Packaging

Like so many areas of communication technology, industrial printing is beginning to move from analogue to digital - and of course, home and small office printing has been digital for a number of years.

To quote the UK magazine Converting Today (Oct 2004) "The future is digital because of inevitability and progress, and the impact on the (packaging) industry will be to invent things that couldn't be done before".

This transition to digital is beginning to be seen in the packaging industry. Toner based systems such as HP Indigo and Xeikon have been available for a number of years and in the last two years a number of significant drop-on-demand inkjet printing projects have been getting underway. More are planned later this year and product launches are anticipated at major trade exhibitions.

White Paper

The Xaar Guide to Digital Printing in the Packaging Sector
Date Published: 28th August 08

Why Digital?

Global brands - local languages
Legislative print requirements

Typically there are a number of marketing issues that appear to be best addressed by digital print. These include:

Personalisation of product
Global brands but local languages, which is a significant factor in Europe
Legislative print requirements

There is also growing discontent with the traditional print supply chain that can result in:

Long lead-times determined by printing plate or cylinder production
Mass production
High stocks
High wastage and write-offs

Plus, of course, traditional print does not cater for the current need for rapid change which demands "just-in-time" solutions and economic methods of handling short print runs with both acceptable production efficiencies and levels of non-productive down-time.

The Benefits of Digital Print

The benefits of digital print enable us to "invent things that couldn't be done before". Amongst the most important are:

100% continuity in workflow with little or no time lost between print jobs
With suitable software it offers variable data printing on demand (e.g. Ixpressia from Cametrics)
There are no films, screens, plates or rollers to make, process or clean and hence
Reduced pre-press costs
Reduced waste and environmental issues
Simple copy change (e.g. by email)
Print dimension independence as repeat-length is not dependent on cylinder circumference

The ability to handle short run lengths efficiently facilitates:

Swift reaction to market opportunities
Faster order turnaround
Significantly reduced inventory
Reduced wastage

Applications in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Packaging Sector

The applications within this sector are numerous. The obvious ones are the printing of blister packs and cartons with variable data to cater for different product specifications, languages etc. This should minimize stock and allow run length optimization. The machine developed for blister pack printing by G-Mat Engineering Ltd is off-line and is fed with blister packs that have been stored in magazines after lengthy production runs which are then printed with a UV ink, cured and re-stacked in magazines ready for subsequent packing. Inkjet printing is non-contact and therefore substrate independent making it highly suitable for uneven surfaces such as Du Pont's Tyvek which is widely used in medical device packing.

There is no doubt that inkjet printing is moving into a new era with the introduction of the Xaar 1001 TF Technology printhead. It is ideal for a wide range of production line printing applications across both the packaging sector and industries such as textiles and ceramics where operational efficiency is critical.

Xaar printheads developed for the Packaging market

Xaar 1001
Xaar 760