When Labels Meet Digital, the Industry Landscape Will Be Reshuffled

[ppzhan Abstract] The birth of new technologies generally comes at the cost of abandoning the old economic development model. At the peak of digital printing's development, the label industry has entered a period of industry reshuffling.

As a carrier of product information, labels have become an inseparable part of products. In recent years, the label printing industry in various places has continued to grow at a rate 1-3% higher than GDP (gross national product). In developing economies such as China, India, Eastern Europe and Latin America, this growth rate is even a bit higher. Such a huge market demand inevitably requires corresponding technical support, so digital printing technology, which is currently a hot technology in the industry, can help label printing plants broaden their business scope and conveniently develop new, high-value-added solutions for their customers, thereby obtaining higher profit margins.

Digital label printing has become a powerful development trend in the world label industry today. Of the label industry's 73 billion US dollars in output value, digital printing accounts for about 3 billion US dollars, and this figure is growing rapidly at 15% per year.

In 2012, the installed base of various digital label presses worldwide exceeded 2,000 units, the vast majority of which were installed in relatively developed countries and regions for the label industry such as Europe (about 44%) and North America (about 34%). In addition, about one fifth of newly installed label presses were digital label presses. At the 2011 European Label Printing Exhibition and the 2012 North American Label Printing Exhibition, we saw that suppliers of digital inkjet label printing equipment already numbered more than 40. In addition, some new business models have emerged; for example, besides digital printing, other digital processing technologies in the label printing field are also gradually surfacing.

The label laser die-cutting system of Han's Guanhua, the flexographic/resin plate CTP platemaking system of Huaguang Jinggong, and the flexo digital plates of Lucky Huaguang are all products launched to help label printing achieve digitalization. Together with digital printing, these digital processing technologies of traditional printing constitute the main channel for label printing technology to advance toward digitalization. Along with the launch of these technologies, label printing processing technology is ushering in a new upheaval.

However, a problem that may make label printing plants uneasy is that inkjet equipment manufacturers usually sell products directly to their customers, that is, end users. For example, EFI company directly sold two Jetrion 4830 inkjet devices to the European pharmaceutical manufacturer B. Braun. But in most cases, brand owners, distributors and product manufacturers prefer label printing plants to provide them with digital printing solutions - especially in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, where information changes continuously and zero inventory is required.

In summary, traditional label printing methods have begun to decline, and more people are keen on digital printing. This is about to trigger a great reshuffling of the label printing industry. If traditional label printers at this time still have not set up their own digital printing departments to provide short-run printing services and variable data printing solutions to existing customers, then they will not be able to compete with emerging companies and will in the end hardly escape the fate of being forced to exit the stage of history.

Besides digital printing, other digital processing technologies in the label printing field are also gradually surfacing. The label laser die-cutting system of Han's Guanhua, the flexographic/resin plate CTP platemaking system of Huaguang Jinggong, and the flexo digital plates of Lucky Huaguang are all products launched to help label printing achieve digitalization. Together with digital printing, these digital processing technologies of traditional printing constitute the main channel for label printing technology to advance toward digitalization. Along with the launch of these technologies, label printing processing technology is ushering in a new upheaval.

—This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn); original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-361889.html