Is the reality of digital flexible packaging at scale about to come to pass, asks David Pittman.

Digital flexible packaging is far from a new phenomenon. Ireland’s Foxpak established a dedicated short-run digital operation in 2008, declared as a global first.

Since then, myriad others have entered and committed to the market. A recent example is global packaging group All4Labels opening Pouches Powerhouse, a dedicated production site in Nocera, Italy. The company has identified flexible packaging as a fast-growing market, where there is, ‘increasing demand for lightweight, adaptive and sustainable packaging.’ To meet customer demand, the entire production process for pouches has been brought in-house and under one roof. This has included the installation of digital printing machines, laminators and pouchmaking machines at the new site in Nocera. Pouches Powerhouse is noted by the company as, ‘representing a fundamental milestone in the digital and sustainable growth path of All4Labels.’ Company COO Dr Günther Weymans comments, ‘We are constantly listening to market needs and have a strong focus on the fast development of innovative and efficient solutions. We want to be a benchmark in our industry for digital and sustainable solutions and the opening of the first Pouches Powerhouse in Nocera marks another important step in this direction. Thanks to our in-house production line, we will help brands find the best solutions for packing their products.’

ePac Flexible Packaging established its first plant in the US in 2016. Since then, it has gone on to create a global footprint with manufacturing facilities from the UK and Europe, to Africa, Asia and Australia. As well as growing its physical footprint, ePac has not long since declared its intent to add long run orders for brands of all sizes into its business model, while continuing to serve its SMB core customer base. This has come about as the company has been steadily building its infrastructure to increase the run length of jobs that are cost effectively produced on a fleet of 100-plus HP Indigo digital presses. As well as printing capacity, ePac has developed its own job management system to move or split longer run jobs to the locations best suited for a particular job, while maintaining lead times of 5-10 business days for rollstock and 10-15 days for finished pouches. Colour consistency across all devices can also be maintained.

At scale

This is one way to tackle the issue of throughput and productivity. Alongside technical issues that have and continue to be tackled – converting, material compatibility, end-use, etc – these have been a key barrier to the widespread adoption of digital for flexible packaging, where width and speed have tended to be in highest demand. However, changing consumer trends and evolving technologies are now reaching a point where inkjet and toner-based technologies can and are able to serve more and more of the market.

The HP Indigo 20000 digital press platform was introduced in 2012 to specifically target the digital flexible packaging market, with a print width of 729mm and a top speed of 31m/min, increasing to 42m/min in enhanced productivity mode (EPM). The 25K followed this, introducing two white ink stations and a frame expansion up to 737mm.

Eli Mahal, who heads up labels and packaging products at HP Indigo, identifies flexible packaging as ‘traditionally more of a volume production industry’, focused on key verticals such as food. Whilst it is not about to reach the fragmented state of the label industry, where there are lots of smaller players diversified across multiple markets, ‘the lines are blurring and the two are starting to come closer.

He goes on, ‘Flexible packaging will remain a market best served by higher volumes. So to better serve it, a more productive press solution was needed.’

The result has been the launch of the HP Indigo 200K, which can print at a maximum speed of 56m/min when running in three-colour EPM and at a width of 760mm. This equates to a 30% uplift in speed when compared to the company’s previous generation of presses and up to a 45% increase in productivity.

‘The main difference is productivity, which in terms of sheer speed means 30% faster thanks to an improved LEP writing head and re[1]engineered press components able to handle such a higher throughput,’ advises Mr Mihal. ‘We have also worked to add more automation to shorten make-ready times from job-to-job, introduced AI-driven service tools and improved the ability of the press to handle thin films and sustainable media.’

One of the first in the world to add this technology has been UK-based packaging company Sirane. Peter Ralten, commercial and business development director, notes, ‘The HP Indigo 200K digital press, with its incredible increase in productivity, opens new business opportunities for us.’

He goes on, ‘Digital printing isn’t just about short runs. If a company wanted 100,000 stand-up pouches or more with 100,000 different, unique designs, then digital printing makes that possible, which opens up exciting possibilities. But at the same time, short runs are a key feature of the digital press, and again will offer our customers a service which we are not currently able to offer.’

Productivity and throughput are also central to the work of Screen Europe and Fujifilm to industrialise digital flexible packaging. In the case of Screen Europe and its Pac 830F and Pac 520P, these are designed to offer a faster speed-to-market than flexo, gravure or offset printing presses, enabling flexible packaging converters to meet brand owners’ demands for shorter lead times. In the case of the Truepress Pac 830F water-based inkjet digital press, this is realised by the ability to handle PET and OPP materials at a 830mm width and at a throughput of 4500m/h.

For Juan Cano, marketing director and business development at Screen Europe, ‘Brands are starting to realise the potential in digital for flexible packaging and how the market is changing to suit the ability of the technology, to deliver a mix of work and to get that work to market faster. This is without compromising on the required technical capabilities and quality expected in this market.

‘This is becoming an increasingly strategic decision for brands and their converter partners, who need to be able to have this capability to deliver flexible packaging in a more efficient and effective way, so require a productive digital technology that can meet the requirements of this sector.’

Whilst much of the digital flexible packaging market to date has been served by narrow web converters repurposing label printing technology to run unsupported films, Mr Cano sees the next stage of this market as being led by the existing supply chain, hence the need to provide production at an industrial scale. ‘They are the ones who will be investing in such machines and using them to shape future strategies,’ he says.

One of the main pillars in Fujifilm’s effort to bring this to pass is its collaboration with partners such as Hybrid Software (DFE), Henkel (adhesives) and Nordmeccanica (lamination). This ecosystem is to grow as the company’s Jet Press FP790 establishes a footprint in the market. The first installations are imminent, with high demand reported at interpack 2023 (read here for more). Manual Schrutt, head of packaging, EMEA at Fujifilm, sees these partners underpinning efforts to take digital flexible packaging mainstream.

‘It is necessary to integrate with existing workflows as not doing so will diminish the ability of digital to meaningfully shoulder more of the market. Offering a ‘plug and play’ type system makes this a better fit for mainstream production. As such, we don’t see the FP790 as a digital press, rather as a production tool that allows converters and brands to address more of the market through the use of new technology.’

His colleague Will Hearn, UK national sales manager, adds that Fujifilm’s wide-ranging expertise will benefit the market too. From engineering printheads and developing inks, to understanding the needs of the wider packaging market through its involvement in flexo plates and platemaking.

‘We have a deep understanding of both the physical components and the dynamics shaping the flexible packaging industry. This allows us to be more than just a supplier, rather a partner. To help guide customers on their journey, from imprinting and upgrading existing technology with digital modules, to investing in cutting-edge technologies to further the analogue-to-digital conversion.’

Small scale

Whilst converting longer runs over to digital is currently at the forefront of such suppliers’ minds, there remains a strong and lucrative market for short runs of flexible packaging. Whilst this continues to be served by printers and converters using digital technologies, such as Bakpac, Harkwell, CS Labels, SunDance, The Packaging Lab and QLM, more and more are turning to digital to bring short-run flexible packaging in-house.

According to Tony Mariani, AM Labels managing director, outsourcing of flexible package printing has tended to occur due to the increased complexity involved with printing directly onto such materials. This is starting to change.

KTEC Group managing director Robert Knox affirms this and says, ‘Today desktop roll printers have come of age and are being increasingly used by print service providers (PSPs) as their performance increases to meet the demand for shorter runs of labels, tickets and more recently custom printed flexible packaging.’

He directly references the Anytron Any-Jet II, as installed at Slumberjack Coffee in Ireland. This is a fully inline system combining inkjet digital printing and laser cutting, as well as converting and finishing. For flexible packaging, this permits printing on films, lamination and the use of the laser to score, perforate and mark. At the Antrim-based coffee producer, it is being used to produce labels and flexible packaging for custom coffee pouches.

Mr Mariani meanwhile examples the Afinia x350 digital roll-to-roll press, which has been designed for a wide variety of high volume, roll[1]to-roll labelling and packaging requirements. It offers a 350mm print width and has an eight-litre CMYK ink capacity with two litres per colour channel. A roll diameter of 350mm equates to up to 500 metres of labelstock on a roll or up to 1000 metres of flexible packaging.

‘Technology has advanced significantly in recent years, opening up new opportunities for businesses,’ he opines.

This feature was first published in issue 3 (May/June) 2023 of Digital Labels & Packaging; register here too receive the magazine