Background Corrugated packaging is projected to grow at globally at a rate of 2.2% CAGR for the period of 2020–2025. Flexo is still the primary printing process for corrugated and will be for a long time to come. However, the use of production inkjet in corrugated production is ramping up at a pace of about 20% CAGR during that same period, according to Smithers. That growth includes both preprint and postprint corrugated, an important distinction, since many believe that digital print, and specifically inkjet, is only designed for short runs or on-demand applications. Two Different Stories There are many different uses of corrugated boxes, and many different ways to decorate the box. For printing equipment manufacturers, converters, and print service providers the most appealing is “High Graphics.” We are not talking about the brown box; we are talking about the boxes that have litho label/laminate (preprint) or are just directly printed (postprint) with colorful eye-catching graphics using a single or multi process using three or more colors. High graphic preprint volumes are currently produced with flexo and, for higher quality, offset. Offset and flexo inks are a lot less expensive than inkjet inks. However, any perceived benefits of both flexo and offset as preprint solutions may be a false equivalent. Remember that with flexo and offset, you still need to make and mount plates, print, and then laminate, so your mileage may vary depending on your production requirements. Even if you don’t have lots of shorter runs, digital may still be the less expensive and more productive solution. Here are two different companies that have found production inkjet for corrugated preprint to be the key to optimizing their production. LIC Packaging Spa In 1952, Giovanni Bertoldo started his printing company LIC in Verolanuova, Italy, in the province of Brescia. In 1961, they entered packaging to produce shoe boxes to support the needs of the shoemaking region of Italy utilizing his offset equipment. In 1982, they realized that all of their customers needed to deliver the shoeboxes in corrugated boxes, so they added corrugated flexo printing. In 1991, they added their first BHS corrugator to manufacture their own corrugated board in-house. In 1997, they added display production to leverage their production capabilities to support their existing and new customers including standup floor displays, counter displays, and shelf-ready packaging. Last year, their turnover was close to €100 million with about 280 people. The company is now run by Giovanni’s two children and the business is growing rapidly. According to Piero Bertoldo, the President at LIC Packaging, “they felt they needed to look at more productive printing solutions that would support the new market requirements and their future growth.” In 2017, LIC purchased their first digital corrugated press, the HP Scitex 15500 to support the growth of their display and packaging business with high color graphics. Prior to this, they utilized the litho laminate preprint process with their sheetfed offset equipment. To further complement their existing production range, and support their increasing volume, they recently added an HP PageWide T1190. It’s faster than the existing litho laminate process and it uses water-based inks, so it will support primary and secondary packaging. They also believe that in the future customers may ask him to use variable data in the packaging for security and tracking, and the digital production will support that. Bertoldo soon realized that the digital production is not just for short run or variable data, it is also another tool to enable him to optimize the production of the plant. He has calculated that the installation of digital presses in place of offset and the litho laminate process will be less expensive, reducing capital expense and operational overhead in the long term. He calculated in the next five years, if his volume increases another 30 or 40 million printed with high color, they will have to invest in two or three offset machines with 20 to 25 people to operate the six to nine shifts. And in the end, it will be more cost effective to use HP T Series presses. In 2019 they installed an HP C500 for the postprint work. Hummingbird Georgia-Pacific got into high color graphics with their Color-Box. Since its inception, they were using sheetfed offset for their litho laminate process. However, they recognized that putting in offset presses to support a given facility can be expensive, whereas, if done right, preprint can theoretically go to any number of facilities. They started to do research and zeroed in on HP T series presses. In 2015, they bought their first inkjet press, an HP T 400 to support the increasing growth in high color corrugated. Converting a sheet plant to roll is a big investment. There was a lot of R&D and risk because it was new, but “we were fortunate that Georgia-Pacific’s part of Koch and they were willing to make the investment and put the R&D dollars into Learning where it could work with the primarily offset assets that were already at Color-Box,” according to Bob Seay VP, Digital Print Solutions for Georgia-Pacific Corrugated. GP has about 40 plants across the country, but many do brown box and not all do high color work. To expand their success at the Color-Box facility, in 2017, they added a T 1100 and saw how they could use the new press to supply additional plants that did high color. The program proved successful and recently they added a new HP T 1190 to support more plants and increased volume. “So, we can support our entire network of box plants from our preprint presses in three locations around the US,” added Seay. “That means they can provide high quality graphics surfaces where appropriate. While it’s very localized, that can make sense for us, since our primary goal is to be able to support all of our different box plants.” As high color corrugated use continues to grow, many other corrugators are showing interest in rollfed production inkjet for preprint work. However, it is a big investment, as GP recognized, and it does require reconfiguring the plant operations to support rolls instead of sheets. So many corrugators are looking for a way to ‘get their feet wet’ and learn before they purchase a new press. As a result, Hummingbird has also developed quite a trade business as well. As Seay said, “it’s easier for trade partners to buy rolls from us and then corrugate and then convert the boxes.” It takes the entire investment of a press at this point, and in the short term will make a lot of sense for a lot of companies. More to Come… I would like to address your interests and concerns in future articles as it relates to the manufacturing of Print, Packaging, and Labels, and how, if at all, it drives future workflows including “Industry 4.0.” If you have any interesting examples of hybrid and bespoke manufacturing, I am very anxious to hear about them as well. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, suggestions or examples of interesting applications.