For the past few weeks we have featured articles that have come mostly from a report we produced specifically for Brand Owners titled: Is Digital Printing Part of Your Brand or Operational Strategy? This week we are pulling from another report we produced in cooperation with Mike Ferrari of Ferrari Innovation Solutions and former Procter & Gamble executive that is geared for OEMs who are developing digital systems for the packaging marketplace. This report, while focused on the label printing sector, has content relevant for all packaging applications. Contact us directly for more information on that report.

Those developing systems for packaging applications need to understand what brand owners are interested in, and what are their perceptions of digital printing? In 2002, Temple Inland, a large corrugated converter, published the following information related to end-user feedback on digital printing. The participants encompassed a broad cross section of large, medium and small-sized brand owners and direct retailers. Responses came from sales, marketing, purchasing, and operations personnel. Karstedt Partners continues to update the base information. Very little has changed over the past years in terms of user responses.

In the survey, the respondents were asked a variety of questions to gauge their receptivity to a digital print process. Packaging was broadly defined to include corrugated containers, folding cartons, labels, and flexible packaging. No digital technology was identified by either brand or type of technology. Many tried to define the digital value proposition with a single phrase or attribute. The table below demonstrates how the digital value proposition is viewed from the perspective of retailers and brand owners. It is interesting to note that even different functional groups within the same company have a difficult time defining the single attribute that drives digital value.