Page 36 - Print21 Magazine May-June 2022

PacPrint
Label land for all
The digital revolution is demolishing the silos of print, nowhere more so than in labels, where opportunities abound for printers of all types, reports Wayne Robinson.
Just as digital print enabled commercial printers to enter the display graphics market, as they plugged
in the new generation of digital wide format print systems
into their pre-press and pushed print instead of send to CTP, so the new generation of digital label print systems is enabling printers of all kinds to consider or enter the burgeoning labels market.
Although printing labels is more complex than printing a poster
it is nothing that any savvy print business cannot master, and the market is only growing. Forecasters have it rising by up to 50 per cent in the next few years, and much of that growth is going to come in the short- run end of the market, based around the proliferation of craft food and beverage producers, and then the major brands coming up with their own so called craft products, but short-run nonetheless, in response.
It is this short run market that the new generation of digital printers is geared to produce, and where much of the opportunity for new entrants to the labels business is located. Those printers can start at an attractive entry price, the new OKI Pro 1050
four-colour+ white label printer for instance is yours for less than $20,000, its predecessor can be picked up for half that. But you don’t have to go in
at the entry level, there are printers coming into the sector completely fresh and investing strongly, and seeing success. Next Printing for instance went straight into the labels world with an HP Indigo, investing at Labelexpo three years ago, and making a success of its new label business.
The pandemic has been good
for labels, when the hand sanitiser demand was in full flow millions
of metres were being printed, but that aside opportunities abound. While the FMCG market is still in
the domain of flexo – and there are no shortage of new flexo presses going into the country either – much of the rest of the market is ripe for digital print, with its benefits of versioning addressing the demand for sku proliferation, and its short run premise ideal for the new generation of local food and drink producers – there is hardly an industrial estate in the country that does not have a craft beer, gin or other spirit distillery.
The array of print solutions is good news for printers, both individually, and as a sector as a whole. The
developers clearly
see a future in digital
labels. At PacPrint
printers will be able to
familiarise themselves with
label solutions from the likes of
HP Indigo, on the Currie Group stand, with Xeikon, with Screen, available through Jet Technologies, with Konica Minolta and its AccurioLabel, with the Epson SurePress, and with the Canon Labelstream, available form
Rodden Graphics.
“It is this short run market that the new generation of digital printers is geared to produce, and where much of the opportunity for new entrants to the labels business is located.”
Digital labels: Land of opportunity
Some of the printers use UV inkjet technology – including Screen, Canon, Epson, and Xeikon – some use toner, including Konica Minolta and Xeikon, while HP Indigo uses its proprietary liquid toner technology. Each has benefits, the good news
for print business owners thinking of getting into labels, and for those already in and wanting to grow their business, is that whatever type of labels you want to print there will be a solution for you.
Finishing on labels is crucial, and just as important as the printing. The developers have either their own systems on the end of their presses, or they will team up with specialist converting manufacturers, or they will offer a recommended choice of converting systems.
For print businesses looking
to create new revenue streams labels, along with wide format printing, is the best opportunity. Printers have the file knowledge, they have the colour management knowledge, in many cases they also crucially have the customers – many existing customers will also want labels for one reason
or another – and the new digital print equipment, including what will be on show at PacPrint, is not too different to commercial digital print systems. Labels is a world that is only going to grow. 21
36 Print21 MAY/JUNE 2022