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
