Four types of printing account for 80 percent of all packaging: flexible packaging, folding cartons, packaging labels, and paper bags. Most package printing is done on flexographic printing equipment, but offset presses produce a large percentage of the work, especially the work that can be done on single sheets, such as labels.

  Commercial printers seeking to enter the packaging market can choose to buy a flexographic press, which is a significant investment of time and money and is useful primarily for package printing. Or, they can opt for a digital press that they can tie into their current workflow and use for a variety of commercial and packaging jobs, thus minimizing their upfront costs for expanding their range of services.

  Digital printing is attractive for package printing purposes for many of the same reasons it has made inroads into the commercial printing markets. It allows for quick turnarounds, small print runs, and personalization. A 2003 study by Packaging Strategies about digital printing and the packaging industry says that folding cartons, labels, and soft packaging are the three packaging segments that will benefit the most from the adoption of digital print technology.

  Pacific Printing and Fulfillment Inc. is a medium-size, full-service commercial printer in Redwood, California. With the goal of expanding its service range, the company has invested in a NexPress 2100 digital press. Today most of the work the company does on the press comprises short-run, fast-turnaround jobs. A few of the projects have involved variable data, something that Vince Lepera, company cofounder, president, and CEO, believes is the future of print communications. He's also thinking about other types of work and, with that in mind, wanted a digital press that could print on a wide variety of substrates. "With the NexPress 2100, we can print packaging materials," he explains.

  Pacific Printing isn't the only commercial printer adding digital technology to expand its options. TrendWatch's 2003 study of the trends in the package printing market ("Packaging 2003: Directional Trends, Converters") showed that printers with offset presses were the most likely to offer digital printing (11%), and those with flexographic (9%) and gravure presses (7%) trailed close behind.

  Industrial printers who have made their living from package printing and converting, some for decades or more, are also investing in digital-a few of them heavily. The 2003 TrendWatch study also concluded that 8 percent of traditional packaging converters are using digital presses to produce packaging work and 12 percent are using digital presses to produce labels and wrappers.

  PRIMIR, the industry market research company formed in 2005 when two industry groups, GAMIS and the NPES Market Research Committee, merged their research efforts, spells out the reasons why digital printing is attractive to establishing package printers. In its report, "Package Printing and Converting, an Industry Assessment 2004-2009," the group's analysts explain, "Niche marketing, promotional, prototyping, test marketing, and limited live production runs will make digital printing solutions a very important investment strategy for package printers and converters." The report also mentions the role micro marketing plays in digital package printing, giving the example of a national brand that develops a promotion around a regional or local event, or to promote a local organization.

  Fort Dearborn Company, a traditional packaging printer near Chicago that has been turning out labels for more than 70 years, sees a real future in digital. The company recently installed its fourth HP Indigo Digital Press, a ws4050, and uses the equipment to create short-run labels and packaging on demand, as needed by customers. It also uses the presses to create prototypes of packaging, a sought-after capability highly valued by consumer product companies testing and developing new packages.

  "Not long ago, one of our well-known Food & Beverage customers contacted us with an order of 150,000 labels needed immediately for a new-product launch," recalls Ralph Reichert, vice president of sales at Fort Dearborn Company. "We didn't have time to make plates." Instead, the company used its HP Indigos to get the job done in time.

  A few packaging printers use nothing but digital presses to get the job done. CL&D Digital, near Milwaukee, is one such company. Founded in 1995, the company uses its two HP Omnius Webstream presses to create flexible packaging and labels. It also provides finishing and fulfillment services. The company's goal is to be a one-stop service provider for customers seeking full production run quality, package and label sales samples, prototypes, and packaging comps.

  Printers aren't the only ones interested in digital print technology for packaging. Industry service providers, including companies that create packaging comps and specialty packaging, see the potential that digital printing holds. By leveraging the unique capabilities of digital, these companies are expanding their range of services.
Gary Doster, president of Paradise Packaging Inc., a company that designs and produces custom creative promotional and specialty packaging, says digital printing has played a role in much of the company's work, for roughly three years now. Two projects that were enhanced by digital printing were limited-edition keepsake lighter packages created for Zippo Manufacturing Company. One lighter commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Three Stooges and another celebrated the victory of the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 World Series.

  Each series was limited to 5000 lighters and each lighter was engraved with a number between 1 and 5000. Doster explains how Paradise designed and created the packaging: "We made a rigid box out of a shell using our equipment, then we die cut a hole in the top and bottom of each box." The numbered cards were printed on an HP Indigo by one of the two digital printers Paradise works with on a regular basis. Later, when the lighters were sold, the numbered card that matched the lighter inside the packaging was slipped into the precut holes. Distributors and lighter collectors, as well as Zippo, were pleased with the results, and the matching numbers were a big part of the success of the project.

  Doster says his company is turning to digital printing more and more because it fits with the kinds of products and services the company offers: "We might do a $30 or $40 box and need 500 hundred of them." Digital printing lets the company customize a project like this, and like one that Doster has in the works: "I'm working on a proposal now for a collectible that would have the name of the owner or purchaser on the box." The company would preprint the rigid box and later output the customized card with the owner's name using digital printing technology.

  Package comping, creating prototypes of packaging for testing, evaluation, and advertising purposes, is a major service activity related to package printing. The Aberdeen Group, a business research and analysis company, estimates that nearly 59 percent of total product development time is spent on market assessment, design concept, and iterations. Package comping is an integral part of product development, and digital print technology is opening up opportunities for companies involved in prototypical packaging.

  Comp 24, the largest packaging comp facility in the country, has 65 employees and provides round-the-clock service from its production facilities in New York and Burbank, California. To help meet its one- to three-day turnaround times, the company has invested a significant amount of money in digital-purchasing a NexPress 2100 and an HP Indigo. The company also uses a Roland wide-format inkjet printer for comping large packages.

  Even companies that aren't involved in printing in any way are using digital printing to enhance packaging. As reported in the PODi Best Practices Report, 5th Edition, Huntington College, a small liberal arts college located in Huntington, Indiana, is using digitally printed DVD covers to enhance its promotional efforts. Working with Scope 1 Marketing Technologies, a company that helps clients develop web-to-print one-to-one marketing campaigns, the college has revamped its marketing programs with digital printing.

  Digital press vendors are interested in package printing because it's such a large market and they feel digital offers a unique value for it. Venkat Purushtham, general manager and vice president of Digital Printing for Eastman Kodak, explains that the digital printing market is part of Kodak's overall strategy to develop new market opportunities. "It is an important growth opportunity for Kodak and its customers," he says. Kodak is not alone in its interest in package printing; all the major digital press vendors are starting to include package printing in their marketing mix.

  A percentage of printers are already using digital presses for packaging work, but before digital press vendors can penetrate the market much further, they will need to make some improvements in their equipment to accommodate the special needs of package printing.

  What makes a difference for digital printed packaging isn't the basic imaging technology used-it's the substrates, toners, and inks. Variable data and short-run labels were the first packaging types to be printed on digital presses because label stock for digital presses was relatively easy to create, compared to more difficult types of stock, such as plastic or corrugated substrates.

  Digital presses for packaging need to accommodate a wider variety of substrates, including heavier stocks. Other details, such as the ability to print in white ink or toner-something that's done on packaging all the time but rarely on other types of printing-have held back the advancement of digital printing into packaging.

  Digital press vendors are busy making the necessary changes, either by expanding the capabilities of existing presses or by creating new presses with capabilities specifically for package printing. For example, Purushtham points out that the NexPress 2100 can handle substrate weights up to 300 gsm. The HP Indigo ws4050, introduced in late 2004, was designed to image flexible packaging materials. Apart from being able to print on paper, plastic, and self-adhesive stocks, HP Indigo presses can print on transparent substrates, enabling reverse printing, with a maximum of 16 hits of up to seven colors, including white.

  Keeping the printing on the packaging can be a problem for digital presses, considering toner-based printing can flake when the substrates are bent or stretched. Without special coatings, the print can scratch easily on such substrates as coated materials or plastics. Ink-based digital imaging has similar issues. Although digital press vendors are working on ways to solve these kinds of problems-for example, lowering the fuser temperature, as Océ did on the CPS 700-further improvements are needed.

  The allure of the package printing market has attracted many major prepress vendors. Steve Miller, Creo packaging workflow product manager, says that some of the company's commercial customers have become interested in package printing. Customers can use the same Creo workflow for both offset and digital, and thus maintain color consistency across the two. So, Miller sees Creo's interest in packaging as a natural extension, following the needs and desires of customers.