Page 14 - Food&Drink Business Magazine June 2019

PACKAGING
Sydney-based printing house Luminar has ramped up its digital pouch printing capabilities with the purchase of a mammoth new press – a move that could give food and beverage manufacturers a big boost. Jake Nelson reports.
A ray of sunshine for FMCGs
THE installation of a new HP Indigo 20000 digital press means Luminar – the rebranded Avonlea Labels – will be able to “say yes more than no”.
Luminar managing director Matt Ellis says the press, supplied by Currie Group, dramatically increases its capacity for flexible pouches.
“Flexibles went from zero to twenty per cent of our business in twelve months,” Ellis told Food & Drink Business.
“Because we operated narrow web, we were limited in what we could offer the industry. Now we can offer what it needs in terms of web width,” he says.
Ellis said Luminar partnered with “a couple of flexible packaging operators” who saw
the need for digital flexibles for their customers.
The result has been “a huge uptick” in customers, showing the company there is demand for flexible packaging.
Luminar is targeting a broad range of product segments, including: nutrition; natural and organic; dried meat; nuts; baked goods; confectionery; roasted coffee; and pet food.
According to Ellis, food and beverage manufacturers can now benefit from a high-quality digital solution with quick turnaround and no plates
or cylinders.
“We are passionate about
business and want to work with our customers long term and help them along their journey.”
Ellis could see many busineses were hindered by high minimum order quantities, making it cost prohibitive to introduce new products or to innovate.
“We are very comfortable with SKU variation and short- to medium-run order quantities.
“There’s a real opportunity to put the creative hat on and gain a return on investment,” he says.
The ease of ordering, combined with “the world of social media” impacting people’s attention spans makes it difficult to maintain customers focus, he says.
“Quantities per product are also going down, and I have found that a lot of businesses don’t like ordering high quantities because of the risk of obsolescence.”
“ Food science is getting smarter and it’s easier to innovate and create new products, and print technology has caught up and can move with the speed of the industry.”
Ellis says there has been plenty of interest in digital pouches due to their flexibility. They are “the future of packaging”, he says.
“Food science is getting smarter and it’s easier to innovate and create new products. Print technology has caught up and can move with the speed of the industry. It now takes ten seconds to order a product online,” he says.
LEFT: Entrepreneurs at heart: Matt Ellis, managing director of Luminar, with his father Mike who works alongside him in the business.
ABOVE: Flexible pouches create ‘endless possibiliteas’ for brands to ‘espresso’ themselves.
Digital pouches are good for start-ups, with minimum order quantities of 2000
(or 1000, Ellis notes, “if you ask nicely”) – but more established businesses can reap rewards as well.
“Food and beverage companies can benefit from introducing digital packaging into their marketing strategy to increase brand loyalty and engagement,” says Ellis.
For the rapidly growing ranks of bespoke and smaller food producers, digital pouch manufacturers like Luminar mean they can
now order short runs or on-demand jobs without
any delay. ✷
14 | Food&Drink business | June 2019 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au