According to foreign data reports, in 2003 the world packaging market (including printing, printing materials and processing) reached about 90 billion US dollars, the annual growth rate of 6% -10%. In the global packaging market, among various packaging and printing methods, flexo printing accounted for 41%, offset printing accounted for 37%, digital printing accounted for 10%, gravure printing accounted for 8%, and other printing methods accounted for 4%. This shows that digital printing has accounted for 10% of the packaging and printing, and this proportion will continue to grow. As we all know, the label printing method is in addition to flexo printing, gravure printing, embossing, offset printing, screen printing, as well as thermal transfer printing, inkjet printing, digital printing. In the past decade or so, with the development of digital printing technology, printing labels with digital printers has become a new choice for label printers. Digital printing technology has been applied more and more in the label printing industry.
According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 460 monochromatic digital printers sold in China by several suppliers, such as Tuzier, HP Indigo, Océ, Heidelberg, and more than 170 color digital printers, but they are actually used for labels. Not much printed yet. However, in countries such as Europe and the United States, the upsurge in the use of digital printing machines for printing labels began in the late 1990s. Who needs the label of the digital printing machine? What benefits can be brought to the printer by printing the label on the digital printer? Let us experience the experience of several pioneers together. Their successful experience may be worthy of reference by domestic counterparts.
Who needs digitally printed labels
The number of prints, the shorter coping period and the increasingly diversified marketing methods have become the characteristics of the current market demand. Due to the increasingly fierce competition in the market, many manufacturers of consumer goods, foods, and pharmaceuticals have become increasingly short in the cycle of launching new products, and replacement of product packaging has become more frequent. These product suppliers want label printers to be able to print new designs and new labels at the fastest speed in the shortest possible time. As manufacturers formally introduce a new product or new package, they often put a very small amount of market first. The purpose is to test people's reflection on their new products, new packaging designs or label designs. Therefore, the number of such products is printed. Very little.
There are also some big companies that pay great attention to corporate image, often engage in some promotional activities, or hold commemorative events on special days. The number of test items and gifts distributed in these activities is small, the quantity of product packaging or label printing required is also small, and the quality of the prints is required to be exquisite. Obviously, the traditional label printing method has a long plate making cycle and high cost, and it is difficult to meet the needs of such customers. Digital printing has the advantages of no need for plate making, one-off printing, and good printing quality, which can precisely meet this demand. Not only that, digital printing can meet the needs of variable data printing in label printing. Therefore, whether new products are launched in the trial market or replaced with new packaging designs or label designs, digital printing can help product manufacturers reduce costs and accelerate the introduction of new concepts and new products to the market.
Digital Printing Brings New Opportunities
At present, the digital printers used by foreign users to print color labels are mainly HP Indigo and Xeikon products.
Case 1: Short-Term Digital Labels Open up New Fields for Bopack
In the fiercely competitive food industry, the practice of pushing for test sales is becoming more and more common. Digital printing can quickly and economically produce short-run jobs on demand and print labels or packages of different numbers and contents for each test-market activity. Estimate the market demand for new products and determine the volume of printing in large quantities.
The Bopack company in Belgium used Xeikon DCP/32S printers and Kromekote stickers to print 200 labels for Delacre, a biscuit maker, within 10 minutes. Since digital printers can realize variable data printing, they not only repeat overprinting accurately. No mistake, and the 200 labels contain 19 different colors and designs. Bopack previously used flexo, screen printing, and embossing to print labels. Now, using digital printers to print short-run color labels provides the company with new opportunities and more business.
Case 2: The popularity of Venturinni personalized wine labels
Italy's Venturinni company found that wine producers often have to offer limited edition gifts or wines for special anniversaries. Although this type of demand does not require a large quantity each time, it may not exceed 1,000 wine labels, but it requires quality printing. Very high, and there are many wine producers with this demand, and the market demand is huge. The use of traditional printing methods to print 1,000 labels is too small. No one wants to do it. Even if someone is willing to do it, the asking price is very high. Venturinni took the opportunity to purchase the Xeikon DCP/32D (printed bottle labeling, Fasson's 130g/m2 sticker) and Xeikon DCP/50D (printed wine box) to become the first Italian wine Manufacturers provide companies with labels for digital printing services.
Today, wine packaging printed by Venturinni has been used for museum displays, Christmas gifts, hotel opening ceremonies or gift packages for various commemorative events. Venturinni received only a minimum of five orders for a label, and their printed label or box embodies the customer's personalized needs and is well received by customers.
Case 3: Altrif Label no longer says “no†to customers
Altrif Labe I of the Netherlands has 95 employees and is one of the largest sticker printers in Europe. It prints an average of 250 different types of jobs per week. Large companies such as P&G and Nestle are its customers. Dion Goderie, the company's technical manager, believes that companies must continuously innovate and seek new opportunities to continue to grow and remain competitive.
In the past, Allrif Label used KoPack letterpress printers to print all types of long labels. At the same time, Allrif also noticed that more and more short-run labels (labels under 3,000 meters in length) were on the market, and small-scale promotional activities or new product testing activities organized by manufacturers were more and more frequent. The number of test-marketing products is generally small and the quality requirements are very high. For print products with only one or two hundred copies, using traditional offset, flexo or gravure not only takes a long time, but also has a high cost; digital printing does not require Plate making, cost savings. Altrif decided to print on digital. In 1997, Altiff purchased the first four-color digital press. In October 2002, he purchased a HP Indigo Press ws4000 digital press that can be printed on plastic, aluminized paper, and kraft paper. In April 2003, the second ws4000 was installed. Dion Goderie believes that it is time for digital printers to print labels, and digital printing represents the direction of future technology. Now, Altrif never says "no" to customers, from 1 to millions of copies of labels can print. The customer wanted a higher quality, Altrif first asked the customer what kind of label, and then according to customer requirements decided to use traditional printing or digital printing. Dion Goderie said that since the ws4000 digital printing machine, they have found new opportunities every day, especially small bakeries, jewellers, small restaurants, and other demand for personalized high value-added labels, personalized labels are promising .
Dion Goderie emphasized that using digital printers to print labels is much less wasteful than traditional printers. For example, using a conventional printer to print labels, waste of the printed materials can be as much as 600 meters; and if printing with a digital printer, a maximum of 5 meters is wasted.
Economic printing of short-length, medium-sized color labels, high quality, fast-acting, low-waste, flexible and convenient are the benefits that ws4000 brings to Altirif. DionGoderie has been obsessed with digital printing. He believes that digital printing has a bright future. Altrif is considering buying the third HP Indigo Press ws4000.
Case 4: Femaprint from flexo to digital printing
Founded in 1979, Femaprint Belgium has 35 employees. Previously, companies used flexo printers to print labels. In recent years, the order they received has been increasing in the number of short labels and the design of labels has become more and more complicated. The use of a flexo printer to print short-length labels takes a long time and the operation is complicated. The launch of the HP Indigo ws4000 digital press has not only opened up new businesses, but also brought economic benefits to Femaprint. Not only do they print labels for products that are sold seasonally, they can also print more complex labels. If customers want to change the design, several different designs of samples can be easily and quickly obtained without extra cost. Currently, at Femaprint, labels for traditional printing and digital printing account for 50% each, and digital printing labels are showing increasing momentum.
It is not difficult to see from the above cases that the application of digital printing technology has expanded the business scope and customer base of the company. Adopting digital printing not only means shorter turndown preparation times and faster printing speeds, but also means higher printing machine utilization, higher print quality, and lower pre-production costs. Some people have done statistics, the cost of preparation for each job of digital printing labels is only 150 euros, while the traditional process requires 250 to 500 euros. The successful experience of foreign users deserves our reference. In the increasingly fierce domestic digital printing market, it is better to compete with the same commercial printing field than to explore new ways to open up the packaging digital printing market, which may lead to a new world.