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At past events, Packtech was an area where production engineers were rather left to their own devices. With its extension into digital print for packaging, however, it looks sure to attract the interest of visiting brand owners in search of new ways to get to market more effectively, reports Des King

While already well established within the commercial print sector, most of the digital systems developers grouped within the newly introduced Print for Packaging zone will be gaining exposure at a packaging show for the first time. What's brought them to the NEC is not necessarily the lure of direct sales, but more the shared objective of plugging a yawning knowledge gap beyond their targeted customer base.

Converters may have a working understanding of digital print as a production process, but among brand owners, retailers and designers there's a far lower level of awareness as to what this technology might achieve in real terms. Suddenly, engineering equals marketing.

Strategically located at the crossover point between Packaging Innovations and Packtech, the Print for Packaging Zone has been introduced in direct response to visitor demand, says easyFairs managing director Matt Benyon. "Thirty-nine per cent of visitors to last year's show flagged up print as a key area they'd like to see included. We determined that the best way to meet that level of interest was to focus on ways in which mostly digital print could achieve their objectives, rather than how it was produced.

Matching the marketing agenda

"The digital print solutions and technologies being presented on site specifically match highly pertinent marketing criteria: including shorter runs, tighter budgetary control, lower inventories, on-shelf differentiation and achieving faster, slicker consumer-facing time to market," says Benyon.

Benyon argues that the event is unique not only in its focus on furthering the capabilities of packaging as a marketing tool, but as an environment within which converters and their customers can feel equally comfortable in going about their business. "It's a talking shop through which concepts translate into commercial realities," he says. "The possibilities opened up via the Print for Packaging zone will advance that debate and provide a real eye-opener for a significant proportion of our visitors."

Spearheading the charge towards sparking brand-owner interest in digital print's marketing capabilities and converting that into system sales are specialist press manufacturers Xeikon (stand 147a) for labelling and flexible packaging, and Xerox (stand 144a) for folding cartons - both will be relying upon proven case-studies rather than displays of hardware to carry the message.

"We need to be talking to the supply chain beyond the atypical flexo printers," says Chris Matthews, managing director at Seiko UK. "There's a big gap between our customers and their customers, who wouldn't necessarily know what digital could do for them unless they were told by their suppliers. That's the gap we want to plug."

Heavyweight applications

Xeikon is also keen to support its technology's suitability for heavier-weight applications up to 500-micron thickness; the same cartonboard market that Xerox is targeting with its high-speed Gallop digital press, jointly developed with Stora Enso.

Driven by Xerox's next-generation iGen4 engine, the Gallop can deliver a fully die-cut, printed, coated and customised folding-carton in under a minute, says industrial sector manager Kevin O'Donnell. "It's frighteningly fast - and that's according to a user, not us with a Xerox stop-watch - and we'll be screening a real-time demonstration on our stand, showing just how effectively it's been test-driven on behalf of a major brand." The Gallop is currently in production and will carry an installation price of just under £1m, confirms O'Donnell.

While Xeikon and Xerox already have a foothold within the packaging print market, Konica Minolta (stand 358) is using the show to determine how best to position itself there via its C65 HC digital toner system, says group product manager Pauline Brooks. "We've developed new toners which make the cyan and magenta more vivid, and in partnership with Creo and Fiery have a far wider Pantone-registered colour gamut than on conventional RIPs. The overall cost is around £100,000, so for example it could be highly affordable for brands to originate their own prototypes," explains Brooks.

In-house prototyping

In the meantime, that's precisely the service on offer from both 3-D carton and speciality packaging visualiser Pakready, which applies a heat-sealed inkjet-printed transfer onto any required substrate; and HP Indigo user Opus 21 Digital, which has recently extended its fully finished mock-up service through the installation of the world's first Karlville K1 DigiSleeve seaming machine.

Epson (stand 375) will be giving a first UK demonstration of its Stylus Pro WT7900 inkjet system for flexible packaging proofing, with RIPs provided by GMG and EskoArtwork - which also exhibit in their own right on stand 143, showing their innovation and design tools, and 3-D rendering and proofing approval systems. "The reason why this show is very interesting to us is because of the high proportion of brands that attend," says Claes Jeppsson, senior business manager for EMEA. "At a commercialised price of below £8,000, we would definitely see them investing in this system to run samples and prototypes rather than relying upon repro bureaux. It's easy to do mock-ups on, and thereby control costs more efficiently."

Epson has also signed up to exhibit at eight additional easyFairs events across Europe this year and will be taking the opportunity of its participation at the NEC to discuss the short-run potential of its six-colour water-based inkjet press, due to be launched later in summer.

Digital for corrugated

Calypso Systems (stand 144) will be showing examples of customised retail-ready corrugated applications printed on its new CMYK single-pass non-impact digital inkjet press incorporating FujiFilm Dimatix Q-Class printheads. Developed in conjunction with SunJet, the Calypso DP can handle substrate thicknesses from E Flute to double-wall and has a competitively low installation price of £216,000.

Other companies exhibiting within the Print for Packaging Zone include Shuttleworth Systems (stand 343); large-format digital press manufacturer Roland DG (stand 144); Ktec (stand 156); and Abbey Labels (stand 146).

EskoArtwork and Xerox are among a number of digital solutions providers that will be presenting case-studies at Packtech learnShops.

"We've been delighted at the very positive response this initiative has received - way in excess of just a toe in the water, which, given their other existing show commitments, was what we were realistically anticipating from the digital sector," says Benyon.

"Not only will the presence of such players give visitors considerable food for thought, it's also given us a platform on which to build the time to market print focus at future events."

Case study: Short-run digital pharma packaging

Specialist consultancy in managing late-stage packaging customisation projects iDi Pac has partnered with the German industrial packaging developer CSAT to produce short-run variable data on folding cartons, blisters and labels for the pharmaceuticals and agrichemicals sectors. iDi Pac has also integrated its own DigiLeaflet system to print 30-micron thickness film PILs that can fold out to cover an area 1m long by 0.5m wide.

Covering a print width of 220mm, the CMYK piezo drop-on-demand inkjet ITS 600 has a running speed of 40m/min at 600dpi. With a compact 2.2 x 1m footprint, the system can be installed for Ä220,000-Ä300,000, dependent upon final specification.

"This will be its first showing in the UK," says iDi Pac director Chris Waterhouse. "We're targeting converters serving the pharma market, also pharma companies themselves, with in-plant facilities or using outsourced contract packer facilities. With dramatically reduced set-up required and the ability to change over between jobs in under five minutes, it's ideal for fulfilling short-run, customised solutions - as a front to end line will demonstrate at the show."

Best of show

Outside of the print zone, around 60 other manufacturers and suppliers will be showcasing new developments in packaging systems.

All-Fill International (stand 120) will be demonstrating a semi-automatic filler with foot-pedal operation, able to dose an extremely wide range of fill weights from 1gm up to 25kg

Atwell Labellers (stand 141) has developed a "linerless" alternative to standard self-adhesive label systems that incurs zero wastage, and extends reel capacity by over 60%

Domino (stand 125) is showing the V-Series range of high-quality thermal transfer overprinting (TTO) systems, incorporating patented technology that achieves up to 60% savings in ribbon usage per print - and whose high capacity 1.4km ribbon rolls (40% longer than other systems) significantly reduce down-time for ribbon changeover

Simplicity is sometimes the best solution. Goplasticpallets.com's (stand 132a) dual-colour combination marking can be a remarkably effective way of keeping track of transit packaging as it passes through the supply chain

Pago (stand 130) will be extending its series 100 range of labeling machines with its compact, the PAGOsystem 148, developed for high accuracy all-round labeling using a three-roller system and axial product alignment

Yorkshire Packaging (stand 109) is giving a first UK showing of the world's first fully biodegradable polyolefin shrink film (manufactured by the Bolloré Group). Bolphane BYO is claimed to shrink at the highest free shrink ratio of any film on the market - achieving improved presentation - and seals and shrinks much faster and at considerably lower temperatures.

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