10 Things You Need to Know About Industrial Print

Print providers are constantly having to walk a narrow tightrope when it comes to pursuing new opportunities, new applications, and new market segments. Which possibilities do you pursue, and which do you not? Do you allow what seems to be a “hot” market segment to pass you by – or do you take a chance on it, and perhaps have to let something you currently pursue fall by the wayside? And when do you make those decisions?

It may be time for you to make such a decision when it comes to industrial print.

As a category, industrial print is still new, but it’s evolving rapidly as new technologies push the boundaries of what is possible. Your goal should be to learn as much about the topic as you can, as soon as you can – as a result, you’ll be in much better shape to make a decision on whether (and when) to pull the industrial trigger. To help you decide if it’s time to embrace this “industrial revolution,” we’ve assembled the following 10 factoids.

1 – Defining the Market

The first question most people ask when they hear the term “industrial print” is: What is it? In the simplest terms, industrial print is using print technologies in the process of manufacturing. Unlike the traditional approach, which puts the ink on paper of some type, or is printed on to already completed promotional materials — think golf balls, pens, or other small items — industrial print is done on the manufacturing line itself. So instead of a print shop getting a shipment of golf balls in to print the logos onto, in industrial print, the logos would be printed on the balls as they moved through the manufacturing process, and would come out the line already branded and ready to go to their final destination.

But while that is one of the more common definitions, it’s also not the only way to look at it.  

As the industry has evolved, the term has come to encompass more types of printing. Today, it can also refer to the process of printing on anything, and doing it in very large quantities – think 5000 pieces per hour, over two shifts per day, 5-7 days a week types of quantities. In that case, even if it isn’t in line with the manufacturing process directly, the print process becomes, in and of itself, a manufacturing process, which is why the term “industrial print” has grown to cover that type of usage.

Finally, the third way the term can be defined is how it is going to be used. This definition can be a bit more broad, but as Terry Taber, chief technical officer and senior vice president, Kodak; and president, Intellectual Property Solutions Division, notes, this category can be divided itself into two broad buckets: decorative and functional.

“Partially defined by the substrate and use of the end product, the ‘Decorative’ category includes ceramics, glass, wood, laminates, and textiles with applications in the architectural, automotive, consumer electronics, consumer goods, and wall/floor covering segments,” says Taber.

“‘Functional,’ as the title would imply, means printing for functionality within a component, device, or product. This category includes: 3D printing for prototypes, tooling, and manufacturing; printed electronics such as semiconductors, displays, and solar panels; and printing for biomedical applications such as pharmaceuticals and artificial organs.”

2 - What It Means for You

For printers, what, then, does industrial print mean for your business? In part, for those who want to move into the category, it means thinking beyond paper. “For the most part, the graphic communications and packaging segments print on paper – albeit on thousands of different stocks, weights, and finishes, as well as corrugated, flexible packaging and cartons,” says Taber.

“For industrial printing, one of the biggest considerations is the move into a very diverse category of substrates,” he continues.

InPrint USA, the new industrial-print show that will makes its debut in Orlando in April (see below), defines industrial print as: “Using print technologies within the process of manufacturing. It refers to a procedure whereby ink or another substance is printed onto a product for either functional or decorative purposes.”

3- Think Fabrics

One segment within the industrial print category that is growing tremendously fast is textile printing. The solutions, especially in the digital printing space, for printing custom textiles have gotten incredibly good in recent years. Interior designers, corporate planners, and furniture designers are all starting to explore the concepts of being able to customize the prints and patterns of everything from the couch in the lobby waiting room to the curtains in an office. And as that segment continues to grow, consumer offerings allowing people to custom design their own furniture and fabrics will likely take off as well.

To meet that demand, shops will need to invest in the kinds of equipment that can handle not just printing on these types of applications in small batches, but will have the ability to do longer, continuous runs — even long, variable runs, as can now be done with digital printing on paper — as demand picks up.

“Textiles behave differently than paper in transport and there are only a few solutions out there for transporting textiles in a continuous fashion, such as the Kornit offering,” notes Taber. “Printing for graphics, packaging, and industrial will all benefit from continuous transport mechanisms coupled with digital capabilities. This enables a higher degree of automation and customization that many applications for industrial printing will require.”

4 - Test the Waters, Invest in Equipment

Specialty fabrics aren’t the only option, of course. Many digital presses today have the ability to print on a much wider range of substrates than the majority of printers are taking advantage of. Current inkjet head technology has already been modified to work with textiles, ceramics, wallpaper and more. And the current inkjet head technology forms the base of most 3D printing applications today, which is another area of industrial print that is still in its infancy, but as the manufacturers perfect the technology and get the costs down, it is going to become a major force in the print industry — and probably sooner, rather than later.

“That said,” Talber notes, however, “current transport mechanisms will work with some, but not all industrial print substrates and in many scenarios would have to be modified. It comes down to web control and the ability to deliver the required uniformity, resolution, and registration of the printed material for the application being produced on the press.”

Using the current equipment to test the waters and see what might be possible, and what customers your shop might be able to win by expanding offerings is a great way to start. But expect to invest in equipment that is designed for these types of applications once you get up and running, and pass a certain threshold.

And it’s not just the hardware, either. The current workflows and tools that most print shops are using today will work fine as you explore the category and how you might want to grow your business. But in time, you will likely want to invest in solutions that are tailor-made for the specific applications you are focusing on.

In the short term, especially for those shops that want to “test the waters,” one of the best opportunities is custom wallpaper. It is very similar to printing on the paper that shops are already familiar with, and it opens up the door to other industrial applications such as textiles and packaging.

5 - Opportunities Abound

This is not a “short term” game. “Much of the opportunity in the industrial printing category is longer-term and will require new technologies and infrastructure modifications or new builds to take full advantage of the evolving business models,” cautions Taber.

One of the best ways printers get involved in this space is to start talking to their technology providers. By partnering with them early, printers can not only gain access to the new technologies as they are developed, but they can help shape them by offering real-world examples of what they want to do, or problems they face, and then working on finding new ways to fix them.

6 – InPrint Show Comes to the States

If you want to investigate more about industrial print, there may be no better event to attend than the upcoming InPrint USA Show (inprintshow.com/usa), which takes place in Orlando, April 25-27, 2017, and is organized by Mack Brooks Inc.

Building on the success of the European InPrint show – where it has become the key marketplace for state-of-the-art functional, decorative, and packaging printing in industrial production – the 2017 US exhibition will provide access to technology that solves the complex problems facing the packaging, decorative, automotive, additive manufacturing, and 3D industries in the US. This is the first time the show has hit our shores.

At press time, the show’s website indicated more than 75 exhibitors would be on hand to showcase their latest technologies. Companies such as Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fujifilm, INX International, Marabu, Mimaki USA, Ricoh, Roland DGA, Seiko Instruments, Sun Chemical, Thieme, Zund and many others will be on hand.

In addition, InPrint USA will feature three days of conference sessions, with top industry experts offering their insights in three key areas: Functional, Decorative, and Packaging print. Here are just a few of the sessions:

• Overview: Decorative Surfaces for Furniture and Interiors 
• Ink Challenges in Labels and Packaging Applications
• Key Technical Considerations for Industrial Ink Jet Applications
• High Quality Scanning for Decorative Surfaces
• Industrial Inkjet Ink Delivery Systems: Troubleshooting & Solutions

A bonus: ICE USA – the only dedicated event for the conversion of paper, film, foil, nonwovens, and other flexible web-based materials in the Americas – will co-locate with InPrint USA. This premier event is where converting professionals gather to see first-hand the latest machinery, technology, and manufacturing solutions. Registration for InPrint USA 2017 also grants admission to ICE USA 2017 (ice-x-usa.com).

7 – Playing a Large Role in Packaging

Another hot industrial-print segment is packaging. In a recent survey produced by I.T. Strategies for InPrint USA, 74% of respondents felt that the packaging sector has the greatest amount of expected growth in 2017. “The value of print for packaging globally is $296 billion,” says Mark Hanley, founder of IT Strategies. “Digital currently represents $3.26 billion. So rates for growth are set against a relatively low level of digital penetration thus far.

Speed and flexibility are the main reasons inkjet industrial print solutions will play a larger role in packaging in the near future, indicated survey respondents.

“Much of the discussion and interest thus far seems to have been focused on the possibilities of personalization as the kind of ‘sexy way’ to showcase the value of digital,” says Simon Edwards, VP of sales & marketing for Tonejet, the global packaging partner for InPrint. “But the logistical cost for doing this is way too high. In my view, the value is not in personalization, but in the variability and efficiency digital provides production.”
Some highlights from the survey and report:

• Nearly 50% of respondents believe that inkjet will play a larger role in packaging within the next 2-5 years. 
• Ink chemistry remains the biggest single challenge for new applications with inkjet. 
• Flexible packaging, labels, and direct-to-shape packaging segments have the most potential to invest and adopt industrial inkjet solutions.
• Almost 32% of respondents feel flexibility and speed offer the most value for digital printing for packaging.
• Respondents felt that two of the biggest barriers to greater market adoption are that brands and retailers are too focused on digital print quality matching and analog printing, as well as that the supply chain is too heavily invested in analog technology so it is resistant to change.

8 – Finding Dollars in Décor

InPrint reports that it has been seeing a continued shift toward smart manufacturing and a growing consumer demand for mass customized products within the décor market. “Decoration is a significant part of any industrial process but particularly important when a product has to perform both a functional and decorative role,” says Marcus Timson, co-founder of InPrint.

Nearly 75% of respondents to InPrint’s Décor Survey, conducted in partnership with I.T. Strategies, TCM Conference Management, and IMI Europe, felt the décor segment with the most potential for inkjet technology is walls, wallpaper, and pictures – including print on glass, plastics and other surfaces. Nearly 55% felt flooring production, especially wood laminate and LVT (luxury vinyl tiles), showed high potential. 

Within sectors such as ceramics, inkjet has virtually replaced analog processes, but within the wider décor market, 75% of survey respondents indicated they believe inkjet will not replace analog but rather create its own value by performing a role that analog processes cannot – and one that creates new possibilities.

9 – Strong Prospects for Business and Revenue Growth

“There is tremendous opportunity for growth for digital industrial print technology in the U.S. due to the large number of manufacturing companies. While the U.S. market adopts technology differently than Europe, a unified U.S. market attracts larger participants and demand groups,” says Marcus Timson, co-founder of the aforementioned InPrint show. “Combine that with the unique infrastructure for financing and developing new ventures that U.S. companies have access to, and you have strong prospects for business and revenue growth.”

The North American market for industrial digital or production represents about 30% of the global market, reports InPrint USA, while Europe represents a slightly larger share at around 34%. A white paper released earlier this year by InPrint USA, in conjunction with I.T. Strategies, gives a snapshot of North American industrial print markets, including these highlights:

• The digital industrial print industry is supplied by less than 100 vendors globally, many of which are in Japan, with total revenues for systems, technology and imaging chemistry of something just north of $110B. 
• These global vendors are all heavily invested in office and consumer markets which, while still very profitable, are mature and in decline. In fact, more than 85% of their revenues fall into this classification, which is driving these companies to seek new and scalable markets with great urgency. 
• The most important value propositions for adopting digital industrial print are cost reduction, faster response, and creation of new market opportunities. However, the biggest long-term value proposition for digital industrial printing is in the packaging sector with custom content, to serve increasingly fragmented demand patterns. 
• Growth expectations for industrial analog print are estimated to follow a 2% annual inflationary growth rate. For digital inkjet, expected growth is considerably higher, 9% annually on average across all application segments, meaning that industrial print in the U.S. will grow in excess of $32 billion by 2020. 

A full copy of the complimentary white paper can be requested here: inprintshow.com/usa/industrial-print/white-paper

10 – Embracing the Evolution

Industrial print means a lot of things, to a lot of people. As we indicated earlier, it’s still evolving – but more variable projects, across much longer runs, and produced on an ever-growing range of substrates and objects is the future of the space. It isn’t going to be right for every shop — but for those who believe it might make sense to add these services to their product mix, it could be a huge growth opportunity, both in the short and long term.