The Changing Landscape of Flexible Packaging Color Printing Brought by Personalized Packaging Demand and VOCs Control

As the post-90s and post-00s generations gradually become the main force of consumption, young consumers' habit of buying simply because they like a beautiful packaging design has drawn increasing attention from businesses to personalized packaging. Digital printing, which enables on-demand printing and variable data printing, has therefore come into the sight of flexible packaging companies.

At the same time, as China intensifies its VOCs control, environmentally friendly printing technologies in the plastic color-printing segment have also developed greatly. Following plastic gravure water-based inks, flexographic printing and single-solvent inks, solvent-free UV film printing and offset-printed film have successively come into view.

Film color printing in China's flexible packaging industry is currently dominated by gravure printing. But what will the future of plastic color printing actually look like?!

I. Demand for on-demand printing and personalized packaging fuels digital printing

After Coca-Cola's "Nickname Bottles" and "Lyric Bottles," each with a different label, were launched and warmly received, in 2015 brands such as Durex, Mengniu and Japan's NewsBottle also applied personalized variable data printing to their own packaging, grabbing a great deal of attention!

First was Durex's personalized packaging, whose bold declarations won the favor of young people. Ben Wilson, Marketing Director of Reckitt Benckiser Group's China market, also gave this highly successful packaging a romantic and sweet explanation: "Every couple has its own private story and its own way of expressing love to each other, and every Durex package can become their private love letter."

Durex personalized packaging

But this is not the end, only the beginning. Ben Wilson said: after officially launching these personalized packages, Durex plans to introduce more new concepts of custom-themed packaging, linking hot topics in consumers' lives with other trends. According to relevant industry sources, Durex currently applies personalized printing only to outer packaging, and plans to introduce it to inner packaging bags as well — and that falls within our flexible packaging field!

Then look at Mengniu's Suan Suan Ru milk drink, launched in 2015 with two new packages — TFBOYS and Negative Pop — which are also entirely new personalized packaging. Their subversion of tradition shocked the industry, and to date they have zero negative reviews!

Mengniu Youth Manifesto packaging

There is also the news beverage bottle launched by Japan's Asahi Shimbun, with different packaging every day — 31 package designs released within one month. A QR code is printed on the bottle body, and consumers can scan it to read the latest news on their phones. Ultimately, over the course of one month, each retail supermarket sold an average of 3,000 bottles of this NewsBottle mineral water.

······

Young people are becoming the backbone of consumption, and their preferences directly affect product sales. P&G, L'Oréal, Mengniu, Durex, Coca-Cola... all these familiar major brands are paying attention to this trend. While packaging becomes cuter and more novel, personalization is the strongest requirement!

According to survey data from the Drupa exhibition, known as the Olympics of the printing world, about one quarter of printing companies worldwide have now launched digital printing operations, and among those companies, 25% use digital printing for on-demand printing and variable data printing, a proportion that is trending upward.

At present, digital printing is still relatively rare in the flexible packaging field, but judging from current trends, demand for personalization and variable data printing will lead to more and more applications of digital printing in flexible packaging film color printing. According to Wang Xinzhou of Jinglun Quanxun, HP's general agent in China, three flexible packaging companies in China have already purchased digital printing equipment and are preparing to carry out on-demand printing and variable data printing in the film printing field. (For coverage of HP's HP Indigo 20000 digital printing equipment, see pages 35~37 of this issue.)

In addition to globally renowned digital printing equipment manufacturers such as HP, Fuji Xerox and Konica Minolta, which are continuously developing and improving digital printing technology, Chinese companies such as Founder and Beiren have also made efforts in this field. Beiren has even reached a strategic cooperation agreement with HP, under which the two sides intend to give full play to their respective industry resources and operational advantages to jointly advance the development of digital printing technology in China.

From a technical perspective, the time is ripe for digital printing on film, but for companies, choosing digital printing is not such an easy matter.

Wang Xinzhou, Jinglun Quanxun, HP's general agent in China:

Technically, digital printing on film is fully mature, and there is no problem at all with print quality. When flexible packaging companies consider whether to adopt digital printing, I personally suggest considering the following points: first, the compatibility between digital inkjet and adhesive. HP Indigo inks are inkjet inks; when currently used for label printing, they are basically all surface printing, so there is no issue of compatibility with adhesive. But flexible packaging uses reverse printing and must also be laminated with another layer of film. Companies need to consider this point.

Second is the cost issue. Everyone worries that digital printing is expensive, but in fact, calculated carefully, the overall cost is not much higher. First, digital printing requires no plate making. For eight-color gravure printing, plate-making costs about 10,000-plus yuan; if that 10,000-plus yuan were used for digital printing, it could print 5,000~10,000 meters. Because no plates are needed, order changeover time is much shorter than with gravure, which means companies can take on more orders and achieve faster delivery times within the same production time.

Third is achieving variable data printing. For digital printing, variable data printing requires no additional cost. But for gravure printing, achieving variable data printing is very difficult.

Yu Jianguo, Manager at Founder:

Founder has long paid attention to on-demand printing and variable data printing. Our recently launched Jieying K300S is a high-speed variable data inkjet printing solution for personalized labels and anti-counterfeiting labels. Inheriting the consistent stability of Founder's Jieying inkjet printing system, the K300S has significantly improved printing speed and production efficiency. It can print on a wide range of substrates including paper, self-adhesive stock, metal foil, PET/PVC/PE/PP, and produces exquisite prints at low cost. It can be widely used in label printing, packaging printing, variable data printing and many other fields.

Founder's Jieying high-speed variable data inkjet printing system features a fully modular design, with each printing unit highly integrated at high speed. It can be easily installed on various printing presses and numerous post-press processing equipment, readily enabling the digital upgrade of existing conventional printing equipment and meeting new customer needs such as massive variable data processing and short-run color printing. For flexible packaging, it can be installed on a gravure press or on a bag-making machine to achieve variable data printing.

Shanghai Zijiang has already ordered one of Founder's variable data inkjet printing systems for printing variable QR codes, with a printing speed of up to 180m/min and a web width of 130mm. Such web widths currently generally range from 108~324mm, but we can achieve a maximum width of 800mm. Therefore, for flexible packaging companies, achieving digital variable data inkjet printing is already fully mature technically.

Engineer Zheng, R&D Department, Nanfang Packaging Co., Ltd.:

At present, digital film printing is still mainly used for surface printing, and in terms of print gradation and transition handling it still cannot meet current gravure requirements. We believe it will take some time to extend it to laminated reverse-print packaging. Of course, if domestic consumers improve their brand awareness and further lower their requirements for print fineness, this will also accelerate the adoption of digital printing and flexographic technologies. Nanfang Packaging mainly produces functional laminated films; reverse-printing inks have a major impact on subsequent lamination and heat sealing, and the compatibility between ink and subsequent processing is very important. So if digital printing is considered, the factor of compatibility with laminating adhesive must certainly be taken into account. We are very willing to try new technologies. If printed semi-finished products with reverse printing are provided to us, we are willing to attempt subsequent lamination processing and conduct comprehensive evaluation and analysis to decide whether to invest in and introduce it

Xiang Bo, General Manager, Guangzhou Renyin Packaging Materials Co., Ltd.:

Regarding digital printing on film, I previously did a round of trials with an HP10000, and the result was failure!

Reasons: 1. High cost; 2. Limited web width, within 550mm; 3. Not suitable for further processing, especially when the original packaging has a multi-layer composite structure. If the print run is small, it would be better to use labels or transfer printing technology, which can solve the problem better!

Of course, another point that cannot be ignored is the positioning of flexible packaging. The general market for flexible packaging is mass-market consumables, with few requirements for variable printing or anti-counterfeiting. If a company positions itself to make high-end, sophisticated products, then purchasing a digital device is worthwhile!

Ms. Wang, Bixin Digital Printing:

The digital printing equipment we purchased is the HP Indigo press ws4500 digital press, used for printing variable labels. We have used it for two years, and the deepest impression is speed! It saves a lot of time. Because it requires no plate making, orders can be changed very quickly. Customers can conveniently change designs or text even at the very last moment before printing.

At the same time, the variable data output function allows local information to vary, including variable barcodes, numbers, names, text and images. This can also add anti-counterfeiting features to labels by overprinting various special anti-counterfeiting features. In terms of color, it can output seven colors, including spot colors and white. The range of printing materials is broad, including self-adhesive paper, smooth and textured specialty papers, PE, PET, OPP, Teslin, polyethylene film and PVC, among others.

Color Printing and Packaging Supply:

I understand that Beiren's and HP's digital printing equipment are both very powerful; in the future, small-order printing can be very flexible. Digital printing has matured — this is good news for small factories. If it could be rented rather than purchased, that would be even better.

Flexible packaging should embrace digital printing; digital's strength is variable data printing. Some companies in China are doing it too, but the speed is only a few dozen meters per minute, which still cannot compare with gravure. As I understand it, Founder's variable data printing, which can be linked to a bag-making machine, can reach a speed of 70/min. But the cost doesn't seem expensive — after all, it's only single-color numbers and QR codes. At present, digital printing is mostly used for variable QR code printing. Print fineness is indeed much higher than gravure, and on roll paper it can achieve 120m/min. Plastics are currently stuck on cost; everything else is no longer a problem.

The advantage of digital printing is mainly flexibility — immediate, unrestricted, no plate making, variable data; calculated for small batches, the cost is about the same. For large-volume printing, it still probably cannot match gravure. But I estimate some companies will work on reducing costs, and quickly. Founder's plastic inkjet printing can now achieve 150m/min. In the future, large-volume printing will become less and less common. I feel that in 5~10 years, gravure will be phased out.

Chen, Harbin Botai:

Digital printing can currently be used in flexible packaging, but it depends on how you use it. First, print quality is certainly no problem — look at Coca-Cola labels, which are all digitally printed. I also visited Japan's Seiko, which uses digital printing, and they indeed use it for film printing, which proves that volume printing is entirely feasible. At present, the ideal method for volume production with digital printing should be combining it with gravure. Use gravure for solid areas and large patterns, and use digital printing only where variable data is needed. Digital printing ink is so expensive now; if it's used to print packaging bags that sell for a few cents each, how much would I have to sell them for to earn it back? Moreover, a digital printing machine costs 20 million, and how many companies can afford that?! Considering these factors, its current application in flexible packaging should be in small-batch sampling and variable data such as QR code printing. At present, I plan to buy a digital printing machine and put it in Shanghai for sampling in our flexible packaging.

Yang, Wenhua Color Printing:

I am fairly optimistic about digital printing, but its large one-time investment and high operating cost are a big problem.

Zhengdao Zhongyin:

Provided the printing width issue is solved, I am optimistic about digital printing.

II. Solvent-free UV printing and offset-printed film: the time for application has not yet come, and each technology has its merits and drawbacks

Besides digital printing, in response to the requirements of environmentally friendly printing, solvent-free UV printing (see page 37 of this issue for details) and offset-printed film (see the color advertisement of DG press MachineS.B.V and page 43 inside this issue for details) have successively come onto the market. Together with plastic gravure water-based inks and flexographic printing, the options for film color printing are increasing.

In our interviews, everyone did not know much about solvent-free UV printing, but that does not hinder the industry's expectations for this technology.

Xue, Department Head at Shaanxi Beiren:

With gravure as the mainstream printing method, the flexible packaging industry is actively seeking solutions in the face of VOCs control. For us equipment companies, we are currently cooperating with companies such as DIC and Toyo Ink; both have purchased our 400m/min gravure presses to try plastic water-based ink gravure printing. Under the current situation, I am fairly optimistic about single-solvent inks. Single-solvent inks are very common in Europe, using only ethyl acetate as the solvent, which is easy to recover. Chinese inks use too many types of solvents, which is why recovery is difficult. If single-solvent inks are used, this problem is solved, and the printing press requires no modification at all.

We also pay close attention to digital printing and have cooperation with both HP and Kodak. But digital printing equipment is too expensive, and the inks generally need to be imported and are also very expensive; the speed for five-color plastic printing is generally 60~70m/min. Recently, Japan's Miyakoshi built a digital printing machine that can reach 80m/min, and it also costs over 10 million. We once cooperated with Kodak on a digital printing machine sold to a company in Taizhou, Jiangsu for paper digital printing, and the price also exceeded 20 million. For flexible packaging, batch application still needs a breakthrough.

Offset-printed film can likewise only be an attempt; it will be hard to make it general.

Solvent-free UV printing, meanwhile, also faces the cost problem at present. UV inks are too expensive, raising costs by about 40%. There are now two curing methods: one is pure UV, which carries concerns about ultraviolet radiation being carcinogenic; the other is using LED lamps to cure UV inks, which eliminates the ultraviolet problem and can also bring costs down somewhat. But at present we are still in the testing stage.

Overall, we are currently developing and testing single-solvent ink printing, gravure water-based inks and solvent-free UV inks.

Engineer Zheng, R&D Department, Nanfang Packaging Co., Ltd.:

We are optimistic about flexographic printing, mainly for three reasons: 1. Flexo has been used in Europe and America for many years, and the related supporting facilities and processes are already very mature; in China, flexo has been used in the surface printing market for many years and is gradually being promoted. 2. Europe's regulatory requirements for printing in terms of environmental protection and food safety are becoming increasingly strict, and many multinational food companies are also looking for packaging in the domestic market; these factors will guide companies toward more environmentally friendly printing methods. 3. The popularity of flexo helps reduce order changeover costs and suits the printing of current short, small orders.

A solvent-free lamination professional:

Personally, I think flexographic printing is the direction; digital printing can only be a supplement to conventional printing.

Someone is now developing UV lamination as well: no curing is needed, no laminator is required — it can simply be inline with the printing press, and samples have already come out. With UV adhesive, previously limited by high UV temperatures, the problem is now solved by switching to LED light curing. It can also be inline with a bag-making machine. Therefore, it is impossible to know what today's printing technologies will ultimately develop into. Although each is still immature, I believe this change will come quickly. In at most five years, printing will certainly become something we cannot imagine.

Engineer Li, Shanxi Jinghua Industry and Trade Water-based Ink:

We began producing gravure water-based inks in 2007. Current sales are about 70~80 tons per month, of which about 40 tons are used for plastic gravure. Taiwan's Cengceng alone uses 20 tons of our water-based ink every month. So plastic gravure water-based ink technology is actually not as immature as everyone imagines; on the contrary, as long as it is used properly, the effect can fully match solvent-based inks. For example, Cengceng in Taiwan uses our water-based ink to print BOPP at a printing speed of up to 150m/min, and uses two-component water-based adhesive for lamination. In China, companies in Beijing Debao Sanshang (which used Jinghua water-based ink from 2009~2011 and stopped only after being acquired by Amcor, when Amcor's raw materials were procured at group level), Nanchang in Jiangxi, Shanghai, Wuhan and Pingyao in Shanxi all use our plastic gravure water-based inks. Besides the environmental advantage, water-based inks feature high color content, low viscosity and shallow-plate printing, so ink consumption is reduced by 65%, and there is no need to constantly add thinner during printing, so printing costs are saved by about 30%. At the same time, in Taiwan, because solvents such as methyl ethyl ketone are taxed, Taiwanese companies are highly motivated to use water-based inks. China has now stepped up VOCs control, which will certainly greatly promote the use of plastic water-based ink gravure printing.

Tian Wei, National Sales Manager for Flexographic Printing Presses (Flexible Packaging) at Germany's Koenig & Bauer (KBA):

With the increase in short orders and demand for personalized packaging, digital film printing has room to exist, but at present, factors such as cost and print quality are still bottlenecks constraining digital printing. Among the new technologies and equipment currently introduced — solvent-free UV film printing, offset-printed film, gravure water-based inks, flexo and digital film printing — of these environmentally friendly printing technologies, the one I am most optimistic about is of course flexo, because only flexo technology is currently the most mature, can be applied to large-scale production, and has relatively low cost. Its 70%~80% market share in Europe and America speaks for itself.

A vice general manager of a flexible packaging company in Dongguan:

The road to applying digital printing is still relatively long, mainly because the equipment is expensive and the ink is expensive, so the resulting products are also expensive — how many customers can accept that? If a pattern in a certain area needs to differ, besides digital printing, hot stamping can also be used. So digital film printing may be more suitable for e-commerce with small orders, making only small orders of 100 or 1,000 bags. Mass production in flexible packaging cannot absorb the cost, so personally I think digital printing will not become the mainstream method of flexible packaging printing.

At present, in response to VOCs control, or to the development of printing itself, the newly introduced solvent-free UV printing is, in my personal view, also not appropriate. First, secondary pollution during UV curing must be considered, and it can only be used for light packaging, so its use is limited; moreover, its technology is immature. From what I understand, it can currently only do surface printing, and reverse printing has not yet been solved, so it cannot be used for laminated film. Therefore, solvent-free UV printing can be used to print film labels, but not yet for flexible packaging. In addition, regulations in some countries also stipulate on this; as far as I know, Nestlé does not accept UV curing technology for its packaging. At the same time, UV ink costs more than 100 yuan per kilogram, so the cost is high, and ultraviolet radiation may be carcinogenic — these are all unresolved technical problems.

Offset-printed film, meanwhile, can only reduce VOCs emissions and cannot fully solve other problems.

As for water-based inks, flexo water-based inks are very mature, but gravure water-based inks are not yet mature.

Although flexo technology is mature, for Chinese companies the print effect of flexo is not as good as gravure and cannot fully meet the requirements of all flexible packaging products; at present it is mainly used for printing easily stretchable PE film.

Digital printing, solvent-free UV printing, offset printing, gravure water-based inks and flexo — these technologies all currently have one reason or another why they cannot be applied on a mass scale, and the road to application is still relatively long, but they deserve our attention. In response to the current new environmental regulations, or VOCs control, I personally believe that making certain modifications to printing presses and using alcohol-water-based inks as a transition is a relatively realistic and feasible approach.

Zuo Guangshen, Chairman of Guangzhou Tongze:

It depends on the circumstances. If an order has high quality requirements and a relatively large expected profit margin, choosing digital film printing is acceptable.

Unlike the lamination segment (where solvent-free technology and equipment are already relatively mature and broad consensus has been reached), opinions on environmentally friendly process solutions for the printing process are currently quite divided, and this is also the case internationally. Among the five different processes listed, none has yet demonstrated a truly obvious advantage. If we evaluate them according to the 5E standard (namely environmentally friendly, efficient, energy-saving, economical and widely adaptable), these five technologies basically meet only 2E or 3E conditions, at least as things stand now. Therefore, I personally believe that refraining from judging which is best for the time being may be a wiser attitude.

What the future of flexible packaging film color printing will be like is really hard to say at present. Digital printing, solvent-free UV printing, offset printing, gravure water-based inks, flexo... our choices look numerous, but in the end, one of them will certainly become mainstream, just as solvent-ink gravure is today. We cannot be sure which one — it may even be a new technology we have never heard of today! The only thing we can be sure of is that it will be an environmentally friendly, efficient new technology that can adapt to all new market demands and whose cost is acceptable to us. Science and technology change with each passing day; we look forward to more crystallizations of human wisdom to make our packaging better!

"Packaging BBS" is a platform for everyone to exchange ideas and speak freely. Everyone is welcome to come to this platform to join the discussion, express their views, and, through candid exchange with one another, jointly promote the development of this industry. Everyone is welcome to continue speaking freely on this topic at our "Packaging BBS", and you are also welcome to suggest hot topics.

Contact: Editor-in-Chief Fan Junhong: 020-85626447-608

Mobile: 13609084976

Email: fanjunhong@126.com

Editor Shen Xiaoyun: 020-85626447-601

Email: ss8996@126.com