Print Innovation Asia 2021

Print INNOVATION

Asia

Magazine

Printing, Packaging and Publishing Industries across Asia Pacific since 1985 Issue 1/2 2021

The Future is Flexible

Article on Page 4

Asian PrintAwards 2020 th

PACKAGING EXCELLENCE AWARDS: 2020

_018 021 ONLINE Contents Page 4

The future is flexible

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Fuji Xerox Iridesse brings graffiti art to life on paper

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Convergence of print markets: Is it inevitable?

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InterPrint starts to digitize its label production with dry

toner technology

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Georgia-Pacific Acquires 3rd HP PageWide

20 TREND ALERT 2021 what's hot in labels &

Issue 1/2 2020

Print INNOVATION

Asia Magazine

Published by Asian Print Awards Management Pte Ltd 65 Chulia Street #46-23 OCBC Centre Singapore 049513 Print Innovation Asia Labels and Packaging Innovation Asia Asian Print Awards Packageing Excellence Awards Label and Packaging Conferences

packaging for 2021

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Critical considerations when moving to digital printing

28

Impremia IS29 and Highcon Euclid power

transformation into "digital Takanaga"

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Worldwide packaging market growth strongest

in China

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30% annual digital sales growth for Rondo

Publisher

Paul Callaghan paul@printinnovationasia.com

Editorial

Elizabeth Liew elizabeth@printinnovationasia.com

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2021 & Beyond: Print and Packaging Trends

Editor

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Spanish packaging printing company working at full

capacity during the pandemic

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Touchguard – An Innovative Touch Safe Packaging

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3 Online Printing Trends to Embrace in 2021

52

Pack Print International 2021 returns in September

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7 trends that just may shape the way 2021 will head

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News from around Asia and the world

Sha Jumari sha@printinnovationasia.com Packaging Sales

Elizabeth Liew elizabeth@printinnovationasia.com

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 1/2 2021

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The Future Having grown in popularity and application to become one of print’s major players, flexo is now facing up to a different challenge: attracting a new generation of practitioners to take the technology to the next level…

Few innovations in print have expanded quite as far or as fast as flexo in recent years. The technology’s growth has been spectacular: according to The Future of Flexographic Printing Markets to 2025, flexo’s global value was worth $167.7 billion in 2020, and is forecast to grow at 1.6% year-onyear. That means by 2025, flexo will be worth $181.1 billion – with flexo plate sales predicted to increase by 3.1% year on year.

That’s a meteoric rise by any metric, but, in many ways, the potential in flexo is only just being discovered. With the demand for packaging growing exponentially every year, especially in key markets in Asia, customers are recognizing the edge flexo can give them – whether in terms of sustainability credentials, versatility, press speed, shorter print runs, or just plain old value-for-money.

“Flexo has really come of age over the last 10 years,” says Paul Callaghan, an industry veteran with more than three decades of print experience, including as publisher of Print Innovation Asia Magazine and Chairman of the SHIIFT_20 Conference.

“People now see the advantages flexo has in quality, sustainability and speed.

There will always be times where offset, gravure or digital are more suitable, but flexo has now established itself as an important part of the packaging industry. I think the future looks very promising.”

Back to school But like many industries, flexo is facing a challenge over the coming years: how to attract the brightest young minds into the industry to help build on that success.

“Reducing the training gap is probably the biggest opportunity to make an impact,” says Hersh Lulla, Miraclon’s marketing manager in Asia. “Here in Asia, the touchpoints between the flexo industry and educational establishments aren’t as well established as they could be. That’s where companies like ours can play a more active role in reaching out to fill the gaps and promote flexo.”

Paul Callaghan agrees. “The lack of training facilities in Asia is a big obstacle, especially since the setup costs in flexo are high. When staff move companies, skills don’t get passed on, and that investment is lost. That’s something flexo needs to fix if it wants to continue its growth.”

One solution is for print providers to work more closely with universities and colleges to show students what a career in the industry could look like, what it

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e is Flexible “Flexo needs to do a lot more of that if it wants to compete with the other big tech and engineering companies.”

Chip, who is a judge for the 2020/21 Global Flexo Innovation Awards, says investment in equipment and technology is also important to enable students to learn the physical processes.

“Having the right technology and utilizing it properly in the overall curriculum is critical – our program only works if we get this right, and given the pace of change, it is a challenge to keep up.”

offers and help provide access to the latest print technology.

“That’s exactly the kind of investment we need more of,” says Chip Tonkin, Director of the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design & Graphic at Clemson University, one of the few U.S. colleges that incorporates flexographic-specific modules into its degree programs.

“Presence on campus makes a huge difference, to be honest. Historically, the companies that have been most successful in recruiting our best students are those that have gone out of their way to get involved: running seminars, mentoring students, creating networks, identifying students with the interest and aptitude to succeed.

Plentiful potential “Here in the States, there’s definitely an awareness gap,” says Alex Bonemeyer, a product marketing specialist at Miraclon’s campus in Oakdale, Minnesota. “I don't remember a lot of discussion about print as a potential industry during my engineering degree, let alone flexo.”

“All of our students have worked with flexo across several courses at Clemson, and they understand the fundamentals, but we need help in convincing them that this knowledge can be leveraged for a wide variety of career paths,” says Chip.

“Honestly, I think companies need to start thinking of new talent recruitment in much the same way they do with potential customers. These graduating students have a lot of great options, and if the flexo industry wants their attention they are going to have to be recruited aggressively.”

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Chip adds that he’s not talking about money, instead students need to hear a compelling narrative about what their career path would look like.

“Students need to understand how the knowledge and experience that they have – and will gain – will benefit them in their future roles, and they need to feel like that path is going to take them into roles that they want to be in.”

One area many students are interested is some sort of marketing role.

“If companies could come up with a path that gets them there at some point down the road and do a good job explaining why those experiences would be critical for them to be ready for that role, many of our students would be open to it.

“That is just not what is happening now – most companies just lay out the role that needs to be filled and assume the opportunity speaks for itself.”

Having recently completed his MBA, Alex Bonemeyer is a new entrant to the industry, so he’s well-placed to recognize what flexo needs to do to attract graduates like him. In Alex’s case, he was the beneficiary of a special

Miraclon recruitment program, which set out to find MBA graduates with an engineering background. “That kind of initiative is a really good idea,” Alex says. “I hadn’t thought about print as a potential industry once I graduated, but once I talked to the recruiters and saw how much potential there was, I applied.”

Carlos Campos, a recent graduate who works in the operations department at Miraclon’s Mexican base in Guadalajara, gives similar advice. “The biggest obstacle is that printing is not well known enough in the graduate job market. But this is such a big industry with many areas for specialization.

“Miraclon products are full of unique technology, and our commitment to R&D is very exciting. We’re always working on something new for our customers, which for a new graduate like me is really exciting.”

Another key factor in encouraging interest is having younger, more diverse employees out and about inspiring the next generation, says Chip: “Getting former graduates into universities to talk about their own educational journeys and career paths really helps.

If a young graduate can see how she will fit in with a company, that can make a big difference to how she will view the opportunity.”

Mind the gap Along with better educational links and increased graduate engagement, there’s another area that flexo needs to focus on – the need for on-the-job training once graduates enter the industry.

Hersh Lulla explains. “That’s a challenge in Asia. With fewer players in flexo, the expertise and knowledge is limited to a smaller section of the industry, so there’s little opportunity to learn about it unless you work somewhere that’s already involved in flexo.

“That will change over time as the industry grows, but there are things we can do now to help the transition, through mentoring, online courses, knowledge sharing and so on. Miraclon is committed to helping future flexographers in their journey.”

Ensuring that education and training doesn’t simply stop once graduates enter the industry is critical. Initiatives like the European Flexographic Industry Association (EFIA) online training program, that leads to CertEFIA and DipEFIA qualifications, or the FIRST certifications from the Flexographic Technical Association (FTA), are valuable in providing that professional development and training journey, which can encourage graduates to commit to an industry.

As the flexo industry continues to grow, inspiring the next generation to join the flexo community will be crucial if flexo technology is to continue to fulfil its potential. The good news is, we can start today just by getting better about telling future hires exactly what that potential looks like.

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Fuji Xerox Iridesse brings graffiti art to life on paper Fuji Xerox Singapore collaborated with artists to produce an exclusive collection printed on the Production Printer, Iridesse. The collaboration was done with renowned graffiti artist, Didier “Jaba” Mathieu, and Jonathan Kiat, co-founder of multi-displinart studio System Sovereign.

The collection featured all-new works

by Mathieu and offered insight into how the Colombian’s art was inspired through his travels and experiences.

As part of the production process, Mathieu and Kiat collaborated closely with Fuji Xerox to capture the essences of Iridesse’s specialty dry inks gold, silver, white, pink and clear in the print output.

“We are so excited to work with Didier Mathieu, one of the world’s most prominent graffiti artists. For an artist who is used to outdoor walls as a medium for his artwork, this project represents an important step into the era of graffiti art being brought to life on paper and through the use of digital print,” said Timothy Julian Howard, associate director, graphic communication services, Fuji Xerox Singapore.

The collection comprise of five distinctively different books - Roots, Memoirs, Noir, Dreamscape, Jaba.

Best described as a mixed media of hyper-realistic and abstract, with an inclination towards a wild style, the art pieces are purposefully designed to bring out the brilliance of Fuji Xerox’s Production Printer, Iridesse.

“As an artist who has worked on many digital art projects, it has been a great pleasure to play with different mediums and inks for my creations. And I’m grateful that I have had the full support and creative freedom from Fuji Xerox Singapore to do what I love,” said Mathieu.

The collection was showcased at Fuji Xerox Singapore’s Print Reimagined event from 9 to 10 December 2020.

Out of the five books, two stood out for its use of specialy inks.

Inspired by specialty White Dry Ink, Noir is described as a timeless piece that shows black-white dualism.

Pushing the possibilities of printing on matt-coated black paper, Mathieu and Kiat created this book to experiment and showcase the White Dry Ink's high brightness and opacity that contrasted favourably against a black canvas.

In JABA, Kiat was given full artistic control to experiment and recreated Mathieu’s pieces in his own style. The brilliance of the vivid Pink Dry Ink added a pop-of-colour not seen in the other books.

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SPEED UP YOUR PROCESSES with optical systems for UV curing and drying

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Convergence of print m Be it physical or online – drupa will further strengthen its pre-eminent position as the ‘Olympic Games’ of Printing, while at the same time highlighting the convergence of markets. In any case, the Düsseldorf trade show has not been limited to just commercial printing for a long time. The arrival of digital press manufacturers, and the successive expansion of their stands have already shown this.

Today, in addition to printing in the classical sense, other areas are growing: exhibitors are offering 3D printing machines that do not “print” colours or texts to surfaces, but instead print in 3D shapes. Gutenberg must be rolling over in his grave! Erez Zimmerman, the CEO of ‘Massivit 3D’ and specialist in large-format 3D printing, once told us at a fair in Munich: "We will surprise drupa with new products and innovations".

Undoubtedly that leaves us wondering what the relationship is between the creation of a 4-colour brochure (what the traditional show audience is looking for) and the production of a giant bottle of champagne for decoration at the point of sale. Is a giant bottle of champagne (among other things) of any interest to the traditional show customer? Obviously yes. This is a sign of visible, immediate and undeniable convergence.

Digital printing has certainly transformed the print world. For a long time, it was restricted to printed documents and photocopying, then inkjet went after the label market first, followed by the narrow width packaging market or "small" format.

At the same time, in the world of large and very large format, inkjet pushed the screen printing and even the offset process out of the most common jobs.

Over the past few years, there has been a kind of mantra that has spread like wildfire- ‘Markets had to converge or would be forced to. This convergence would lead to a spectacular evolution!’

This of course is neither totally true nor totally false.

The decline in the traditional commercial offset printing industry has led printers to expand their range of business offers. Those who printed periodicals have squeezed costs, while others have managed to survive, thanks to the catalogues that the big supermarkets threaten to eliminate on a regular basis. Those who were doing brochures had to find new opportunities.

The ‘transpromo’ or ‘document printing’ which were already exploiting the possibilities of digital for variable data, had their specialty companies.

These were often developed out of what was previously known as continuous printing. There was no question of going on their turf. Consequently, we had to move on to other niche products. The simplest thing to do was to develop additional service activities such as labelling or signage.

The difficulty of expanding its business It goes on and on, but let’s not kid ourselves, it’s still a back-up for these printers, except to step up and get heavily equipped.

The cost of investment is a hindrance, but it is not always the most important.

There are at least two others, one concerning the equipment and the other concerning the people.

In order to expand your business, you can buy a digital press at an inexpensive price. Without having to store its sheet-fed offsetters, a printer can afford an entry-level, narrow-width toner press to make labels at less than 40,000 euros and even less for some

low-performance models despite the already high quality for prototyping or ultra-short series. In order to move up to the higher dimension, you will soon reach half a million euros, which is no longer the same game. But above all, you can’t produce very sophisticated labels that require expensive finishing tools without quickly reaching the same half million benchmark.

Then there is human resource toll, where digital technology has erased the machine operator’s know-how, putting it on the pre-press, but has not erased the finishing expertise that will make all the difference.

It is fine to make labels, but you still have to have a market! And most commercial people are by nature, very traditional. The person who has built up his business base by knowing all the brochure buyers must start all over again without abandoning his basic profession. This is not a question of giving away the shop for

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 1/2 2021

markets: Is it inevitable?

a sixpence to renew its interlocutors.

It’s not impossible, but it takes time, so it is an additional investment. Some people think they can get away with it by becoming a subcontractor. They recover their business and run their presses, but this is often in disregard of their margins.

Recently, at a round table held in Lyon, we were talking with Robert Tison, a printer in Isère (Imprimerie Suquet), who has developed the printing of labels from a commercial printing business to buying a medium-range toner press. After starting out modestly to serve his customers, and to avoid losing them, he acquired the skills that led him to believe that this business would allow him to grow despite the decline in traditional printing. He realized that the hardest part was right in front of him.

"At the beginning, we get orders and then, by word of mouth, we develop even more. But to move forward,

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12 you have to get organized and invest, even reasonably, and that’s where it becomes difficult, because you have to commercialize it.” This requires either changing gear from being a printing manager to becoming a sales manager or hiring a sales person and generating additional expenses.

We could say that this is unique to this sector, but that is not true. Of course, the development of flexible packaging has given ideas to many label printers.

For example, some small pouches can be produced on label presses. Several printers that were interested in this possible development quickly realized that this required different finishing materials - unless you deliver webs of undone pouches.

Furthermore, their loyal customers who trusted them with labels were not buyers of these new references that they were offering. Also, it is important to recognize that it seems to be the same situation for flexible packaging converters - as they do not venture into the label industry even if they have the technical capacity. Constantia has recently focused on flexible packaging by merging its labels division with MCC, without any hesitation.

Web2print pushes for convergence of markets In fact, the idea of convergence of markets comes mainly from manufacturers, especially digital, but not only with the example of Mark

Andy or Omet who now offer flexo presses in 450, 550 or even wider. The idea also comes from web2print. The multiplication of references on the sector’s sites, whether B2B or B2C, supports the idea of convergence.

Visit Online Printers in Neustadt-ander-Aisch, close to Nuremberg. They can do anything with their arsenal of conventional and digital presses. If they can’t do something, they can easily outsource it. It is the same for other international groups such as Cimpress, or more regional as Printoclock in Toulouse, for example.

Printoclock started as a pure player, with no own printing but with a finishing-cutting workshop – amalgam

is the web2print solution dedicated to reprography. They then developed a large-format activity by integrating roll2roll presses to make tarps or posters. Isn't that convergence?

In Honfleur, Xavier Rozé, head of the Marie Printing Company (Imprifrance Network), traditionally specialized in brochures, equipped himself with a 1.60m cutting-printer after hesitating to get into the label business. It now meets many local needs allowing it to run the shop. However, developing a “large format” activity is not as easy. This often requires having control of the installation: wrapping a vehicle is not that simple,

nor is wrapping a store counter. This is what makes web2print sites so successful. They are exempt from marketing because there is an internet site functioning as a self-service as well as from implementation since once the order is delivered, the site has fulfilled its mission. Let’s not forget that payment made when ordering which is even better!

To conclude on large format, we can see the evolution of the materials used, with the search for the simplest possible implementation. We can also see the birth of recycling constraint. The PVC tarp gives way to the textile one, and in a curious mix of genres, decoration tempts the pros of signage. You then have to equip yourself in roll-to- roll

when you are in flatbed, or vice versa.

There is also a choice between direct printing (for vinyl) and sublimation (for textiles). However, this requires significant investment for companies that are often large small businesses.

To wrap it up, regardless of the business, specialized printing has good days ahead of it, as it is not easy to diversify. It is undoubtedly easier to remain faithful to one’s basic business, to extend it to its maximum and above all to seek productivity gains. For this reason alone, there is nothing like being on the lookout for innovations

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InterPrint starts to digitize with dry toner technology Thanks to the Xeikon CX3, InterPrint works with low levels of stock and boosts productivity with no pretreatment needed InterPrint, a company specialised in the production of adhesive and non-adhesive labels on a variety of substrates, has over 20 years’ experience providing its customers with the best quality service. The company has recently added a Xeikon CX3 to its production plant, a digital label press which uses Cheetah technology to digitally print labels on any material with no need for priming beforehand.

Tomás Iglesias, CEO of InterPrint, says: “We chose this press for its dry toner technology which enables us to work with low levels of stock and boost our productivity as pre-treatment of substrates is not needed.”

Specialised in labels with over 1200 customers in its portfolio, InterPrint produces adhesive and non-adhesive labels on paper, cardboard, PVC,

polyester, heat-transfer labels, hot foil stamped labels, multi-layer labels and security labels. It also produces folded boxes and promotional printed material for various markets such as pharmaceutical labs, large food and drink retailers, and logistics providers.

To achieve this, it relies on an extensive production platform including a Xeikon CX3 which stands out for its digital printing capabilities. The company has already digitalised 10% of its production as a result of this investment.

Inks and substrates Iglesias is very satisfied with the results obtained with the Xeikon CX3. “This press enables us to use different substrates of varying thickness, including heat sensitive substrates, to produce transparent and white labels

with high levels of opacity. It must also be pointed out that the inks used for dry toner are safe for use with food, since some projects require this compliance, and offer high quality printing, comparable to offset.”

With a resolution of 1200 x 3600 dpi, the Xeikon CX3 label press is exclusively designed for self-adhesive and pressure-sensitive labels. It offers all the advantages that have made the Xeikon 3000 series such a unique product line, such as the use of dry toners that comply with the regulations of the United States FDA, Nestlé, Swiss regulations, and also the future European regulation on printing inks

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 1/2 2021

e its label production y In addition, the presses can easily integrate with workflow applications and converting/finishing solutions from third-party manufacturers and offer professional features for colour management. In addition to the CMYK + white base option, the fifth station of the Xeikon CX3 press can be used for colours that expand colour gamut or for special tones to add security features. The press works with substrates varying in widths from 40 to 350 g/m².

on food-contact materials and the ability to print opaque white toner in one pass.

For the CEO of InterPrint, working with the Cheetah technology that the Xeikon CX3 offers has many advantages. “The ability to offer variable data printing, shorter preparation and change times for short run jobs since regular runs are under 500 metres, the use of safe dry-toner, and the availability of the press to work 24 hours a day are solid reasons why we chose to go with this technology.”

Dry toner The Cheetah dry toner technology requires a much lower fusing temperature than typical toner-based presses which makes it possible to print on a variety of heat-sensitive substrates. Xeikon presses use dry toner electrophotography that works with conventional substrates with no need to pre-treat them. Furthermore, Xeikon toner offers extremely high resistance to light and is a printing process that is genuinely environmentally friendly, emitting no volatile organic compounds. According to Iglesias, the sustainability of the press was another major reason for acquiring it.

Iglesias concludes: “From the get-go, we put our trust in the press and in our proximity with the manufacturer.

Now we see that with the installation of the Xeikon XC3, we have managed to reach new customers to offer them labels with added value and customised runs at affordable costs. We have also been able to increase our production capacity by integrating digital printing into our range of services which include flexographic printing, screen printing, stamping and barcode printing.”

About InterPrint InterPrint has facilities located in Navatejera (Leon, Spain) that span over 5000 square metres. It employs more than 30 people and stands out for its active involvement in the community and the high standards it sets for itself, which for Tomás Iglesias are what set it apart from its competitors. Thanks to its commitment to these values, InterPrint guarantees that its products meet the highest quality standards.

With the current crisis, InterPrint has implemented various changes to offer more flexibility but continues to move ahead with its strategy based on a future of sustainable growth.

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Georgia-Pacific Acquires 3rd HP PageWide Corrugated Press Georgia-Pacific, a leading U.S. integrated packaging solutions provider, has announced the expansion of its Hummingbird® digital print solutions with the purchase of an HP PageWide T1190 Press, the world's highest-volume digital corrugated packaging solution.1 In a move to extend the reach of digital services across the U.S., the new 110-inch wide web press for pre-print corrugated production will be installed later this year at a new Hummingbird site opening in Arizona. The HP T1190 will be the converter’s third inkjet web press installed since 2015 when it launched digital print services with the HP T400S press and subsequently deployed a T1100 110-inch press.

Georgia-Pacific’s Hummingbird provides a range of digitally printed corrugated packaging solutions for consumer-packaged goods, electronics, and food and beverage brands across North America.

Hummingbird’s digital offerings include corrugated shelf-ready packaging (SRP), food trays, large-format boxes, e-commerce solutions, and volume displays (POP).

“Our brand and trade converting partners can now reduce their printed packaging inventory levels, shorten turnaround time, make frequent design changes and offer more graphic versions,” said Robert Seay, vice president, digital print solutions, Georgia-Pacific. “With our continued investment and network of operations in 30 U.S. states, we have unparalleled digital print capacity with a national

printing footprint to provide efficiency and redundancy that can fundamentally transform brands’ corrugated supply chain across North America.”

Worldwide volume of inkjet corrugated packaging grew by more than 20% in 2020 compared with 2019 even with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to Smithers market analysis.

“Georgia-Pacific’s continued investment in digital print positions Hummingbird to enhance brands’ supply chain efficiency with easier inventory management and quick turnaround,” said Carles Farre, vice president and general manager, HP PageWide Industrial. “HP digital corrugated printing solutions are gaining worldwide traction with an accelerated pace of customer installations, enabling converters to run digital operating models based on fast speed-to-market and sustainability advantages.”

The high-productivity HP PageWide T1190 digital pre-print press is a sixcolor (CMYKOV) inkjet press with a 110-inch (2.8 meter) web width that efficiently aligns with corrugator capacity and provides offset print quality, unmatched digital speed,

economy, and flexibility. The press uses HP A30 true water-based inks.

With the HP PageWide T1190’s industry-leading throughput of up 305 meters (1000 feet) of corrugated liner per minute, up to 100 million corrugated boxes per year can be delivered.

About Georgia-Pacific Based in Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific and its subsidiaries are among the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of bath tissue, paper towels and napkins, tableware, paper-based packaging, cellulose, specialty fibers, nonwoven fabrics, building products and related chemicals. As a leading packaging supplier, we offer a full range of innovative customer-focused packaging solutions. Hummingbird® digital print solutions is the only packaging supplier in North America to offer 110-inch wide web digital inkjet printing, giving customers unparalleled flexibility for high graphic packaging. Its GeorgiaPacific Recycling subsidiary is among the world’s largest traders of paper, metal and plastics. The company operates more than 150 facilities and employs more than 30,000 people directly and creates approximately 89,000 jobs indirectly.

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TREND ALERT 2021 what's hot in labels & packaging for 2021 2021 has exciting and interesting design opportunities. These are our predictions of the top label design trends!

What will dominate the world of labels and packaging this year? From many options and examples we have narrowed it down to our top 6. They cover a range of areas and elements.

From design and colour to materials and finishes. There are also a couple of surprise entries that consider the changing consumer environment and the messaging style that suits. Check them out and let us know in the comments if you think we have missed any… after all it is year that is going to need rock solid stability with an ability to shine.

SUSTAINABLE Sustainability is dynamic. The reality of finite resources (including time) means looking at how to achieve more with less. In addition to responsible sourcing, recycling & reusing, 2021 will see energy focused on a reduction strategy: using less resources, lean manufacturing and dispensing with redundant brands & products. This rationalising will create efficiencies from some and present opportunities for other innovative and niche companies.

Lindsay Nutley Marketing Manager QLM Label Makers

turning still images & campaigns into dynamic media a necessity, so plan carefully and make the process as easy as possible. One advantage, you don’t need to be Spielberg… but video editing skills are helpful.

Designs inspired by nature, eco-friendly packaging and minimising unnecessary waste are going to feature as top label design trends this year.

QUICK VIDS You used to have 3 minutes of attention, then 30 seconds, now it’s 3-5 seconds… so make it memorable.

Crafting messages in small grabs can be complex. The use of video messaging and imagery that moves is a must have for EVERY 2021 campaign.

What resonates today is often forgotten the next. Frequency and recency make

TIME to SHINE While the popular shades and shines of gold, silver and bronze will continue to highlight quality products and features, the Pantone Color of the Year will inspire a whole raft of illuminated colours and metallics.

Expect to see more than a simple highlight foil, brands will look to shimmy their way into your hearts

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with multi-dimensional metallic hues and highlights. All the colours of the rainbow (and a few too many unicorns) will make the Froot Loops packaging look decidedly plain (and I can’t wait).

IT’s a $!GN Symbology and iconography have long been a favourite in logo design. 2021 will see a step-up in instructional images, doodles, illustrations and caricatures that utilise designs specifically associated with their individual brand or product as a top label design trend.

Expect to see icons that showcase the features that makes them stand out from their competitors.

Emojis, emoticons, GIFs and memes are also going to continue to be used with much more customization to give brands easily identifiable emotional responses and expectations and have a little fun on the way!

LOCALDELIVERY With the retail experience changing so drastically, there is a much greater focus on deliveries. In addition to online experiences, e-commerce and ease of transaction, brands will ramp up their focus on the unboxing experience by adding connected messaging and moments. Get it right and the love will be shared across the interweb, get it wrong and it might get shared – or considered just MEH! Sourcing locally has become a focus for many who are experiencing major supply chain issues. Target those who previously bought in other countries and who might be feeling the pain of slow and unsure deliveries.

ADD DEPTH Think bold and daring 3D fonts and typography that highlight depth and dimension, 3D images that seemingly leap off the page & packaging with optical illusions that move & change depending on the way you look at them. These will literally add layers to the way we view products in 2021.

The use of building block styles (like lego, voxels and gaming styles) is also gaining momentum as it looks to create characterised structures from otherwise lifeless or flat images (it does help that 3D rendering is easily available now).

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Critical considerations when moving to digital printing As the entire world wants to print better, faster, and more economically, the printing industry has looked to inkjet as the digital printing technology of choice.

Additionally, digital inkjet production – especially when replacing older conventional offset – can eliminate many of the inefficiencies that come with analog offset printing: long ramp-up times, pre-press and plate costs, spoilage and waste, as well as additional labor costs at every step.

Not to mention the costs involved with shipping and warehousing longer runs versus printing more “on demand.”

That’s because inkjet can print at production speeds (and widths) like offset presses, yet still maintain the precise control needed to deliver the required quality while printing each page uniquely. And, it has the ability to print directly onto various substrates which makes it an attractive and less complex process compared to alternatives.

When thinking about transitioning or adding digital inkjet, here are some critical topics to consider: 1. Technology Investment Costs Each component of cost can have an impact on the others, so it’s important to look at all of them together as a system – much like how all components of an inkjet press need to work together to produce a quality print.

To help printers understand the important question of – How much does it cost to print? — we’ve built a model that captures each element, how they interact, and provides a net TCOP, or Total Cost of Print.

With inkjet, ink usage or coverage is the critical cost driver, and most inkjet printing system manufacturers provide

a cost estimator to help printers determine an accurate cost per page to use for estimation purposes. With Memjet-powered systems, the process is relatively simple, as we use an estimation tool that accurately (within +- 5%) measures the amount of ink that will be used. We compare that to the amount actually used, as measured on the printing engine itself, to verify.

The hardware costs are a matter of simple math – dividing monthly lease payments and service contract costs across the total number of pages to get to a “per page” cost. What isn’t captured here are paper costs (it’s assumed the same paper is being compared, so it’s a constant). Same for labor and electricity costs.

To capture the full impact of both the print and non-print costs, most printers will build a full ROI (returnon-investment) model to accurately capture both new and eliminated costs, from electricity to labor – as well as changes in ink costs and labor. In many cases, we’ve seen savvy printers also build new revenue models with capacity and opportunity factors to capture upside potential.

2. Sustainability Just as consumers are paying attention to the impact their choices have on the environment, businesses and brands are putting much more emphasis on the environmental impact they have, too.

The expanded role of digital printing translates to a more positive message

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26 for sustainability. Printers and end-user customers experience reduced waste from minimizing plate preparation and makeready processes. Further reduction of waste comes from print overages or out-of-date materials, not to mention the time, cost, energy, and distribution savings that come from digitally printing the right materials, at the right time, in the right locations.

In fact, a recent NAPCO Research survey found that combating waste created by rapid product obsolescence was a top challenge for 30% of brand

owner respondents. With digital printing, brands and designers can unleash their creativity to create regionalized campaigns and products, all the way to personalized 1:1 creations.

Inks have not traditionally been part of the sustainability conversation, but that is changing. As print providers and food manufacturers strive to ensure the safety of food labels and packaging, demand is growing for water-based, low-migration inkjet solutions that minimize the impact on food and human health. Aqueous-based pigment inks that offer high-quality output, durability on a wide range of substrates, and ingredients approved by regulatory bodies are making inroads into label printing, and are emerging in flexible packaging, folding cartons, and

corrugated packaging as well.

Memjet offers the safest inks possible: water-based inks. These inks are 100% free of reactive chemistries making them safer to use and better for the environment than alternatives.

3. Expanding Opportunities Innovations in technology, inks, and substrates are translating into viable printing solutions that enable more providers to keep pace with market demands and access to new markets.

In a recent study conducted by NAPCO Research, survey results showed that printers and package converters gain critical benefits from digital printing: - Accommodate short-run production needs - Provide a faster turnaround for their clients - Add the value of personalization - Print prototypes or short-run samples in a cost-effective way - Print only what is needed through versioning The survey also cites printing variable images/data, high print quality, faster speeds, and ease of use as the top reasons for adopting inkjet technology.

4. Print Quality Memjet created something unique in its printing technology; the smallest drop of ink that can be ejected out of a production class print head. With VersaPass®, that’s a 1.1 picoliter drop and with DuraLink® and DuraFlex®, it’s a 2.1 picoliter drop.

By using these tiny droplets on a superfine grid, Memjet systems can print the most precise line art and type – all the way down to .04 point type, which you need a microscope to see.

In the same way we image incredibly fine details in a single color, by mixing four or seven colors with that same level of beautiful precision we can create photographic-quality images and printed output that rivals high-end commercial offset at 300 lines per inch.

5. Production Workflow Inkjet printing solutions like the ones Powered by Memjet are enabling the production of books, collateral, direct mail and even signage, packaging and labels to be data-driven in a costeffective way. In order to operate in new segments, your workflow needs to be reviewed and designed to support those new opportunities.

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DIGITAL PRINTING TECHNOLOGY THAT POWERS THE WAY WE PRINT TODAY. https://www.memjet.com/partners/shield/

Powered with DuraLink® Technology The M680c digital inkjet printing system for commercial & book publishing features high-quality 1600 dpi and print speeds up to 203 m/min.

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Impremia IS29 and Highc transformation into "digita The business foundation was built upon printing flyers with web offset presses, but as the market for newspapers declined so did the need for flyers.

To meet this change in market conditions, the company adopted a "digital Takanaga" identity and transformed its business model.

Takanaga Synthesis Printing installed two Impremia IS29s (29-inch sheetfed UV inkjet digital printing system) and a Highcon Euclid Digital Cutting and Creasing System.

Building a new field of business with the Impremia IS29 Running six web offset presses and two sheetfed presses and having focused primarily on the business of printing flyers, posters, calendars and pamphlets, Takanaga Synthesis Printing is now in the midst of a business transformation.

"Although we have several business domains, such as advertising agency services as well as website sales, management and operation, the future is cloudy as a result of the sharp drop in newspaper subscriptions," says Takanaga.

"It's a digital printing system from Komori, whom we rely on for sheetfed presses. I think it is the machine of my dreams."

Yoshimasa Takanaga, President and Representative Director

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con Euclid power al Takanaga" Seeing the challenges of new fields, where the company has no experience, as an "industrial revolution," the company decided to take on these demands using digital machines and changed course, going from "flyers and paper media Takanaga" to "digital Takanaga."

"Although our strong point had been large lots of printing on paper, we had no experience in printing seals and PET materials with a digital printing system.

A Digital Business Department was created to get up to speed in this new field. While we lacked experience, we weren't starting from zero. We can use our expertise in the management of an integrated flow, including quality and delivery, that we'd cultivated through printing flyers for large supermarkets ever since our founding."

In the Digital Business Department, Managing Executive Officer Shinya Nishisaka was named to the top position, while young employees made up most of the organization. Creating new business fields that use digital printing systems is the most important mission. In addition, the Impremia IS29 was set in the heart of this transformation.

"We chose the Impremia IS29 because it is a double-sided printing system using UV, it has a wide color gamut, and it can print a B2 size sheet. In the runup to the installation, we carried out tack seal tests at the Komori Graphic Technology Center (KGC) and made sure there were no problems. Color matching with web offset presses was great, and we carried out tests with a range of products. Looking at the results, we decided to install two of these systems."

Impremia IS29 and members of Digital Business Department. Both third-year and freshman female operators play an active part.

Prototype products printed by the Impremia IS29 and die cut by the Highcon Euclid.

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In-house production of packages and seals by using the Impremia IS29s together with the Highcon Euclid The first Highcon Euclid Digital Cutting and Creasing system in Japan was installed at the same time as the two Impremia IS29s. A Product Development Department staffed by young employees is at work on trial manufacture of a wide range of products using these two machines.

Takanaga says: "

will have to look for things that only the Impremia IS29 can do."

The daily accumulation of experience will become our assets. We have set up an online shop and started to expand activities. I'm looking forward to developing and selling products that take advantage of digital technology."

With the Impremia IS29, anyone with a little training can produce an OK sheet from the first sheet by simple button operation. As the labor shortage and technology transmission problems become more and more acute, this is the absolutely indispensable machine," he says, expecting it to be effective in securing personnel.

As to the daily operation of the Impremia IS29 printing systems, products such as packaging and seals as well as menus and promotional materials that had been outsourced are now produced in-house.

"The systems have a sheet thickness range of 0.06 to 0.6 mm, and a wide range of items can be handled when they are combined with the Highcon Euclid. Instead of being seen as a proofing system, ultimately the Impremia IS29 has a wide color gamut, supports variable data printing, handles thick sheets and supports printing on materials other than paper. I think we

Regarding the mechanisms, "The feeder and delivery provide confidence due to expertise and technology from Komori's sheetfed presses. Doublesided printing and color are both stable," Takanaga says. "Also, while there has been great progress in the technology of the latest sheetfed and web offset presses, it takes about five years to train a fully qualified operator.

How do operators on the shop floor evaluate it? Akio Okumura, head of the Digital Business Department that handles the machine, says: "We run printing tests of seals on tack seal and PET materials, and we can really feel UV's fast drying characteristics and look forward to being able to provide short turnarounds. Also, although it does not cover all of the RGB color space, the color gamut is far greater than that of offset ink. I was surprised that the color is so beautiful. I believe creating products that have never

existed before — printed items that we had not been able to print before, such as PET and plastic, canvas fabric and cloth — will lead to the growth of the company.

Handoff to next generation following five-year business transformation The business transformation advanced

by Takanaga has only just begun, but steady progress is being made as a result of the installation of the Impremia IS29 and the Highcon Euclid.

"Although actual work using the Impremia IS29 and the Highcon Euclid has already begun, next year is critical.

I would like to make a new business model that includes both B-to-B and B-to-C. While our company has handled large lots of products in the past, this system is a dream machine that will let us challenge niche fields by establishing production capabilities to enable variable data printing, small lot production and short turnarounds that leverage digital characteristics.

There will be challenges as we shift our business from large-lot production to small. It won't be simple, but we have no choice. We will carry this out with maximum effort for the next five years so that we can hand off to the next generation with confidence," Takanaga says, talking about his enthusiasm for new fields.

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ColorWave 3800

PlotWave 3000 Series

PlotWave 5000 Series

PlotWave 7500

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Worldwide packagin strongest in China Heidelberg highlighted its focus on the high market potential in China. The company is ideally positioned in the growing field of folding carton printing on board worldwide and in China in particular.

Asia was the biggest market in 2018 for packaging growth, accounting for around 40% of global packaging consumption. China is the world’s biggest packaging consumer, at over $200 billion. It is also forecast to have the fastest growth in packaging consumption over the five-year period from 2019 to 2024, with a rate of almost 5%. This is due to the rising real takehome pay, an expanding middle class, a growing population, the increasing urbanization, and further expansion of E-commerce.

“The Chinese market, which is so important for us, is the one where demand has returned fastest and closest to that of the previous year during the pandemic,” confirmed CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer. “The long-term

prospects look good too. China is still the fastest-growing market in the world.

Our market share of almost 50 percent puts us out in front here, and we want to consolidate our strong position even further. T herefore we will further expand our production capacities in Shanghai and increase our competitiveness there with a higher share of value added. As well as local production, Heidelberg China will also provide assistance with a strong sales and service team. We have our sights firmly set on the successful packaging printing companies above all.”

Packaging Day in PMC Shanghai with over 108,000 views online At the end of September, Heidelberg

held a combined in-person and online event, Packaging Day. On site in the Print Media Center (PMC) Shanghai, 65 customers got to see four different applications being produced with more than ten live demonstrations on a Speedmaster CD102 nine-colour press. Highlights here were the high-speed job changes and the sophisticated finishings that add a lot of value to packagings. These premium packagings are especially popular in China.

In parallel, Heidelberg reported over 108,000 views online, where live

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ng market growth

demonstrations and customer reports were being presented on two live streaming platforms. The event got almost 70,000 likes.

“In the Greater China market we will invest more in new concepts, platforms, and applications as well as in regional events in order to guarantee more direct communication with the customer,” confirmed Benny Huang, CEO of Heidelberg Greater China.

“The Packaging Day enabled us to present our innovations effectively online and offline, and communicate instantly with our customers. We

couldn’t be happier with the positive result: nearly 20 opportunities about sheetfed presses with a total value of almost 12 million euros, three of these opportunities came over the online platforms.”

Leading Chinese packaging printers trust in Heidelberg solutions Meanwhile, Heidelberg announced new installs by Chinese packaging printers.

expanded its print capacity with the construction of a new factory in Suining. As part of this, the company placed an order with Heidelberg China for two Speedmaster CX 102 presses with a total of 23 printing units. The first of these is set to be installed this year still, in December. With the new install, Kuanzhai can produce over one million cartons annually in its Suining factory. The company mainly prints premium tobacco packagings.

In 2020, Sichuan Kuanzhai Printing Co. Ltd. (Kuanzhai), one of the leading Chinese tobacco packaging printers,

The Shenzhen Jinjia Group (Jinjia) installed two Speedmaster CD 1026+L presses, specifically used for

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the development of new printed products and colour proofs in Jinjia’s development center. Jinjia is a packaging printing company that services the high-end market with prestigious brands in the tobacco, liqueur, spirits, and cosmetics segments.

All printing presses at the headquarters in Shenzhen and in the other branches are customized long Speedmaster CX 102 and CD 102 machines, designed together with Jinjia and tailored to the needs of the end customers.

Shenzen’s Xian Jun Long took delivery this year of a new Speedmaster CD 102-9+L featuring the 9,999th printing unit produced by the Heidelberg Shanghai site. Xian Jun Long specializes in packagings for spirits, cigarettes, and luxury goods. Xian Jun Long is set to take delivery of two further Speedmaster CD 102-8+L presses this year.

Speedmaster is a bestseller in China The Heidelberg Shanghai production site now encompasses a production area of around 45,000 square meters, making it one of the biggest printing press factories in Asia based on square footage. The factory is operating to full capacity and the production figures for the last quarter of 2020 are actually higher than last year. The export quota for this year is also higher than last year, with a high rate of exports to Japan, for example. This includes the first Speedmaster CD 102 eight-color press with coating unit outside of China.

The bestseller is the Speedmaster CD 102. Around 60 to 70% of these are used for packaging printing. The long coating unit presses are particularly well received in the Chinese market.

“We’ve ramped up here from year to year – we started in 2018 with the delivery of the first Speedmaster CD 102-7+L, this was followed a year later by the Speedmaster CD 102-8+L, and this year by the Speedmaster CD 102-9+L, which was delivered to the printing company Xian Jun Long in Shenzhen. From 2018 to today, over 80 of these long packaging presses from the Speedmaster CD 102 series have been produced and sold,” said Achim Mergenthaler.

Heidelberg partners with Masterwork, Tianjin, (MK) for the postpress machines in the packaging segment. The relationship was further strengthened in 2019, with MK Masterwork becoming a long-term, strategic anchor shareholder in Heidelberg with a shareholding of around 8.5%.

This will enable Heidelberg to further expand its position in the growing packaging printing market with MK. Heidelberg recently announced a joint venture with Masterwork, to further strengthen Heidelberg´s leading competitive position in the growth market of China.

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30% annual digital sales growth for Rondo Rondo Ganahl, one of the world’s foremost corrugated board and packaging manufacturers, has unveiled plans for a new dedicated digital production plant after a dramatic surge in sales driven by an investment in the Koenig & Bauer Durst Delta SPC 130 FlexLine Automatic press

The Delta SPC 130 with its waterbased ink technology is providing the solutions demanded by brands that are needed for the food packaging industry. With lead times reducing, Rondo says there is huge potential in the technology where the excellent print quality matches litho production.

Sales are racing ahead so fast in digital printing for Rondo that a new digital production plant will be opened on the site at St Ruprecht an der Raab, Austria, in the autumn of 2021. The firm, which is part of the Rondo Group that has six plants across Europe, started digital production two years ago. About 90% of the Rondo digital printing business is for the food industry.

Karl Pucher, Managing Director of Rondo Ganahl, St Ruprecht an der

Raab, said: “We come traditionally from flexo and offset printing and had been talking about moving into digital production for a long time. Two years ago, we decided to make the move, and we’re very happy that we did. Digital corrugated production has grown every year between 25 and 30% and customers are making repeat orders, which is very important.

“During these Covid times we see that lead times are going down and artworks are changed a lot at short notice.

Being able to print digitally means we are flexible and able to deliver the requirements in a very short time. This is what brands are demanding. The Delta SPC 130 with its water-based technology from Durst is providing the solutions that we need for delivery to

the food industry. The growth in sales has been so big that we decided to build a new facility for digital printing.

And we hope to move in during the autumn.”

Mr Pucher added: “We did not buy a machine. We bought into a complete system that also includes software for areas such as order management, color management and automation. Digital printing is also providing answers for the global debate on the use of plastic packaging, which obviously extends to food and safety. Using the food safety compliant inks in primary and secondary food packaging means we can create corrugated board packaging to be used as an alternative to plastic.

We are in a good place with this system, one that I can very much recommend.”

Robert Stabler, Managing Director, Koenig & Bauer Durst, said: “With fast shifts in demand, converters increasingly recognise that they need a reliable, versatile and all-inone digital solution to meet brands requirements for fast turnaround of jobs. Rondo is a perfect example of how companies can ensure jobs run seamlessly through their plants by investing in complete workflows and color management systems. We work closely in a partnership approach with Rondo to ensure their teams can meet the new demands, including using the water-based inks to ensure food safety compliance for primary packaging.”

We print your world

We combine inks and substrates, so that ingredients become an experience.

Because printing is our world.

Contact your agent to learn more.

Koenig & Bauer (SEA) Sdn Bhd +603 7885 8860 digitalsalescenter@koenig-bauer.com

koenig-bauer.com

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2021 & Beyond: Print a In the face of the global crisis in 2020, the print industry in Asia Pacific has shown its ability to respond effectively to its customers. We ask the print industry on the trends that are set to shake the print industry in 2021 and beyond.

“What are some trends that you foresee shaking up the print industry in Asia Pacific 2021 and beyond?”

Industry 4.0 – Rise of the Smart Factory Tim Klappe, MPS Systems Asia Pacific For me this has to be the growth towards the smart factory. The developments of sensor technology, the internet of things (IoT) is going very fast. The data collection that is possible as of this gives a full transparent environment.

It shows the print management what is really happening, without having to rely on subjective input from operators.

Efficiencies and inefficiencies are easily detected.

At this moment the actual usage of a narrow web label press is very low.

Based on our own analysis, machines in the market are not running for an average of 30% of the time.

With sensor technology - connected machines - all functions of a press are transparent and analysed.

For example, you can easily detect that a roll change is five or 10 minutes longer than the market benchmark. Saving these five minutes for every roll change by improving the way of working can add hours of extra capacity for the press each week. The result is a lower cost per label, more jobs, and therefore more profit per year for the printing company.

The shake-up will be caused by label printing companies who fully embrace these technologies and workflows and adjust their ways of working in such a way that they maximize their efficiencies on a continuous basis. These companies will end up faster, lower in cost, higher in profits and giving better services to their customers. Label printers who will not get on ‘this train’ will eventually lose out or will have to make a huge jump to catch up.

So, my recommendation and wish is therefore for all label printers to read about these industry 4.0 trends, about the path towards the smart factory and make step by step investments and organizational changes towards the use of these new technologies. Obviously MPS Systems will be very pleased to support.

Remote Digital Transformation Christoph Thommessen, managing director, CGS Publishing Technologies In 2020, we all had to deal with huge new challenges. Travel restrictions has affected the daily business drastically, as face-to-face meetings and personal interaction with customers and partners became impossible. However, the crisis also led to more flexibility, creativity

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and Packaging Trends higher demand than ever for cartons for the pharmaceutical and food industry.

Talking about trends these days is tricky. Strategies fell apart. Forecasts turned out to be useless within weeks.

Drupa has been postponed and then cancelled.

and a strong movement towards digital transformation for many industry members. The use of remote software solutions helped substantially to replace personal visits, especially as press and print approvals do not need to take place locally anymore. The solutions also allowed a holistic and very accurate control of presses, devices and results.

Evaluation and certification was done remotely with just a few clicks.

Professional colour management played an important role during this period of change. Printing companies were able to optimise their processes with software solutions such as Press Matcher, Ink Saver or X Gamut, thereby making their work a lot more efficient and reducing costs considerably.

Professional colour management solutions has also enabled printing and packaging companies, designers, ink manufacturers or brand owners to digitalize their business and workflows.

If lesser team members were available and special colour knowledge was missing, the use of the software helped to mitigate the lack. Automated processes helped to decrease errors, and led to more consistency of the results.

Applications like CXF Tools supported the digital transformation as it enables real digitalisation of colour, which will become increasingly important in the

next years, with or without COVID-19.

The applications make it possible to organize, edit and communicate colour with all its spectral properties on a digital level through the entire supply chain and production process. Inperson meetings won´t be necessary in future for colour to be described this precise, clear and safe. The future of managing colour is spectral.

Integrated Print Shop Management Thomas Frank, Managing Director, Heidelberg Asia Pacific From the beginning of the crisis, digital platforms have taken over large parts of communication, shopping, entertainment, learning and training. All this was not entirely new, but the speed of how these platforms expanded was breath-taking.

The crisis changed the mix of printed matters produced. For instance, if you print for the airline industry, who’d expected 12 months ago what turn it takes? On the other hand, there is

However, there are patterns which clearly show which direction the industry is heading to, with or without the pandemic. The occurrence of digital platforms has proven that whatever you print, it could be obsolete tomorrow. Hence, to stay in business, you need to be far more flexible than yesterday, whether you want to penetrate additional segments in the market for print or streamline your processes to be faster and offer greater value.

This is where Heidelberg puts focus on. We want to provide solutions which offer more transparency of your production and delivery processes, which allow you to act faster and acquire new jobs more easily. With ‘Push-to-Stop’ and ‘Smart Printshop’, we started initiatives which go far beyond gradual improvements on a printing press. They are the nucleus for a tailormade and truly integrated printshop management. We can provide this because we have the software available – our Prinect system. We can also provide consulting and training by Heidelberg specialists stationed in our Asia-Pacific region, in local languages, if required.

The crisis has closed borders. Press operators went back to their home countries and labour is getting the new bottleneck. Hence, automation and ease of operation are more important than ever before. The new Heidelberg UX (user experience) is a firm part of our generation 2020 presses and the workload for the operator is dramatically reduced. Running a

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long press with only one operator is becoming possible. In the Postpress area, traditionally the most crowded place in a printshop, there will be change, too. After Covid-19 outbreaks in crowded factories, streamlining of production processes remains an important goal. Heidelberg has launched robotic systems combined with bindery and converting machinery which help to boost productivity in this area.

A Digital Marketplace Demands Digital Production

By Mani Chan, Marketing Director, Kornit Asia Pacific While the onset of COVID-19 disruptions have been devastating, even fatal, to broad swaths of traditional brick-and-mortar vendors, producers who have leaned into the digital revolution have not only weathered the storm, but in many cases thrived. In the era of social distancing, consumers have flocked to web-based stores en masse, and while this trend has accelerated the so-called “retail apocalypse,” brands and fulfillers with highly efficient webto-print operations haven’t missed a beat, often creating new product lines—such as personal protective equipment (PPE)—to capitalize on their production capabilities.

Take, for example, QTCo, Australia’s highest-volume fulfiller of digital direct-to-garment (DTG) imprinted apparel. Due to increased demand for their gear, the company doubled its capacity for on-demand production in the fall of 2020, supplementing industrial DTG production capabilities with popular web-based design and point-of-sale platforms, which further streamline the end-to-end process, eliminate errors, minimize time to market, and free up resources for continuous investment in operations.

They’ve established a reputation for shipping customized pieces within 48 hours, and as digital means a low and consistent cost per print, even the smallest orders (down to a single piece) are profitable.

While digital production empowers print businesses like QTCo to act quickly and efficiently, the technology makes no sacrifices on quality. Graphic design and colour gamut are virtually unlimited, capable of delivering photorealistic images; the pigmentbased inks are certified eco-friendly,

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41 produce no water waste, and are nontoxic and safe for all applications; and the process generates a retail-quality piece that matches rigorous standards for wash, rub, and light fastness. The same ink set can be applied to a broad range of fabrics, using the same print systems.

Brick-and-mortar stores will always have their place, but in the e-commerce age, the most effective - and therefore successful – producers can adapt to fulfill demand immediately, eliminating waste (both by-products and inventory) and ensuring the agility needed to meet unforeseen challenges.

COVID-19 disruptions didn’t create this market dynamic, but it has certainly demonstrated the stakes involved. A digital marketplace demands digital production.

Packaging and Sustainability to Continue Growth Nick Price, APJ Business Manager, HP PageWide Industrial, HP Inc. In the face of the global crisis in 2020, the print industry in Asia Pacific has shown its ability to respond effectively to its customers. We ask the print industry on the trends that are set to shake the print industry in 2021 and beyond.’

In 2020 the world got much larger for all of us as our lives and movement became restricted. The freedom to travel and fly at will was removed and

we had to learn to interact with our colleagues, customers and family worlds through a very remote and often impersonal lens.

In the business world this hyperaccelerated many trends that were already evolving and bought many key challenges into sharp focus.

This has been very polarizing and is forcing a massive re-assessment of the way we do business.

To cite very visible examples, at HP we have seen a significant decline in the office printing business and at the same time a global surge in personal computers that could never have been forecast or planned.

In the industrial graphics business, we have also seen declines in the commercial print and publishing businesses as people stayed home, but a significant spike in the demand for printed packaging as people stock-piled and funnelled their spending to essential goods and services, such as food and beverage.

This rapid tectonic shift within multiyear product development and strategic investment cycles is a challenge even for the most nimble of companies.

For this article I would like to highlight a couple of brief but critical changes to

consider in the packaging industry for 2021 and beyond: - The rapid growth in e-commerce from people ordering online is changing the landscape of packaging, printing and procurement.

Strong packaging growth is set to continue through both bricks-andmortar retail and e-commerce, and we are seeing many traditional printing companies now pivot to packaging in some form to tap into the demand.

Engaging with customers online and through e-commerce portals for ordering and fulfilment is also proving to be a differentiator.

Similarly brand owners are pivoting to core products as spending on essentials drives speed and efficiency and a reduction in those excess slower moving products and variants.

- Opportunities for paper-based packaging and clean print processes is also increasing as global concern and pressure around sustainability mounts.

Brand owners and consumers are more environmentally aware than ever before and the demand for water-based inks, recyclable and compostable packaging and the removal of chemicals and VOC’s from the manufacturing processes will provide opportunities.

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42 customers establish a foothold in production for these materials is an ongoing, proactive conversation with our customer base, and we’re encouraged by the opportunities our customers are able to create in the wake of an unprecedented change in normal business conditions.

Print businesses need efficiency, low running cost and greater application diversity to survive, as they are the ones struggling the most in the current environment.

Continuing Trend of “Divisional Graphics” Rodd Harrison, Vice President Sales, APAC, EFI Despite the pandemic, there are still opportunities in wide format printing for existing production houses and for suppliers of communications materials, in general. We are seeing an increase in wall-covering applications for interior décor. For example, the multi-layered printing capability on the VUTEk h5 hybrid LED printer is able to produce interior and exterior building materials through textured printing and application of EFI Armor Coatings.

with Divisional Graphics, Distancing Graphics and similar items.

The barriers and directional signs so many companies are producing now are essential for nearly every retail business and workplace. Even as the pandemic subsides, these types of graphics applications will remain part of the overall product mix. Helping

Much of their customer base are small businesses with short-run bespoke production requirements. To these SMEs, entry-level hybrid printers, the “Swiss-Army knives” of our industry, are often the most suitable solution, with the flexibility to do more with a single device, and a lower total costs of ownership.

We are also seeing an upward trend in truck curtain production and new categories of “Divisional Graphics” for social distancing measures that will continue. EFI listens and adapts to our customers’ needs and we have invested time, energy and resources to help customers transition into the most active fast-growth markets of the day The analogue to digital transformation in print that started so many years ago is still progressing and in some ways COVID may even accelerate that.

When it comes to progressing with digital today, it’s not enough to just buy a printer and put ink on substrates – it is all about implementing the right solution that will help differentiate yourself from the crowd. Picking the right technology partner is critical, because in simple, practical terms, standing out over the long haul involves smart strategy and the ability to do more work faster, and as efficiently as possible.

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Direct. Dedicated. Digital.

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Spanish packaging printing company working at full capacity during the pandemic • Temps Impresores is a one-stop shop for folding carton printing • New die cutter and folder gluer from Masterwork expanding the portfolio and access to new customers • Investments: next printing press generation already ordered Temps Impresores (Temps) based in Massanassa in the Spanish city of Valencia is a young company established in 2004 by three partners. Initially a commercial printing business, the company is now focusing on expanding its offering for packaging printing.

It was this that prompted Temps to invest in equipment for folding carton postpress at the beginning of 2020 – shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic started.

With the new MK Promatrix 106 CSB die cutter and the new MK Diana Easy folder gluer, Temps was able to expand its portfolio for strategically important packaging customers in the Levant region, i.e. in the Eastern Mediterranean, and offer its existing

customers new products and services.

It services the Spanish peninsula and the neighboring European countries.

It is also still involved in commercial printing.

“We’ve been a customer of Heidelberg for many years, and value the partnership,” confirms Isidoro Sánchez, one of the company’s founders.

“Despite the difficult times, Heidelberg went ahead with installing the new

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46

machines. The packaging orders more than made up for the drop in orders in the commercial end of things and got us over the first wave of Covid-19.”

Since then Temps has specialized in manufacturing all kinds of packaging and was working at full capacity even during the pandemic. This year the printing company is targeting sales of almost two million euros.

Most of the current equipment at Temps is from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg): a new Versafire digital printing press, a Suprasetter A74 CtP unit, a Speedmaster CD 74 four-color press,

a Stahlfolder CH-66 folding machine that was installed last year, and a Polar N 115 Plus cutting machine.

Temps also uses Saphira consumables, which are being optimally perfect for the equipment they are used with. All the processes are integrated with the Prinect workflow for high transparency.

With the Heidelberg Assistant there is now a digital interface to customers to coordinate orders and grow the trusting partnership.

“In order to strengthen the close relationship with our customers, acquire even more new customers, and always

be able to offer the right product in top quality, we’ve already settled on our next investment,” explains Isidoro Sánchez.

“We’re having a Speedmaster XL 75 six-color press with UV technology from the new 2020 generation installed soon. This will make us very flexible and enable us to better meet the needs of the discerning packaging printing market.”

In-house postpress The new MK Promatrix 106 CSB die cutter and the new MK Diana Easy folder gluer were very well received by the press operators at Temps. “We’re very happy with the productivity of the machines, and their user friendliness has helped us to consolidate our position in the market at a level where we’re very competitive,” confirms Rodrigo Sanchez Lozano, Managing Director of Temps. The new postpress division was inaugurated at the beginning of the year, and the machines are fully integrated into the company’s workflow.

“During the pandemic, the Heidelberg team kept coming up with solutions and responded quickly and flexibly to any problem we had with our machines.

We’re very grateful to Sales, the service technicians, and the managers for all their work,” says Rodrigo Sanchez Lozano.

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Touchguard – An Innovative Touch Safe Packaging Surface coating leader Touchguard and packaging supplier DS Smith developed an innovative safety packaging technology to minimise the risk of infections through certain bacterias and viruses and is 100 percent recyclable on top of that.

The current pandemic has significantly increased consumer concerns about the hygiene and safety of packaging. While there’s indeed no evidence of virus transmission through packaging, the demand for antiviral and antibacterial features raised with the spread of COVID-19. Six in ten consumers now claim to wash their hands thoroughly after touching packaged groceries and household products.

Such hard times are not only a challenge for the people and economy but also a motivation for new technologies and solutions. For example for an innovative packaging system with easily identifiable touch-safe zones which can be used across a wide range of industries and applications.

Touch Safety with Touchguard This is why Touchguard, surface coating technology leader, and DS Smith, a major paper packaging supplier teamed up to develop a new range of bacteria and virus-safeguarded sustainable

cardboard packaging.

The new coating contains an antimicrobial agent that is effective against both bacteria and viruses to create a surface coating that blocks the growth of bacteria and certain types of viruses, including Sars-Cov-2 respectively COVID-19.

The Touchguard™ is a patented formulation specifically designed for use on paper surfaces to minimise their risk of transmission of certain bacteria and viruses. As the COVID-19 virus family requires its envelope and spikes to attach to host cells and replicate, Touchguard® disrupts the envelope to prevent the virus from replicating. As a result, it has a proven kill rate of 99.5 percent in under 15 minutes and also works on other infections such as those with MRSA or E.coli., too.

Guarding the Environment In addition to its safety aspects for us human beings, the new

packaging technology aims to save our environment, too. Therefore the Touchguard™ is 100 percent recyclable, no matter if e-commerce, food, or other forms of packaging areas. It has AATCC100 (MOD), ISO18184:2019 (MOD) certificates and also complies with BfR36 recommendations for food-contact materials. The high level of sustainability is not surprising as it’s part of DC Smith’s Now and Next Sustainability Strategy.

“Whilst it would never replace good hygiene practices and due care, this technology has the potential to bring a real and proven additional layer of protection to our customers and their consumers as packaging moves across the supply chain. Importantly, this technology maintains the sustainability of our products and it is 100% recyclable ,” Alan Potts, Design and Innovation Director for DS Smith commented on their new technology.

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3 Online Printing Trend In the modern, digital world, online printing is the ace up the print industry’s sleeve. If you want to play it for maximum results, there are a few things to keep in mind though.

Online printing has been getting more popular for the past few years. It makes the world of print easily accessible to everyone, even people who haven’t previously studied up on the options and possibilities a printer provides.

Therefore, one could even say it has marked somewhat of a revolution in the availability of affordable, quality printing for all businesses, small and large.

Online printing grants the average customer access to great printing, while also being able to make informed decisions on what printing options they’d like and compare pricing in realtime. But the print market expanding into online channels isn’t only a plus for the customer, multichannel approaches are what is going to keep the print industry growing.

In a world where everything is going digital, print has to prove it’s worth once again. Especially in marketing, the printing industry adapts online strategies already! HP and PrintWeek claimed that digital printing can answer new consumer demands back in 2019 with their report on 7 global trends driving the print industry – and we already went into detail about the importance of a shift towards digital,

to satisfy the customer’s demands, in our 3rd Spotlight Report. So without further ado, here are our picks for the top 3 trends in online printing printers should embrace! #1: A Wide Portfolio Traditional craftsmanship is “in”, yes, but what customers are looking for in online printing is something else: They want a wide portfolio at their fingertips.

Therefore a wide format in graphics, as well as a wide format in printing

services, is key and will continue to be adopted by mainstream online printing companies. With real-time pricing being a huge advantage for the customer though, it is still important to have a USP (unique selling point) for your company regardless. Are you the company known for especially beautiful photobooks?

A lot of creative freedom? Fast delivery times? Everything has to be simplified, user-friendly, fast and efficient. Some might prefer to pay less and are okay

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ds to Embrace in 2021

#2: Mass Customisation What used to be unimaginable has become a utilisable option thanks to automation, inkjet, web-to-print and other industry 4.0 technologies: mass customisation (MC).

Individualised mass production, enabled via a simple smartphone, available to everyone – and therefore making everyone a potential customer – allows for personalised production en masse without suffering a loss of quality and offers the “exclusivity” customers crave these days. Print projects can be realised in a tremendous turnaround time and customers still have the chance to get their materials printed on state-of-the-art presses, using the highest quality inks and papers.

with getting a lower quality, some might want the opposite. But more important will surely be how convenient your service is for the average customer.

Working with a cloud, connecting accounts and convenient tools like fixPDF are worth looking into!

To ensure future income, printers have to balance the foundation of traditional printing services with innovative new approaches and shift resources from presently prosperous business models to embrace and exploit new trends.

With personalised promotions and discount programs you can build loyalty, even in the fast-paced online world. Ultimately it is the same as it is for every other area of business: As a company, you must learn customer preferences and venture into marketing strategies that resonate with them.

Printers have to broaden their horizons not only when it comes to print technologies and “new markets” but especially when it comes to potential customers! The stereotypical print customer of the past decades that buys big, for an entire company or a big print campaign, doesn’t exist anymore.

Or at least doesn’t create the revenue needed for growth.

#3: Social Media Print Especially important when it comes to B2C, a mobile support becomes exceedingly important. Printers who have gotten into this trend early on note a significant growth, oftentimes unnoticed by their competition. Right now, there’s somewhat of a start-up scene on the rise in this area!

“Mobile is one of the most underrated areas in all of online printing and social media print is not longer just a phenomenon but a whole print market,” says industry insider Bernd Zipper, CEO of Zipcon Consulting GmbH. Driven by Gen Z, the customer base of the future, it creates a new area of print needs and demands. So it’s perfect for new, innovative business models!

Why You Should Embrace Online Printing If you are not convinced that going online is the right choice for you, let us give you some facts that might change your mind for good: Bernd Zipper claims the top 5 online printing players in Germany, Cewe, Flyeralarm, Cimpress, Onlineprinters and Unitedprint, are still growing after booking an impressive 1,7 billion euro revenue in 2019. Even though they are experiencing pricing pressure in their basic product assortment, and are now venturing out in more niche products and services, as well as large format printing and advertising.

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Pack Print International 2021 returns in September Jointly organized by Messe Düsseldorf Asia, The Thai Packaging Association and The Thai Printing Association, Pack Print International (PPi) is set to return to BITEC in Bangkok, Thailand from September 22 – 25, 2021.

“As many other sectors, the packaging and printing industries were affected by the COVID-19 crisis, but it has also been a catalyst for change across these sectors and many businesses had to restructure how they operate. Industry 4.0 and automation are trends that have been accelerated and companies that used to be resistant or slow in its adoption had to make quick decisions to adopt the technologies to stay relevant and productive,” said Gernot Ringling, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf Asia.

Pongthira Pathanapiradej, President of The Thai Printing Association, added: “The printing sector has responded by adapting to new sales platforms

and implementing new packaging models. With creative direction, innovative technology and flexibility of operations, the Thai printing industry aims to strengthen ties between the various cluster businesses as we collectively prepare for the future.

PPi gives us the ideal platform for our vision, as it continually brings together the industry’s best to the regional printing hub that is Thailand.”

Exhibit highlights will be Artificial Intelligence, premium design, sustainability, security and safety, digital economy and 3D printing. Running alongside is an extensive conference and seminar program.

Companies that have already signed up as exhibitors include Konica Minolta, Kurz, Tsukatan and Zund as well as local companies and distributors such as Bangkok Paper Business, Comprint, Cyber SM, Docusys, Foilmaster, Nationwide, Press Systems and Sansin.

At the last edition in 2019, 325 companies from 30 countries participated. More than 19,000 trade visitors were logged.

Slated to be held concurrently with PPi 2021 is CorruTec ASIA. The exhibition is a new addition to the Messe Düsseldorf Asia portfolio and will feature manufacturers and suppliers of machinery, accessories, technology and services from the corrugated and folding carton industries. CorruTec is a joint collaboration with the Thai Corrugated Packaging Association (TCPA).

Store and edit brand colors easily with all their spectral characteristics and communicate them with all your project partners and suppliers – in a simple and secure manner. www.cgs-oris.com

SPECTRAL BRAND COLOR MANAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION - EASY & EFFECTIVE

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7 trends that just may s will head It goes without saying; but I’ll say it anyway. 2020 was a year. Like. No. Other. I expect 2021 to be exceptional too as we all adjust to a very different new normal. Remember the old normal? Me neither. So, what will 2021 look like? What are the trends that will define it?

No surprise that the professional forecasters have peered into the murk and are now publishing their wisdom in the form of their 2021 projections and trends across business, society, consumer behaviour and the economy.

Here is a curated list of some of the most prominent and interesting trends.

Some are surprising, some are maybe ‘predictable‘, all though are likely to play a role in the unfolding pattern and texture of this year we are entering.

So, this Magnificent Seven starts with a trend that it seems almost everyone has identified as key for 2021.

1. Online shopping It relates to the stimulus that the Coronavirus has provided. Remaining at home in 2020 led older age groups to approach online shopping as well as younger people. And there will

be no going back. With high levels of e-commerce becoming the norm across European society’s different demographics.

The Creativepool report, The Consumer trends that will define 2021 stated that “Consumer insight platform Attest reports that 68.9% of Brits say they’re now more likely to shop online”. And for much business to business purchasing too.

All of which means that brands need to raise their game as far as the online user experience is concerned. The browsing and ordering process needs to be as smooth, enjoyable, and convenient as possible.

2. Sustainability Again, no great surprise here. The pandemic has forced consumers to reassess, or double down on, their attitudes to the environment as they saw some positive results and the planet start to recover. Sustainability will be a

burning topic in 2021 as consumers fear that recent gains are lost. Brands will be expected to play their part.

Those showing commitment to the cause are likely to have the upper hand.

3. Social re-evaluation In adjacent territory is the shift to the foreground of social causes and the quest for social justice. People at home reflecting on the state of society are increasingly not satisfied.

And they expect the brands to whom they give their loyalty to share their values and concerns. To illustrate this the GWI consumer trends report for 2021 showed 41% of consumers want brands to put more focus on supporting social causes.

4. DIY Innovation This is perhaps more left field than the trends outlined so far. People facing different challenges to the ones of the pre-Coronavirus world have shown remarkable ingenuity. They have found life hacks, improvised, and worked

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shape the way 2021 6. Safety First It is no surprise that personal safety and protection will be a priority around Europe in 2021. Safety, it can be argued, is the new wellness movement.

The fear of infection and increased health awareness will drive demand for hygiene products, contactless solutions and experiences, free from inherent risk. This safety obsessed trend was identified by Euromonitor International in its Top 10 Global Consumer Trends 2021 report.

around in both their private and working lives. The phenomenon has found expression in the surge in new business start-ups, the use of Tik Tok for medical advice, and the team behind Fortnite finding a way to bring a live game experience to 12 million. Organisations need to tap into the DIY revolution, innovating in such a way that their offerings become platforms on which third parties can adapt. Co-creation is the way ahead and a more ecosystem-oriented approach to innovation.

5. Work Evolution The contract between employer and employee is being reframed as workers who once travelled daily to their workplace are now effectively living in their office. To preserve and enhance wellbeing and productivity, employers can innovate in the areas of technology where investment in digital transformation can revolutionise work from home experiences, team collaboration and connectivity with

central databases and customers.

Companies that invest can emerge triumphant. Also, culture: as virtual teams interact in different ways to colocated teams. Ad hoc communications should be encouraged therefore to foster camaraderie and combat isolation.

7. Memorable Moments Lastly, home has become the new storefront, but without the buzz and thrill that comes with the instore purchase experience. This means an opportunity is forming for brands able to create a memorable moment.

Personalisation and supply chain solutions can contribute here to make a distinctive experience that gives competitive edge. As the Fjord Trends 2021 report from Accenture puts it succinctly: “The way we get hold of things changed in 2020, and it’s becoming more important to deliver joy right through to the last moment.”

So, seven diverse trends - many of them interdependent and complementary.

All of them important. The list is not definitive. The future isn’t. But it may serve as a working synthesis of what is heading our way. Strap yourself in – 2021 is upon us.

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56 Flint Group announces launch of XSYS Flint Group, a global leader in the supply of print consumables and services to the packaging industry, today announced the launch of XSYS, a brand-new division, the result of combining Flint Group Flexographic with Xeikon Prepress. Although the two groups have been working closely for some time in support of the flexographic and letterpress markets, this formal alignment will bring even more collaboration and innovation to the group and to its customers.

With the tagline Be Brilliant, the new division will work with its customers to honour its claim of Print Solid. Stay Flexible.

“With the integration of Xeikon Prepress with Flint Group Flexographic, we are now connecting the dots and are implementing an important step of our strategy to become a full solution provider for the flexographic prepress industry,” said Dagmar Schmidt, President of XSYS. “In forming this new division, we bring together what belongs together: Plates, Processing Equipment (solventand solvent free), Imagers, Sleeves and Adapters.

And with this move, we expand our expertise towards our customers. The name derives from ThermoFlexX, nyloflex, Xpress and other brands that feature the X, combined with Systems to form the name XSYS.” Friedrich von Rechteren, Global Commercial Vice President XSYS adds: “With a complete portfolio and a distinctive name we want to inspire

sleeves& adapters, ThermoFlexX TfxX Imagers, ThermoFlexX Catena Plate Processing equipment, and surface screening solutions.

not only our customers, but also our colleagues. Understanding, Flexibility and Consistency are our core values and our promise to customers and partners. Our values are what set us apart from competitors as a proactive, future-oriented player in the flexographic industry.

Our customers can count on us and on the quality of our products and services. At the same time, we are able to offer our customers flexibility and freedom in their decision-making – a key requirement in today’s world and even more so in the future.” With the new name comes a new mission and vision as well and a new logo and new website.

Explaining the Be Brilliant tagline, Schmidt says, “Be Brilliant, reflects our belief that the world needs brilliance.

Brilliant ideas and developments to meet the challenges of the future.

Brilliant people who have the courage and will to do the right thing. Our story started with a brilliant idea, and brilliant ideas are what keep us going.”

The existing products and brands that will be incorporated into XSYS include nyloflex® flexographic solvent and thermal plates & equipment, nyloprint® letterpress plates & equipment, nylosolv®, rotec®

All will operate under the divisional brand XSYS, keeping in place all existing brands and continuing to leverage them in the marketplace. “We are confident that by joining them together, we will further strengthen that position,” Schmidt notes. “Our division is primarily focusing on the prepress part of the value chain complemented by sleeves, which gives us excellent access to the printing press room. We are organized in three subdivisions who will all work closely together: Prepress, Plates and Sleeves. ” Xiaomi special edition packaging gets sparkling makeover Chinese electronics company, Xiaomi Corporation, will be using Scodix Crystal to transform the packaging of its latest release, the Xiaomi MI 11 Special Edition.

In honor of the company’s founder, Lei Jun, the Special Edition includes the Lei Jun signature and a special aesthetic effect on the back cover.

Under customary glass, ribbed materials across the back of the smartphone shimmer in different colours depending on how the light hits the glass. Xiaomi has simulated the dazzling effect on the smartphone packaging using Scodix Crystal.

The Xiaomi MI 11 is the first Snapdragon 888-powered smartphone in the world and, as a flagship product for the company, packs a top-tier display, premium speakers, great cameras, and more.

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57 Additionally, Canon once again ranked first in patents among Japanese companies for the 16th consecutive year.

Scodix Crystal allows users to create real 3D items and colourful sparkle effects using proprietary highbuild polymer, replacing the need to manually position crystals. The Scodix technology used to create Xiaomi’s Crystal enhancement was from the Scodix Ultra 1000’s Digital Enhancement Press Series.

The series includes six models, each specifically designed for a particular market, from commercial and specialty to Web 2 Print, Web 2 Pack and packaging. Each press includes up to nine Scodix applications – including Scodix Crystal – and a large variety of application combinations on one press.

Ziki Kuly, Scodix VP APJ & Product Marketing added: “We are very excited to be part of such a major launch.

The use of Scodix Crystal on the box complements the premium nature of the smartphone and adds to the opulence of the product. Crafting such engaging, high-end packaging creates a luxurious experience for the consumer as they unbox their freshest purchase. It’s an ideal application for Scodix Crystal.”

“As the world continues to shift and the needs of our customers evolve, we too will continue exploring new areas and future opportunities for innovation that will benefit our customers,” said Seymour Liebman, senior managing executive officer of Canon Inc. “Canon is proud to be in the top three patent holders as it further demonstrates our commitment to delivering innovative ideas and solutions that meet market and customer demands.”

Canon actively promotes the globalization of its business and places great value on obtaining patents overseas. Among these, the United States, with its many high-tech companies and large-market scale, represents a particularly important region in terms of business expansion and technology alliances.

Canon promotes the acquisition and utilization of intellectual property rights, not only for fundamental technologies required for next-generation products, but also for such technologies as wireless communication and imagecompression shared by the nextgeneration social infrastructure.

Alon Bar-Shany with Highcon now Former face of HP Indigo Alon BarShany returns to the industry with a new role in Highcon.

Canon ranks 3rd in 2020 Patent Ranking

Highcon has announced the appointment of Alon Bar-Shany to the role of Chairman of the Board. The announcement comes after Highcon raised $45 million on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in an “oversubscribed offering”.

Canon Inc. ranked third for the number of U.S. patents awarded in 2020 with 3,226 patents. With this year’s ranking, Canon has now ranked in the top five for number of patents granted for 35 consecutive years, according to the latest ranking of preliminary patent results issued by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services.

Bar-Shany is a recognisable face in the graphics industry as the former General Manager of HP Indigo. During his tenure at HP Indigo, Bar-Shany was recognized for having grown the company by over $1 billion in revenues.

Prior to that, he ran the HP Indigo business in EMEA, led the worldwide Indigo channel business and was CFO

of Indigo at the time of its acquisition

by HP. Alon was also a member of DSCOOP. Bar-Shany will be joining Highcon's Board of Directors comprising another familiar print name: Benny Landa, founder of Indigo and chairman of the Landa Group.

Alon Bar-Shany said: “I am looking forward to joining the Highcon Board and taking part in the ongoing digital transformation of the printing and packaging industry. Highcon has been a pioneer in the digitalization of the post-print part of the process which, after the growing adoption of digital printing, is where many bottlenecks now occur.

I have known Shlomo for 25 years and in fact, he recruited me to Indigo. I have been following the company and its customers for quite a while and will be supporting Shlomo and the Management team to ensure the success of Highcon customers, which will be a key driver for the company’s growth.”

Bar-Shany takes over the role from Amichai Steimberg, who has held this position since mid-2020 during the company’s successful IPO process, and who will be stepping down as planned.

Shlomo Nimrodi, Highcon CEO, added: “I am proud and happy to have Alon joining us in our digital transformation journey of the packaging industry. Alon’s industry expertise and

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58 reach, coupled with his experience in growing a capital equipment company, will be instrumental in executing our go-to-market strategy and scale-up.”

“As we start the year ahead, with this new team of expert players, Highcon is now well poised for growth and the ability to drive the digital change that is essential to optimize supply chains and reduce the inefficiencies that face the conventional folding carton and corrugated packaging industry.”

White Ink option has led to reliable quality output and positive return on investment With various branches in the Netherlands and Belgium, Verhoef has a proud heritage stretching back over 60 years. The company, based in Veldhoven just southwest of Eindhoven, supplies customers throughout the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and France, with high quality, durable products. Verhoef prides itself on delivering both the highest quality print – on various substrates including wood and plastic – and also on its rapid order fulfilment. In order to boost still further both production quality and speed, the company invested in an Acuity B1 from Fujifilm in early 2019.

Using a mix of screen and digital printing technologies, Verhoef ’s blend of expertise allows for the creation of innovative ideas. “Our working method is to be practical, inventive and cost-effective,” says company owner Jan Verhoef. “We stand by these principles in every area we work in.

We produce products such as modular systems, labels, banners, window decorations, signage, vinyl, floor stickers and tiles – each product is very important and we strive to deliver it to the highest specification and in the most optimal time.

“We did have another digital printer in the years leading up to the investment in the Acuity B1 – but we found that we needed something that was quicker from a production standpoint and cheaper to maintain,” explains Jan. “We noticed the Acuity B1 for the first time at an exhibition and we were immediately impressed by its capabilities, especially the fully

automated printing aspect. We already had (and still have) an Inca Digital Onset X1 from Fujifilm and having seen the quality output and reliability from that machine, we knew that partnering up with Fujifilm again made sense.

“We’ve been very impressed with the Acuity B1. While our production has quickened, the quality has also been outstanding. The white ink option, which we were the first in the world to take up, allows us to produce vibrant work that really stands out, especially on transparent materials. The white ink print heads are very stable and, two years on from our investment, we’ve had no issues at all.”

Mr Verhoef also notes how impressed he and his colleagues have been with the automated operation of the machine: “The operator will start the printer up, and then the production run requires no intervention at all, allowing our staff to focus on other tasks. Overall, it’s helped with cost savings and shortened our production times, which is essential given the demands of our customers.

“Working with Fujifilm and Inca has been a pleasure once again,” concludes Jan. “They are good listeners and provide helpful advice – they are the perfect partner for us.”

Jaap van Duren, General Manager at Fujifilm Sericol comments: “Verhoef has always stood by its principles of

delivering high quality work costeffectively, and we’re delighted to see how the Acuity B1 is aiding that pledge. Having already benefitted from the reliability and quality of the Onset X1, the company is now seeing identical success with the Acuity B1.

We look forward to continuing to work with them and helping them to improve still further on the service they offer to their customers.”

Print over 1 million codes per hour!

Whilst most of us were glad to see the end of 2020 with all the disruption and distress caused by Covid-19, many label and packaging printers experienced a healthy growth due to growing trends in e-commerce and with brand owners using more variable data printing (VDP) and personalisation to communicate with consumers during this time […]

Whilst most of us were glad to see the end of 2020 with all the disruption and distress caused by Covid-19, many label and packaging printers experienced a healthy growth due to growing trends in e-commerce and with brand owners using more variable data printing (VDP) and personalisation to communicate with consumers during this time of uncertainty.

In the video link below, witness high speed digital printing at its best, as Domino’s dual bar K600i digital inkjet printer prints variable data onto labels, each with a unique linear barcode, QR code and data matrix code, at 150

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Printing Innovation Asia Issue 1/2 2021

60 with optimum print density, but can print at up to 150 metres per minute.

The dual bar unit demonstrated in this video prints 150 metres per minute at optimum print density, and can still print at 600 x 600dpi at up to 200 metres per minute.

With over 42 years’ heritage of developing and manufacturing digital inkjet printing equipment, Domino has created a flexible system with superior performance and reliability. In the video, Philip highlights and explains the benefits of Domino’s unique i-Tech intelligent Technology features, which together result in reduced setup time and maintenance costs, high reliability and uptime, and improved profitability.

metres per minute. This means it is capable of printing 9,000 linear metres with 350,000 labels and over one million completely different codes per hour! Visit: https://go.domino-printing.com/K600iVDPLabelexpo2019 Jim Orford, K600i Product Manager from Domino Digital Printing Solutions, says: “Covid-19 has really accelerated the growth in e-commerce, a trend which is likely to remain after lockdown restrictions are lifted. Brand owners are also placing more emphasis on personalisation to engage with consumers through loyalty and promotional programmes, and to track their products through the supply chain.

This has resulted in some of our label and packaging converter customers reporting a 40-50% increase in the demand for variable data printed labels during the pandemic.”

The Domino K600i is all about high quality and high speed digital printing of variable data. This ranges from simple alpha-numeric text and

sequential numbering, to a wide range of industry standard machine-readable barcodes and 2D codes, including QR and Data Matrix codes. These are used for logistics and reverse logistics in ecommerce and online retail, for ‘track and trace’ applications in the food and beverage sectors, and for security applications including brand protection, in the pharmaceutical and tobacco sectors.

This versatile, monochrome UV inkjet printer is available in seven different print width formats, ranging from 108mm to 782mm, in either a standard single print bar or the high speed dual bar configuration. It can be retrofitted onto most conventional printing presses and finishing lines.

The K600i can be used with Domino’s UV-curable, LED-curable and aqueous pigmented ink sets, with a high opacity white ink, a fluorescent ink and a clear varnish also available.

The single print bar prints 75 metres per minute at 600 x 600dpi resolution

Philip concludes, “We recognise converters have a choice from the various inkjet printing equipment suppliers in the marketplace. We are delighted that so many have chosen Domino for high speed digital printing – we now have approaching 1000 global installations based on this 6th generation inkjet technology. Our customers recognise that the K600i digital inkjet printer is simple to run and maintain, offering exceptional productivity and efficiency, enabling them to react to this VDP opportunity and providing profitable, efficient, on-time delivery to their brand owner customers.”

Best of 2020 – A Year in Print 2020 has no doubt been a challenging year for us all. Looking back on these past twelve months though, we are happy to see all the interesting advances and exciting innovations made in the print industry nonetheless!

2020 might have been a year dominated by the global pandemic, but it also was a year full of print revolution and groundbreaking innovations. To make sure those advances don’t get lost – and to hopefully give you a more positive outlook on the future – we have gathered the most interesting and exciting articles of our drupa blog for you!

Shaping the Future In 2020, 3D printing was everywhere!

In design, it was a valuable asset for Adidas’ new running shoe and for HorizON, they combined the ground-

5th INTERNATIONAL PACKAGING AND PRINTING EXHIBITION FOR ASIA

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 1/2 2021

61

22- 25 SEP 2021 BITEC • BANGKOK

www.pack-print.de

325

National Pavilions and Groups

leading exhibiting companies from

from Germany, Taiwan, Thailand, China and Singapore

30

countries and regions

International Visiting Delegations

More than

19,000

from the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Korea, Japan and many more, as well as local group visits from Thailand's printing and

trade visitors from

63

countries, making up a 30% overseas participation Supported by:

I

Messe DUsseldorf / Organizer of:

packaging industries

For enquiries:

Within Thailand:

Exposis Co., Ltd Tel (66} 2559 0856 _ Fax (66} 2559 2893 info@exposis.co.th

Overseas:

Messe DUsseldorf Asia Tel (65} 6332 9620 _ Fax (65} 6332 9655 ppi@mda.com.sg

Jointly organized by:

8* au1Aumsuss,il'irurllna

THE THAI PACKAGING ASSOCIATION

The Thai Printing Association

f Messe Diisseldorf Asia

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 1/2 2021

62 freezing, thawing and gradual warming, as well as tampering and even authentication. The effects of COVID-19 and the upcoming challenge of producing and distributing the vaccine all over the world, have reminded all of us of how pressing the need for a secure supply chain actually is for our everyday life.

A Story of Sustainability: Adapting to Customers’ Demands In packaging production, sustainability turned out to be the top trend of 2020. In addition to the usual industry 4.0 and workflow automation advances, it was one of the most discussed topics of this print sector and showed promising advances these past twelve months.

breaking print technology with traditional Italian glass-making. 3D printing changed the world by creating the first-ever community of 3D printed houses for poor families in Mexico. It started a food revolution with the first 3D printed vegan steak. 3D printing even made it to space: When NASA goes back to the moon in 2024, the new lunar base might be built using astronauts‘ urine and moon dust. Researchers from Norway’s Østfold University College found out that these materials are capable of withstanding enormous weights while retaining their structure when used to form samples in a 3D printer.

They even survive repeated freezethaw cycles without breaking. But that is not all, 3D printing might even conquer Mars. A first step toward 3D printing in space was taken by installing a 3D printer on the International Space Station in 2016 and in an interview with the Observer, Made in Space president Andrew Rush says that 3D printing can make even Elon Musk’s dream of landing a million people on the Red Planet by 2050 a reality.

Experts see 3D printing being used pretty much in every product development process in the near future. It is already entering a new phase, the phase of mass production. The next Industrial Revolution seems to be very

close and 3D printing is quite literally shaping the future.

Sensors Finding Their Way Into Various Areas When it comes to future technologies and functional printing, “sensors” seem to be the number one buzz word in 2020. A team of researchers led by Francesco Greco developed inkjetbased “tattoo electrodes”, revolutionising brain signal measurement.

Engineers even developed a new, heat-free sintering process that allows to print wearable sensors directly onto the human skin. But we didn’t just find new ways to use printable sensors for humans to find new, convenient ways to monitor human body functions, we also found a way to secure supply chains with printable sensors: Chromatic Technologies, Inc. (CTI) created printable thermochromic ink to help ensure the safety of pharma products and vaccines.

Keeping the supply chain for pharmaceutical and medical products stable and secure has always been an especially challenging task, not only do producers and suppliers need to maintain the cold chain, they also have to prevent tampering and ensure the authentication of the products every step of the way.

Those new printable sensors are able to detect temperature changes like

Food packaging has been criticised a lot in recent years, so it comes as no surprise that we saw a rise in innovative sustainable food packaging options right at the beginning of the year.

Sustainability rose to its prominence by being the top priority of both consumers and retailers which signified a huge shift in the market.

In an attempt to make packaging more eco-friendly, paper became a new, yet familiar packaging trend! But all in all, almost every company tried to play its part to go with the mantra of the green revolution “reduce, reuse, recycle” by focusing on circular economy and leading packaging materials back into the recycling circuit.

But combating the challenges facing the packaging industry will take more than just a nice new coat of green.

The e-commerce sector has proven to not only be a chance of growth for the packaging industry but also a challenge: Customers’ demands call not only for eco-friendly alternatives, but also for more flexibility which requires improved management systems that in the end pay off in every area of our industry.

We are looking forward to seeing what the creative minds in companies, research institutions, start-ups, agencies and associations have in store for us in 2021!

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 1/2 2021

63 More than 50 million cards with personalized and embossed foils Scodix announces record breaking numbers of enhanced prints during Q4 2020 holiday season in North America. Scodix customers in North America have surpassed a combined total of more than 50 million cards with personalized and embossed foils for the 2020 peak holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Jason Rollo, Scodix President of North America, states, “We are delighted that the Web-2-Print business has seen outstanding continued growth, even during the Covid-19 pandemic. The numbers tell the story of how end-customers have chosen digital enhancement to boost their printed family holiday cards.”

Two main factors affecting Scodix’ success during the 2020 holiday season are the Scodix Studio Web-2Print Automation Workflow package coupled with the Scodix Ultra Digital Enhancement Press throughput and

reliability. The Scodix Studio Web-2Print automation workflow maximized throughput by automating print data pre-processing, whilst the Scodix Ultra press printed continuously in three shifts daily during the entire period, ensuring on-time delivery.

In addition, Liza Yitzhaik, Scodix Director of Customer Support, adds, “With no reports of customer downtime, and superb productivity

performance, Scodix is proud to have successfully delivered the prints our customers required during this critical season. Whilst every holiday season is significant, this one was particularly momentous, as many people across the world are missing close-contact with friends and family, a special card can go a little way to help bridge that gap.”

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