Digital and Automation Shape the Future
While you might be thinking ‘the digitization of labelling is nothing new’, we see some sectors from the folding carton to flexible packaging are yet to be convinced to start. Digitalization is a way to optimize an entire production floor and ultimately a way to be more effective and more profitable. It’s in this context that digitalization, standardization and automation of processes are getting higher on agendas across all company sizes. Saskia Reißner, at Werbeideen und Etikettendruckerei Reissner GmbH underlines that “with the HP Indigo 6K, we are now taking the next step and will be able to benefit from even more automation options in the future and further expand our product portfolio”.
We’re already seeing that from our customers such as Enplater who recently installed the HP Indigo 200K. Chief Operating Officer Marti Alaball highlighted how impressed the company is to see that small improvements across the board have made a dramatic difference in the speed, performance, stability and reliability of the new press”.
Over the next year we’ll increasingly see converters create connectivity between their systems and automate their processes with cloud-based solutions and improve productivity through data analysis and AI. But digital isn’t going to be a rip out and replace for the industry, effective digital is not just a digital press. We’re convinced that digital technologies can intelligently complement conventional technologies, and we’ll continue to see a hybrid approach for some years to come.
Adopting the “right press for the job” will be critical. High value short runs delivered by digital presses such as the HP Indigo 6K, long runs to be produced on the new V12 and large labels and sleeves printed by wider press such as our HP Indigo 200K, Flexo used at its sweet spot - longer runs and jobs with complex converting.
One of our beta customers, Roger Gehrke Plant Manager – Trittau – All4Labels has already seen significant success with the recent implementation of the new HP Indigo V12 underlining that “the HP Indigo V12 is a game changer! We have the speed, we have the quality we have the versatility and the efficiency, that’s closing the gap to conventional printing”
We see big global brands such as Nutella, and major global brands, leveraging digital print and moving from seasonal campaigns to a worldwide strategy. Nutella has consistently leveraged HP Indigo technology and unique AI solutions for over 6 years, to initiate campaigns in more than 25 markets worldwide.
Managing growth, addressing more complex and more demanding packaging formats, overcoming environmental constraints, optimizing brand owners supply chain, implementing new regulations, attracting new talent to the industry, developing new business models like web-to-pack, and welcoming new entrants from the commercial printing world is the new packaging landscape.
After decades of growth in a stable and predictable environment, the labels & packaging industry is at a major tipping point. Market development has been, for years and decades, driven by technological developments, and we have now reached a point where the entire supply chain is at the core of future developments. Digital is moving from various niches to mainstream, changing the nature of the conversations.
At HP, we are committed to not only adding value into the printing processes, but across the entire value chain. A full digitalization journey is necessary to embrace the challenges ahead, and drupa 2024 will be a turnkey moment where automation will be a major element to watch. With partners, across inkjet and LEP printing technologies, adding intelligence to machines and processes, we will help converters to produce more effectively and sustainably.