August 5, 2016
Drupa event photos courtesy of Messe Düsseldorf/ctillmann
Drupa, launched in 1951, is the Düsseldorf, Germany-based international trade fair for print and paper, held every four years to showcase the latest innovations in hardware. The name is an abbreviation of Druck und Papier, German for “press and paper.” At Drupa 2016, held May 31–June 10, the presses were unlike anything that would have been on display 65 years ago. In the words of one attendee, “This was the inkjet Drupa—the mainstreaming of digital print.”
While digital production printers have been making significant inroads with folding carton converters over the last few years, the corrugated side of the business has lagged behind—primarily because the hardware simply hasn’t been able to deliver competitive speed and quality when compared with traditional flexo and offset printers. Digital has meant compromise: settling for reduced print quality and speed in favor of efficient short runs and ease of variation/customization throughout a single print run.
“The digital I’ve seen in corrugated up till this point has been pretty slow,” notes Tom Andersen, CEO of P 2. “It requires multiple passes of the print head. That’s OK if you’re doing a hundred displays. But my business has always been more high volume.” Based on the equipment introduced in Düsseldorf, Andersen says, “I think digital now will be great at handling medium- and high-quantity jobs.”
HP was among the major companies showcasing a new generation of high-speed, high-quality, large-format digital printers. For Andersen, one of the stars of the show was HP’s T1100S, a “game-changing” machine that can transform how converters think about digital print.
Bob Seay, business development director for packaging at HP, agrees, adding, “This show was a wake-up call for a lot of people. Everyone’s been saying that digital is ‘10 years away.’ It’s time to say it’s coming much faster.
“Corrugated is about quality, speed, efficiency. Until now, print speeds
have not been there. Most of the predecessor technologies have been flatbeds with scanning tech that requires multiple passes. What you’re now seeing in the T1100S is single-pass technology.” The result is a machine capable of handling 110-inch-wide media, printing 600 feet per minute, and delivering 1,200 dpi print quality.
Roughly 1,800 exhibitors from more than 50 countries attended Drupa 2016.
For Andersen, the T1100S is revolutionary, the leading edge of an impending digital tidal wave: “Comparing analog printing to digital is like comparing a steam engine to nuclear power.”
It’s an apt comparison. Because while no one can dispute the power of the atom over mere water, not everyone is in love with nuclear power. Similarly, not everyone is convinced that digital printing will one day replace analog printing or that the advantages of digital sufficiently outweigh a long-term investment in analog equipment and training.
Complementary Technology
“Right now, I think digital is complementary technology, very useful for certain applications,” says Jack Fulton, vice president of sales at Printron, a company focused on prepress work and making and mounting flexo plates. “Eventually, it will become disruptive technology; then it will challenge flexo as the primary printing method for corrugated.” When Fulton, who did not attend Drupa this year, describes the kind of equipment that could potentially lead to such a marketplace disruption, it sounds very much like the specs of the HP T1100S.
“Since I’m in the flexo plate business, I hope digital never replaces analog completely. People are currently still investing in high-end flexo printers and converting equipment. KBA is getting back into the flexo corrugated business with the Corrugraph sheetfed printer. They feel there is still a market for high-quality flexo printing. Digital is not the end-all.”
Printer manufacturers themselves are not taking sides. For example, HP’s Seay points out, “It’s hard to say that any technology will replace other technologies. You’ll use analog where it’s more efficient, digital where it’s more efficient.” So the company will continue to produce equipment for both markets. Although KBA displayed a model of its new-era flexo Corrugraph at Drupa, it’s worth noting that the company also partnered with HP to produce the digital T1100S.
A Significant Investment
If there is an eventual shifting from analog to digital, it will not happen overnight. For one thing, the T1100S, while groundbreaking, is also beyond the means of many independents, with a price tag hovering around $10 million. Initially, it will sell only to the larger integrateds. It will take time for the technology to work its way down into more broadly affordable hardware.
In addition, independents have already made significant investments in building up their analog print capacity. That will not go away in the next few years.
“I know the independents very well,” Andersen says, “and I’ve been in hundreds of box plants. Because of the investment they have now, I see them taking a wait-and-see attitude toward digital; it’s not a ‘this quarter’ or ‘next quarter’ thing. But I don’t think I could listen to somebody saying it’s not going to happen at all. A shift is going to occur for independents’ business. When one of their customers says, ‘I need these 10,000 boxes, and I need variable data,’ that’s when this will become a burning fire for them.
“Understand that brands aren’t looking at digital as a better way to print but as a better way to get data and metadata from their packaging. Digital delivers a much bigger bang for their buck. Independents are generally not focused on it yet, in part because of their investments in analog printers and processes. But they will eventually have to focus on it. If I owned a box plant, I’d hesitate buying another piece of analog equipment today. I would not set my sights on growing from an analog perspective.”
In fact, Andersen guesses that in 25 years, the industry will be 50-50 analog-digital. “In 50 years, I think there may be no analog print at all. Digital will be the only thing left standing.”
Seay says, “I think these digital solutions will coexist with analog for a long, long time. But no matter who you are, you’re going to be impacted. Some folks will aggregate enough volume to buy their own digital sheet press. Others will buy the sheets from people who can provide them.” Whether you partner with a larger supplier or you invest in your own digital equipment, Seay believes every converter needs to start building a digital strategy if they don’t already have one: “When customers start asking for it, you’ve got to have an answer.”
Robert Bittner is a Michigan-based freelance journalist and a frequent contributor to BoxScore.
