. In fact, it is less about hybrid technologies and more about the application of the hybrid technologies. Flexo and digital are one way to address those needs and have found a growing role in label and even some flexible packaging applications.
Unlike the liquid and dry toner or UV Inkjet equipment on the market, this new hybrid technology is designed to be cost effective at very short, short and medium run lengths. The latest product is the new UTECO Sapphire EVO W product production inkjet press designed for flexible packaging. The "W" refers to "wide" since this press has a 1250 mm (49 in) width. The EVO W is not the first Sapphire, but it is the first to be powered by Kodak ULTRASTREAM technology. The press supports a higher resolution of 600 x 1800 dpi at up to 150 mpm (492 fpm).
Mark Andy Digital Pro is a new 77 fpm toner-based press that can be upgraded with inline finishing capabilities, including single slot die station or with a semi rotary die module. This compliments their existing flexo product lines, which can also include inkjet and finishing modules. The Canon LabelStream 4000 consists of an Edale flexo transport, and an FFEI and Canon imaging and control system. The Fujifilm Graphium press shares some similar features to the LabelStream 4000.
Koenig & Bauer Durst has three hybrid presses in their current lineup. The DeltaSPC flexo and digital inkjet, their modular CorruJET hybrid flexo/digital corrugated platform which just came out of beta and the new VariJET, a 7-color folding carton press which is designed with flexo, offset and inkjet printing capabilities and will be going into beta end of this year, or early next year. It will be shown at drupa in April and they will be ready to take orders.
Bespoke
Changing market demands go beyond the packaging process itself to packaging types, repackaging and how they need to change to support the new distribution demands. Designed well, purpose-built or bespoke solutions provide more cost effective and timely solutions with fewer setups and less handling. This concept is evidenced in the HP and partners pouch factory for under $3 million.
©HP
Xeikon also has a pouch production suite called fleXflow, which uses their existing CX500 digital press with a laminator.
© Xeikon
Embellishment and Finishing
Packaging requires more than just print to get it to engage the consumer and stand out on the shelf. It requires finishing and usually some form of embellishment. Digital packaging production requires new and updated hardware solutions to support it. There has been a lot of development in this area and lots more coming down the road.
Actega Metal Print, a division of Altana AG, acquired the Landa technology shown as a technology demo during drupa 2016 and rebranded it EcoLeaf. The EcoLeaf process uses a trigger image with a mono layer of Nano sized metal pigment flakes, that are attracted to the trigger image. The result is a metallized print. In a recent agreement with AB Graphic International, the EcoLeaf is now available for the ABG Digicon Series 3 finishing press, which will be available for the new Indigo V12 digital press on release. Actega has also developed Actega Crystal, a technology that can be used as a more sustainable sleeve, label or as a replacement for direct-to-object printing.
Xeikon has also released their long-awaited Fusion Embellishment Unit (FEU) which can be used in line with their presses for digital finishing and embellishment. It uses MGI technology inside.
©Xeikon
Lasers are very compatible with digital print technologies and increasingly used. Sei laser has been developing laser systems since 1982 and has been focused on packaging production processes. The sei Labelmaster can run up to 100 m/min and are used in line on label and flexible packaging products, while the Packmaster WD can run up to 500 m/min performing scoring, perfing and die cutting on a range of flexible packaging. Their Paperone 5000 is designed for laser die cutting and creasing folding cartons and can run up to 2500 sph. Highcon, has four different model sheet-fed laser die cutters. Their sheet-fed solution includes inline cutting and creasing without the need to make any external dies or counters for folding cartons and corrugated at up to 5,000 B1sph.
Corrugated
Since I recently covered corrugated in a series of three articles, things are still changing. For a more in-depth review, I would refer you to: "The Future of Corrugated," "Corrugated Re-Envisioned Post-Print" and "Corrugated Re-Envisioned Pre-Print," "Corrugated Growth and Challenges Part 1" and "Corrugated Growth and Challenges Part 2." However, even with that, there have been some new introductions and updates to postprint corrugated presses. The most recent is the updated EFI Nozomi C18000 PLUS, although we have also seen new introductions and enhanced versions of existing presses like the Hanway Glory re-envisioned as the Xeikon IDERA.
©Xeikon
Additionally, Domino has updated and re-envisioned the Sun Automation Corrstream as the Domino X630i.
©Domino
Today more than ever, the press and finishing technologies are available to address these new market transformations and will continue to develop even further. Stay tuned!
Labels and Packaging is a fairly strong and safe market segment for print service providers. After all, as long as products are created, or grown in the case of some foods, there will be a need for packaging.
More to Come …
I would like to address your interests and concerns in future articles as it relates to the manufacturing of Print, Packaging and Labels, and how, if at all, it drives future workflows including ‘Industry 4.0’. If you have any interesting examples of hybrid and bespoke manufacturing, I am very anxious to hear about them as well. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions, suggestions or examples of interesting applications.
