Last month’s Labelexpo show was a record breaker. Visitor numbers were up 11% on the 2011 outing at 31,795 and they came from farther flung corners of the world – journeying to the Brussels Expo centre from 158 countries, compared with 123 at the previous outing.
The vibe was decidedly upbeat. Labels is a sticky business in the most positive sense of the word, and is not an area of print that is going to be replaced any time soon, or in fact ever, by digital media.
Labelexpo director of strategic development Mike Fairley said that worldwide growth in labels overall was estimated to be 5%, with some notable hotspots.
And even though growth in China "has slowed a bit" he pointed to Eastern Europe as an emerging opportunity. "Eastern Europe is where Southern Europe was 10 to 15 years ago," he stated. "If you look at those figures for label usage doubling in the next 10 years, it’s still massive growth."
Retail demand
Brand owners and supermarkets are driving the market, with demand for shorter runs increasing as they turn to more frequent promotions. "The biggest marketing trend for supermarkets over the next few years will be personalisation," Fairley says.
With global sales of some $76.5bn (£48bn) labels can rightly be described as a massive industry. But it’s also one that has retained a community feel. One of the notable things about the event was the amount of networking going on.
And although many in the labels game have known each other for years, it seems more recent entrants are also welcome to join the party. Mark Cornford, managing director at Integrity Print, added label printing to his group’s capabilities when he acquired Topflite Labels in 2009. The label business has grown significantly since, and Cornford aims to grow it further still. Hence he went to the show looking at potential future equipment purchases.
"I went out there thinking ‘digital, digital, digital’ but then realised that flexo kit has still got legs. The flexibility is vastly improved and the quality is awesome," he says.
"I’m likely to be spending more money on our labels business, but not just digital. Flexo as well, and offline finishing equipment."
UK manufacturer Impression Technology Europe hit a sweet spot with its £22,500 digital label finishing system, and AB Graphic International wowed with its latest Digicon converting system and laser die-cutting.
Cornford is right in noting the huge buzz about digital label printing at the event. And equally correct in noting that conventional label printing has also upped its game. Mark Andy, for example, won an innovation award for its Pro-LED flexo curing system, developed in conjunction with Flint Group.
Elsewhere, Gallus showed its Print Shop concept. This involves networking digital and conventional printing lines, and then controlling them via a central MIS, in order to exploit the advantages of both.
"The question is how do I make money, and the solution is to allow customers to make decisions about the most economical way to produce a certain label," explained Gallus chief executive Klaus Bachstein. "It’s not an either/or discussion. We can combine these technologies."
Gallus, 30% owned by Heidelberg, now has 25 installations of the Heidelberg Linoprint L inkjet press.
Sustainability (see Opinion) was a hot topic and digital printing was a huge talking point overall with a veritable explosion in options for printers looking at adding or expanding print capacity of this type.
According to Fairley’s statistics, the number of digital label presses in the field has risen dramatically over the course of a decade, from just 185 in 2002 to more than 2,000 at the end of 2012. And this growth appears set to continue, although life has become more complicated for those printers looking to purchase due to the large and growing range of options.
HP, the established market leader in digital label printing, moved to assert its dominance. Alon Bar-Shany, vice-president and general manager at HP Indigo, pointed out that the WS6000 series – which has just notched up its 500th sale – "is the best-selling narrow solution in the industry – not just in digital printing, narrow overall."
A welter of inkjet presses were on show, including the Domino N610i, Durst Tau 330, EFI Jetrion 4900M, Epson SurePress L-4033AW, Gallus/Heidelberg Linoprint L and Stork Prints DSI. Epson also announced its new PrecisionCore inkjet technology and the upcoming commercialisation of its SurePress L-6034V/VW UV model, while Screen officially launched the Truepress Jet L350UV in Europe. And FFEI laid down the gauntlet in what looks likely to be a major battleground for inkjet label press manufacturers – the opacity of white inks.
Low-cost options
Alongside systems costing hundreds of thousands of pounds there was also plenty of entry-level options, such as the Memjet powered Vortex 851R from RTI Digital, which costs just €6,300 (£5,300) in its basic version. "The first guy who saw it wanted to buy the machine," reports EMEA director Peter Barton. "It’s a cheap way of getting into digital."
The growth in digital has also spurred developments in pre-press and post-press. Global Graphics debuted its Digital Hub aimed at providing consistent colour reproduction on digital devices.
Paul Sherfield, managing director at The Missing Horse Consultancy, welcomed the latest systems. He said: "It’s been very craft-based and a bit like the Wild West in labels when it comes to colour management. Label printers need to move to the sort of colour-managed workflows and print standards that commercial print industry has been doing for the past 10 years."
OPINION
We’re working hard to help labellers up sustainability
Kurt Walker, president, Finat
Sustainability has been a key issue for the packaging industry for the past decade – ever since the first problems with inks and certain substrates were discovered. As analysis methods have improved, they have turned up more and more ingredients in these materials that could be harmful that weren’t on the radar before.
Making sure we avoid the use of these substances is only one aspect of sustainability; the other is what are we going to do with the materials after they have done their job. After all, packaging materials still possess valuable properties after they have fulfilled their primary task. Therefore it is important that we think about recycling solutions or other ways to reduce waste – and introduce them now rather than wait for legislation to come in that could potentially damage the industry.
One example is with label liners, which are often used in large quantities. They provide an essential function, but are typically discarded after label application. Finat has worked with a number of companies to improve recycling processes for liners and this is something we now have a Europe-wide capability to do – the only requirement left is the logistics to collect it.
Communication is key
Clear communication in the food packaging supply chain has become essential. It is important for food label printers to discuss the intended application – directly on the food or on the outside of the food packaging - with the end customer to ensure the label is produced with the right inks and materials to conform with the food regulation rules for that particular application.
We have also taken the initiative to launch an online portal where members of any of the L9 associations can look to see what actions others have taken on sustainability – it’s like a library of best practice on sustainability.
READER REACTION
What did you get ou t of the latest Labelexpo show?
Mark Cornford, managing director, Integrity Print
"A lot of printing is a bit depressed, but the labels market is vibrant and growing. I met people from all over the world at Labelexpo and found the atmosphere to be overwhelmingly optimistic. The marketplace for labels is huge and the options are endless. We’re likely to be spending more money on label printing equipment. Not just digital presses, flexo as well, and offline finishing equipment."
Andrew Miller, managing director, Superfast Labels
"I had a good look around and the amount of inkjet printing was phenomenal – it was everywhere, although I did think there might be more in the way of retro-fittable kit for existing systems. Digital die-
cutting has also come on in leaps and bounds and the new machine from Impression Technology Europe looks like a good piece of kit at a good price. The new Epson SurePress also looks really interesting."
Andrew Scrimgeour, managing director, AJS Labels
"I thought it was the best-ever Labelexpo and had a lot of very successful meetings while I was there. It was interesting to see some of the new digital players coming onto the scene, and also how laser die-cutting is progressing. That’s coming along too. I was also very impressed with HP’s ‘wow!’ presentation about where marketing is heading with personalisation and augmented reality. Overall it was a very good show and it was also a great networking event."
