Getting Smart With Digitally Printed Packaging

Brands are under constant pressure to create innovative, rewarding experiences for consumers — and the smart ones are turning to product packaging.

With the help of their production partners, they’re creating ingenious, hard-working packaging that adds value throughout a product’s journey.

Let’s take a look at the packaging opportunities they’re taking advantage of with the help of digital print technology.

...with the potential to create new opportunities for consumer engagement.

Digitally printed folding cartons enable:

• Relevant personalization
• Promotional versioning
• Brand protection
• Test-market prototyping
• Cost-effective, tailored SKUs
• Value-added serialization
• End-of-life/declining volume solutions

Digitally printed folding cartons will see a CAGR of 40% between 2015 and 2020.¹

Digitally printing onto plastics and flexible substrates enables:

• Superb image quality
• High-impact branding, even on short-run products
• Flexibility to respond to short-run applications
• Minimal inventory
• Reduced process costs by eliminating need for labels

Less than 1% of printing for flexible is done digitally today. However, it is expected to grow at a 32% CAGR from 2015 to 2019.²

Printing directly onto objects of nearly all shapes and sizes enables:

• Easy customization and personalization
• Ability to respond to quickly changing designs
• Faster production with no need for labels

Less than 1% of printing for direct-to-object applications is done digitally today. However, it is expected to grow at a 44% CAGR from 2015 to 2019.³

Digital inkjet color on porous containerboard enables:

• High-quality, brand-specific corrugated packaging for smaller brands that don’t have the volumes required for traditional production methods
• Efficient production for low-volume SKUs and end-of-life/declining volumes
• Agility for quick design changes, unique customization and personalization

Digital inline package printing using inkless, laser-based technology offers several improvements over inkjet and thermal transfer processes:

• Benchmark image quality at high speed
• Wider formats
• Minimal maintenance
• Superior reliability
• Supply chain efficiencies
• Reduce SKUs
• Create last-minute promotions

…information using a thin flexible label that can contain sensors, power, circuits, communication, and displays. This can improve processes and outcomes by:

• Authenticating products
• Monitoring quality and environmental conditions
• Tracking supply chain conditions
• Providing information for analytics
• Enhancing customer experiences

30% of all food produced globally is lost or wasted. In 2010, that amounted to 133 billion pounds of food with an estimated value of $161.6 billion.⁴