Packaging Market
Packaging is a growing market for digital printing. Digital print for packaging was worth $13.2 billion in 2017, by 2022 it is expected to be worth $23.2 billion. The most dynamic area for change for digital marketing will be in packaging. The predicted growth not only represents a key area for the print industry but also opens new market opportunities for packaging converters and their brand customers. Future expansion will rest heavily on less-developed packaging formats. Cartons, rigids, flexibles, metal, and corrugated are sectors that will take up digital production methods. In 2017 the corrugated sector was looking for printing systems to provide new functions and improve plant efficiencies. New equipment will be able to handle volume production at a much more economical price. Digital printing will enable packaging supply chains to develop, providing advantages in cost, time, and flexibility for buyers and final consumers.
Personalization
Imagine will be able to create personalized packaging with the name of the consumer on a package. Digital printing for packaging will be a highly valuable tool for communication and marketing. Digital print offers many new opportunities for high-value short runs as well as moving increasingly into labels and packaging.Digital printing allows companies to have more flexibility with customer desires. Using digital printing in packaging will enable businesses to make decisions later in the process that are closer to the end consumer. This will result in making both packaging and labels that are more relevant to the end consumer. Digital printing will allow consumers to get their own personalized product and packaging.
Digital Printing
In 2017, litho still dominated the world print landscape in terms of the number of pages printed. By 2022 litho will still account for more than 70% of the world print output, but the majority of litho print is relatively low-value publication printing, like newspapers, magazines, and directories. The most lucrative and growing opportunities lie in value-adding work using digital print. Digital process, toner, and inkjet will see the fastest growth through 2022. High levels of automation are reducing setup times and waste, while workflow developments are lowering the transaction costs associated with print. These incremental developments are mirrored across all printing processes. Lower printing costs across the board have allowed new market opportunities to individuals and micro-businesses. Inkjet is the fastest growing print process and extremely versatile. It is increasingly being adopted in more applications, becoming mainstream in all volumes of production. Inkjet can handle a wide range of tasks, and all end-use sectors are growing for inkjet. While advertising print is the biggest sector for inkjet printing, the most rapid growth will be in packaging, at over 20% growth. Inkjet innovation and new business priorities for brands will see manufacturers invest in new press installations, particularly for volume-printing corrugated. There have been some drawbacks of digital, which tend to be associated with cost and productivity. However, these limitations are becoming less of an issue as capabilities are steadily increasing. In the past, there has also been less choice of paper as well as limitations in the colors that can be printed. However, more paper companies are now supplying suitable grades while some printers apply primers to their materials. Equipment suppliers have introduced spot color capability with metallic and some specialist fluorescent toner capability.
Applications
With printers for every requirement, digital printing is not limited to the graphics and packaging sectors. Many other areas have found applications for digital printing, including textiles, ceramic tiles, flat and round glass, decorative laminates, automotive applications, electronic and photovoltaic products, biomedical and many other items. As new equipment comes on the market, and the volumes of toner and inkjet grow while prices fall, digital printing is becoming more cost-effective against traditional analog printing at ever higher run lengths. The result will be the continuation of the analog-to-digital print transformation. Safeguard Premier Branding Solutions offers a variety of printing processes and services. Want to know if digital printing is the best choice for your project? We will discuss your project requirements and goals with you and help you pick the print options that will work best for your business. Contact us today to discover the print options that will minimize your costs while maximizing product quality.