Graphic Arts Magazine April 2019 | Page 30

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