Wilbert Streefland of Technology Coaching BvbA talking about disruptors in corrugated converting
The European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers (FEFCO) held its technical seminar in October last year discussing ‘Corrugated Processes Complexity – Challenges and Solutions’. Sean Smyth reports from Vienna where digital was high on the agenda.
Some 1000 people came to Vienna for the technical seminar – a bi-annual event, attracting the great and good of the corrugated sector to discuss the latest technology developments, present a range of awards and visit the exhibition. This was the most popular seminar in the last 10 years with record numbers of visitors and exhibitors. It was a great opportunity to network, make contacts and find out what is really happening in this sector.
‘The corrugated industry is experiencing an extraordinary transformation as new technologies emerge in the sector, including digital printing, intelligent automation and big data. It is clear that as our clients move into Industry 4.0, we will have to adapt. We need better, faster and safer ways to meet customer demand,’ said FEFCO president Jan Klingele.
Inkjet opportunities
While many challenges face the sector, the arrival of high performance inkjet technology is opening new opportunities for companies willing to change.
HP showed many customer innovations from the flatbed HP Scitex machines up to the web-fed pre-print monsters. There will probably be further announcements about press sales in the near future, although they refused to be drawn. I certainly heard a lot of praise for the quality from the new sheet-fed PageWide C500 machine, which is in final development stages.
There were technical and marketing presentations, with several from hands-on experts detailing how companies can boost quality and productivity. Presentations highlighted the need for process controls necessary to produce good, stable corrugated boards, and the changing requirements of brands, retailers and importantly the final users.
Serhiy Luzan, technical sales service manager of Mondi Containerboard, talked about how paper manufacturers are responding to the increasing scope of packaging requirements. A key trend is the growth in FMCG applications, forecast to rise by 14% between 2015 and 2020 across Europe with the use of white liners also growing. This is driving the need for high quality print, with HD flexo growing and an opportunity for digital print to grab a share. The need for high-quality print is putting pressure on the board surface, and pushing growth in microflute, E and D at the expense of heavier A and B grades. Board manufacturers are looking at surface treatments to boost print quality with water-based inkjet, boost colour gamut by 40% and end density by 25%.
It was encouraging to hear that Mondi (and others) now see that growing inkjet demand is making it worth investing in the necessary developments. One example is BillerudKorsnäs, which has agreed a licensing relationship with HP to develop a white coated kraftliner based on HP ColorPRO technology.
Richard Coward, managing director of Rigid Containers, gave a thought-provoking talk on how customer requirements are changing corrugated production. He highlighted the relative decline in share of large supermarkets/hypermarkets across Europe as convenience stores and especially Internet retailing growth, providing new challenges for packaging. The shift toward shorter runs with more jobs leads to a dilemma for converters. Should they focus on agility away from high volume, if so how do they manage high levels of change in small batches demanding fast speed to market for new products and reprints. The question for corrugated is how inkjet will fit in; is it a simplifying opportunity or a complicating factor? The experience of early adopters will determine the outcome, even if the proliferation of suppliers suggest it will take place with high growth forecast by most analysts.
Trends to note
Mark Hanley from IT Strategies reviewed the available inkjet print systems for corrugated. A growing list with the arrival of German flexo press manufacturer Conprinta, which is positioning its technology to complement inkjet pre-print through the Hybrid, a flexo machine that can overprint digitally printed rolls of pre-print, overprinting spaces in flexo for static backgrounds. Whether this will be taken up is open to debate, but it is worth considering for established flexo pre-printers considering moving to inkjet to alleviate concerns about the high ink cost. The company suggests printing inline spot overprint varnishes and spot colour inks into areas of the image where digital would result in high ink consumptions. The inkjet is used to print high-end continuous tone images, text and any variable data. Conprinta’s ‘Change on the Fly’ system allows fast setting of the flexo deck combining inkjet and flexo images. Having a double-pass hybrid system is an interesting approach, rather than combining the technologies in a single pass.
The other interesting trend raised looked at the rise of retailers as brands. Own-brand products are growing; Mr Coward suggested they now account for 54% of supermarket sales in the UK, and are being actively promoted on supermarket websites. Run lengths for own-label packaging are lower than for branded alternatives, which may be a driver toward digital print. Amazon is the leader in this field, with its giant warehouses present across Europe and North America. It consumes huge volumes of corrugated and transit packaging, and there is pressure to reduce the amount of packaging.
DS Smith CEO Miles Roberts was quoted in The Financial Times, saying, ‘For an e-retailer with a reasonable range of products, it is very difficult to stock enough different sizes of standard boxes to cover all the possibilities without having some wasted space some of the time.’ The adoption of ‘box-on-demand’ technology has the potential to reduce the transportation costs and carbon footprint of each item bought on the Internet.
Several speakers postulated that it is likely a company like Amazon might invest in printing and boxmaking at its warehouses to produce on demand and eliminate waste. It would also allow them to brand the boxes and potentially partner with others to advertise and defray costs further. To be successful the printing would be at the point of issue, liked to the customer details and the items being sent. Amazon has a track record of printing with print-on-demand service for publishers. It operates state-of-the-art book printing equipment in fulfilment centres in Europe, North America and Japan, so it is not a major stretch to see the company producing its own packaging and making it more interesting than the current black text or tape on a box. Moving the print closer to the end consumer will allow more relevant and timely content to be printed.
Converter experiences
There was an interesting panel discussion talking through the issues and opportunities raised through the use of digital technology. Steve Hollingsworth, Cepac group supply chain director, explained how the adoption of digital printing has enabled them to change the conversations with customers, to get into marketing departments ‘who have money to spend and budgets to boost sales and end-user experiences,’ rather than the difficult cost reduction conversations usual with the buyers. Nick Kirby, managing director of Swanline, talked about his company’s experience of moving into digital and how it developed new business models and workflow, important in making an investment successful, a sentiment echoed by John Kelley of US converter Dusobox. Marcel Heller, group head of print at Swiss company Model, the pioneer of the Bobst Digital Corrugated press, talked about the need for colour management, moving from spot colours to process and what they learned from the exercise which turned out to be fairly straightforward.
The recurring theme of the event was the growing march of digital across the industry, with speakers sharing their experiences, or at least some of them. Speculating on future trends is always interesting, with virtually everyone agreeing that digital print methods are very much the future, even if the exact timescale is not well agreed. The pioneers were at the event, some unwilling to be quoted directly, but with generally positive views on how digital printing technology is fitting in to their operations. There are comments about steep learning curves, and not all plain sailing with companies readying themselves for new investments in web and sheet presses. The reasons of course depend on the individual company (or individual site) business plan, but there are several similarities being discussed, to differentiate and add value to customers who are increasingly demanding flexibility and agility.
