Delivering in difficult times

Despite the financial crisis deepening, certain countries and sectors are coping better than others.

“The labels and packaging market in the Benelux region, for example, is holding up quite well, with digital printing driving a significant part of this growth,” says Filip Weymans, business development manager for Xeikon. The Belgian firm increased sales from €114.6 mn to €163.4 mn in 2008, and Europe and North America in particular have already responded well to its latest digital offerings.

“Shorter print runs are driving innovations in the future,” he says. “Brand owners, for example, are now looking to print labels that they will use the next week, or wish to reach a very niche consumer segment with personalised products. Digital printing can help meet these demands.”

But it is important that the suppliers help converters understand the best possible methods for efficient production.

“Dealing with converters is like missionary work. We need to educate them so that they fully understand the concept and capability of digital printing,” he continues.

This view is shared by David van Driessche, director of marketing at Enfocus, an automation systems provider headquartered in Belgium.

“It is important to talk to customers and educate them,” he says. “We have conducted a number of road shows and seminars in the past year and have seen that the number of converters attending these has not reduced due to the crisis.”

Responding to this need, Xeikon has launched the ‘Do the benchmark’ campaign, in which label converters will be able to choose from selected labelstocks and upload some of their own files to be printed on its 3300 press. The company will also host an open house at Hine Labels, in the UK, to display the compatibility of digital with flexo printing.

Xeikon also hopes to extend the capabilities of its digital presses to cater to a wider range of applications such as in-mould, folding carton and flexible packaging. This will be displayed at LabelExpo Europe this year.

“Digital printing for labels is certainly a technology to be watched. It could be the answer to flexibility and run length issues,” agrees Jan De Roeck, director solutions management at EskoArtwork, a major supplier to the industry based in the Benelux region. “Many of our customers have continued to remain busy this year, but some others have faced problems and lost clients. This is mainly to do with their agility to react to ever decreasing run lengths.”

Moreover, package printing is essentially becoming a service business. Converters need to provide an added value, which is no longer just high quality, but also cost reductions.

To address the demands of cost saving and high quality, EskoArtwork has launched HD Flexo, a system that aims to offer sharper and more accurate imaging (see page 6). “This is a quantum leap in innovations as the converter no longer has to retouch and prepare the images,” Jan De Roeck adds.

While brand owners and the packaging industry are focusing on cost reduction, it is heartening to see that suppliers are continuing to invest in R&D to improve existing products and launch new systems.

Kris Verschueren, marketing manager speciality papers at Sappi Europe, says: “Innovation is not necessarily all about launching a completely new product – it is also about tweaking products to suit current market demands. We are focusing on improving the performance of products such as improving runnability and reducing the weight of paper.”

Jan De Roeck stresses: “Although we might now drive our developments differently than in prosperous times, it is important that we continue to listen closely to the converters’ demands and deliver solutions that can help them survive the recession.”

David van Driessche, agrees: “We will now refocus our R&D efforts in areas that will bring direct cost savings for our customers.”

He also points out the recession has been a change in the mindset from green issues to cost efficiency. Vendors that react appropriately to this shift and provide new technologies that are cost effective as well as environmentally friendly will eventually be successful.

He also opines that workflow automation will take centre stage in the future as it provides significant cost savings. “Yes, packaging files are more complex but increasing number of companies are now realising that more and more automation is possible.”

Another technology that will gain impetus for the package converting sector is the PDF, he adds.

Although PDF has been in the market for some years, it is primarily used as a final format or for making a proof, while much of the editing continues to be done in native file formats such as Illustrator. “This is now changing and we will see PDF being used as an exchange format in the coming years,” says David van Driessche. “It is still at the beginning of the curve, but there is growing interest with converters.”

But are converters ready to invest in a new technology at a time of economic crisis? “It is true that the industry is holding off capital investments,” says Jan De Roeck, “but I believe we have just reached the bottom of the economic downturn and are now beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel.”

David van Driessche concludes: “It is important converters do not limit their reaction to the current financial crisis by only cost cutting measures and expecting people to work harder. This won’t get them through. We have seen companies grow in a recession, and this is because they focussed on long-term gains and continued to invest and innovate.”