Feature
manufacturer the ability to efficiently
print a book throughout its complete
lifecycle – thus creating additional,
profitable revenue streams.
2. Label printing and converting
Bill Myers, Marketing Manager of Digital
Print for Domino Printing, indicates that
the label-printing sector faces the same
issues – shorter runs, faster turnarounds,
reduced inventory and reduced waste.
Flexo, the conventional print production
process in this sector, is still ideal for
long run lengths with minimal changes.
Yes, run lengths are decreasing, but the
number of different label runs are
increasing – drastically. A quick stroll
through the supermarket will show you
how the label printing landscape has
changed. As Myers mentions, manufac-
turers of food, beverage and consumer
goods are continually generating new
flavours, colours, scents, varieties and
sizes. The demand for innovative ways
to differentiate products by their pack-
aging and labels continues to grow.
That’s were digital printing comes in.
As in the earlier book-printing example,
having both conventional flexo print
capabilities and digital print capabilities
gives the label printer/converter the
ability to cross-leverage both technologies.
With the addition of digital capabilities,
the label printer/converter can now offer
faster turnaround times, variable print
capabilities, shorter runs, and so on,
while attracting new clients and increasing
“share of wallet” with their existing client
base. In other words, digital printing
offers complementary capabilities to the
conventional flexo printing process.
The label printing/converting market has
also seen an interesting development
with the introduction of hybrid systems,
or the integration of conventional flexo
with digital inkjet production systems.
On one hand you have a production run
of a million static labels, so the conven-
tional flexo press is the logical choice.
On the other hand, if you only need to
print a few thousand specialty labels, your
logical choice would be a digital press,
avoiding the cost of plates and longer
set-up times inherent with the flexo press.
30 | April 2019 | GRAPHIC ARTS MAGAZINE
It becomes a challenge,
however, when you want
to be able to print long
runs that include static
information, combined
with some variable data or
variable imaging, while
also having to add spot
colours, varnish, die-cutting,
etc. That’s where your
hybrid press comes in,
combining the best of
both the worlds (flexo and digital), while
creating the ability to print/convert
complex label jobs that have both static
and variable content, augmented by
additional options. Deciding on acquiring
a hybrid press depends on many factors.
You not only need to understand the
complexity of such a hybrid press, you
will also need to consider the impact on
your workflow, workload and operator
training. Also consider its growth potential,
the range of configurations and related
applications that you want to produce
on your hybrid press.
3. Catalogue printing, direct
marketing and display graphics
This example is probably one of the
more striking instances of convergence,
made possible by the combination of
digital and analogue print production
assets. In this case, the commercial
printer in question leveraged both
digital and conventional printing tech-
nologies to produce a wide spectrum of
printed products for a large retail client.
It used its Komori lithographic offset
presses to produce the retailer’s
catalogue, which was mailed to the
client’s customer list and made available
in their stores at the beginning of the
campaign. This was subsequently
followed up by three direct-mail campaigns
spread over three seasons. The direct-mail
campaigns make use of data collected
from the client’s buying habits. This
direct-mail piece contained variable
data and images as well as a QR code,
which in turn gave the client e-access to a
wider range of versioned product offerings.
The personalized direct-mail pieces
were printed 6-up on a digital inkjet
Agfa Jeti Tauro H3300
sheetfed press and finished offline via
a modular finishing process that included
folding, die cutting, perforating, tipping
(loyalty bonus card) and inserting. The
marketing campaign also included interior
signage and visual display products that
were all printed on its Agfa Tauro Digital
Wide-Format Press. The commercial
printer also did the kitting and distribu-
tion of the printed materials to the
different retail locations. This example,
once again, shows the power of
leveraging digital and analogue and
coordinating multiple components of
the retail client’s campaign – all while
attracting a larger “share of wallet”.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt that we’re long past
the stage of asking ourselves whether
we should use digital print production
technologies or analogue print pro-
duction technologies. Digital print
production is now an integral part of our
industry. The question should now be
which specific digital print platforms
best fit into your business model. Over
the past five to ten years, the quality,
cost structure, short-run and variable-
data capabilities of digital have evolved
to a level where they should now be an
integral part of your equipment fleet.
Alec Couckuyt is an experienced printing
executive who’s held key roles at Canon
Canada, Agfa Graphics (Belgium, Canada,
Germany), Transcontinental Printing,
Symcor and U.S.-based EDS. He holds a
Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics
from the University of Antwerp in
Belgium and can be reached at
[email protected]
graphicartsmag.com