Dawn of New Era – Digital Printing - Emerging Value Added Packaging Opportunity

PrintCity Alliance members provided inspiration and proved that digital printing is the new 'added value' opportunity for the packaging sector at the Océ Production Printing drupa Follow-up Event, Poing, Germany, September 25-28.

Océ together with Bobst, Eltosch, Esko, Kurz, manroland web systems, Merck, Metsä Board and WEILBURGER Graphics demonstrated that digital printing is an emerging and powerful new Value Added Packaging (VAP) technique and opportunity:

• Industrial digital printing now available to the packaging industry – it is a new  dimension for value added printing, additional to classical print technologies
• Many proven Value Added Printing techniques will become digital
• Digital is the latest 'added value' opportunity in creative packaging

In the powered by PrintCity Value Added Packaging (VAPack) area, the complete range of 25 creative samples (5 innovative designs + 5 variations of techniques & materials on each), complete with 'how do they do that' tutorials was available for brand owners, designers and printers to see what is now possible.

Why digital printing is an added value opportunity
The advantages of digital printing not only include the obvious benefits (short & medium print runs, reduced lead times, micro-zoning, individualized and personalized packages etc), but also the positive impact for the whole value chain.

These benefits include allowing more efficient production workflows and changed or new business models, giving additional advantages in production flexibility and reduced stock.

As VAP technologies become digital, in smart combination with "classical" decoration techniques such as varnishes, foils and embossing, new business solutions are now possible.

Canon Open 2012 – Creative Package Example
One of the many creative samples on display in the Value Added Packaging Days powered by PrintCity area in Poing in September was one created by Canon and Océ as a gift to players at the Canon Open golf tournament in Asia in October 2012.

Designed by Alexander Dort of CMD, the package with individualised serial numbers for these limited gifts includes these materials/techniques:

GD2 substrate (without any primer), printed with the Océ InfiniStream Technology with serialization, coated with WEILBURGER Graphics water-based coating, Hot-Foil stamped with KURZ foils and embossed (also with 3D-Relief Blind Embossing) with Hinderer & Mühlich tools for hot-foil and blind embossing.

Benefits of PrintCity Alliance activities
Over two years of work by PrintCity members & partners on their Value Added Packaging initiative now moves to a whole new level of opportunity for brand, design and packaging professionals in 2013.

PrintCity activities show the many benefits of working together in an alliance:

• Knowledge sharing is an advantage to all
• Combined knowhow results in:
• Inspiration
• Added value
• New business models & solutions
• Combination of existing (offset) and emerging (digital) techniques

More information on the PrintCity Alliance Value Added Packaging initiative can be found here: http://www.printcity.de/index.php?site_id=602