Personalized customization becomes a trend
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Digital printing has become an unstoppable "upsurge" in the printing industry. The attitude of label printing companies to digital printing has changed from initial suspicion to observation. It is worth mentioning that at present, a small number of label printing companies have done their best to digital printing business. Just as an industry insider lamented: In the face of the rising personalized and variable data market, coupled with companies standing in the transition to find breakthroughs, label printers are now not considering “whether or not to introduce labeling digital printing equipmentâ€. It is "the opportunity to introduce digital printing equipment for labels."
The rapid development of digital printing technology In recent years, in addition to digital printing equipment manufacturers force the label market, traditional printing giants such as Heidelberg have also been optimistic about the label field, there are new technologies and new products introduced. Therefore, the technical advancement and improvement of digital printing is obvious to all, and it is mainly reflected in the following aspects.
1. Higher Productivity Digital presses have increased printing speed, print format, and variable data output capabilities to meet highly automated, large-scale, and intensive production needs. Take printing production speed as an example. Around 2008, the mainstream label inkjet printing equipment in the market was almost at a production speed of about 20m/min in the CMYK mode, which is much lower than the speed of traditional printing. At present, the mainstream UV ink jet equipments operate at speeds of around 70m/min, or even higher, and are fully compatible with conventional printing.
2. Broader range of printing coverage A wider range of printing materials, especially the realization of white ink printing, has expanded the range of substrates for inkjet printing to transparent materials and metal materials. In addition, digital printing can also be printed on leather, wood, plexiglass, stone and many other materials. Its services cover various industries and fields. That is, in addition to air and water, digital printing can play a role in any material.
3. Spot color printing is stronger In spot colors, digital printing has made great breakthroughs. In addition to the basic four colors of CMYK, spot color inks such as orange, purple, and white are common and their performance is relatively mature. They are particularly suitable for label printing with spot colors and special color requirements, such as brand spot colors or spot colors. In addition, there are special digital printing inks, such as JetFluid ink by Eckart, a drop-on-demand metal ink specially developed for digital printing that can be printed on any non-metal surface by digital printing. Metal effect comes.
The printing color gamut is becoming wider and wider, and the precision is getting higher and higher. The progress of digital printing inks has greatly stimulated the expressiveness of digital printing in the market, making digital prints gradually accepted by domestic people. At present, the digital printing ink market is unprecedentedly prosperous. There are more and more manufacturers active in the field of labeling digital printing inks. There are not only label printing equipment manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard, Saikang, and Epson, but also large ink companies such as Sun Chemicals are actively launching new products for digital printing.
4. The combination of enhanced line-up capability is very flexible in inkjet printing. It can be installed as a module on traditional printing production lines, and can be combined with traditional printing production lines to create a combination of variable data and personalized printing on the label, thus enabling traditional printing. Technology and digital printing technology complement each other to form the perfect combination. If FFEI's Caslon can be loaded onto the NilpeterFA flexo printing platform, Omet's XFlexX6 is equipped with the Ojet developed digital inkjet technology JETPLUS digital printing unit.
In addition, the connection processing technology of digital printing presses is very mature, and the connection between prepress, printing and postpress is even closer. This "one stop" service is more competitive. At the front end of the printing, digital printing can be connected to the pre-printing corona device. In the post-printing segment, laser die cutting, waste discharge, slitting and rewinding devices can be connected.
The booming new market opportunities are accompanied by advances in science and technology. As people's consumption habits change, market demands are changing quietly. First, the demand for personalization and variable data has increased. On-demand production and short-lived jobs have increased. Second, customers are demanding more timely delivery and lower inventory. These aspects have greatly promoted digital printing. With the rapid application of the label industry, it can be said that new market opportunities have given rise to changes in digital printing.
1. Ma Yun, one of the leaders in the personalization and customization of China’s IT industry, pointed out: “The era of standardization and scale has passed, and large-scale, flexible and personalized customization is a manufacturing trend.†This is definitely a The era of individuality. As the market's main consumers become 80 and 90, personalized and customized market demands gradually increase. For enterprises, if they can't actively explore the mentality of consumers, are unwilling to provide customized services to consumers, and are unwilling to change themselves for consumers, then survival must be limited.
Today, we see that some large terminal brands are actively guiding and catering to consumers' personalized and customized demands and strengthening their position in the younger generation of consumer groups.
The most typical example is the Coca-Cola Company. The attempt of this century-old enterprise on the road to personalization is undoubtedly a success. A new generation of young people do not buy carbonated drinks, and the 70s and 80s as the first generation of the main consumers are not so keen on carbonated drinks. How to win the recognition of the younger generation? Coca-Cola decided to cater to the younger generation in pursuit of individuality and outstanding self The characteristics of the game, from personalized nickname bottles, custom bottles to lyrics bottles, to the introduction of colorful bottles, completely rewritten the original marketing game market rules. The entire process, digital printing contributed. This attempt by Coca-Cola will undoubtedly drive more brands to try similar sales models, and this just provides space for digital printing.
2. Variable data printing The variable data market is also a big stage for digital printing performances. It is very gratifying that in the past two years, the variable data market has rapidly emerged, especially the “blowout†of QR codes, which has brought very good development opportunities for digital printing.
Currently, two-dimensional codes have gradually replaced one-dimensional codes on product packaging and labels, and their functions are also expanding from traditional anti-counterfeiting requirements to marketing functions based on the Internet of Things and big data, which has led to a surge in demand.
The two-dimensional codes for marketing applications have begun to appear in many fields such as daily chemicals, food, beverages, tobacco and alcohol. Taking the domestic beverage industry as an example, the annual output is expected to exceed 150 million tons, of which bottled water production is nearly half, and there are about 150 billion bottled water labels. Take Hengda Bingquan as an example. In 2014, Evergrande Bingquan launched a large-scale marketing campaign of “one bottle of one yard and crazy on the codeâ€. Each bottle of Evergrande Ice Fountain Bottle has a unique QR code printed on its label. , Consumers can scan the two-dimensional code, link to the query system, you can conduct product traceability and anti-counterfeiting verification, each year only Hengda ice springs need to reach 10 billion.
3. Short-run printing As the production volume gradually decreases, the delivery cycle becomes shorter and shorter, and the “short-run†trend of label printing will become more and more obvious. Karstedt Group is a consulting company in the field of digital packaging printing. Mr. Kevin Karstedt, head of the group, said: “If the number of labels printed per batch of orders exceeds 100,000, the advantages brought by digital printing are smaller, but for orders below 50,000, investment in digital printing is very worthwhile.†Label printing companies believe that orders under 500 meters are suitable for digital printing.
In addition to the shift in market demand, the other major factor that prompted the use of digital printing in the label industry is the urgency of the transformation and upgrading of label printing companies. These companies hope to use digital printing methods to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises on the one hand, and on the other hand to test water for personalized, variable data orders, and to achieve a diversified product development model.
The problem to be solved Digital printing has become a topic in the development of European countries and the United States. The market has received a high degree of acceptance, and it has gradually become industrialized. In contrast, for the Chinese label industry, digital printing equipment has met the requirements for personalized, variable data printing, and end users are consciously starting to use personalized digital labels. However, at present, the application of digital printing in the field of Chinese labels is still limited. The following problems still need to be resolved.
1. High operating costs for digital presses Due to the higher overall operating costs of labels (including consumables, parts, maintenance and service fees) for digital presses, the cost of digitally printed labels is higher than that of traditional printed labels. This results in It is suitable for the flexible solution of digital printing, and most end customers still find it difficult to accept. So far, the digital printing consumables (mainly inks) used in China have basically depended on imports. The prices of products from developed countries, plus tariffs after entering the Chinese market, have led to a high cost of consumables. Therefore, although the operating rate of label digital printing presses of some label printing companies has reached a certain level, it is not surprising that after eliminating the cost of consumables and labor, it is not profitable.
The high operating costs of digital presses are the biggest “bottleneck†hindering the development of digital printing in the field of labels. People in the industry demand that “consumables cut prices†are increasing. In response, suppliers have also taken measures: If the price of ladders is achieved, enterprises with consumable supplies will be given preferential treatment. However, this is undoubtedly a cup of lax pay and it is ultimately necessary to completely solve this problem. It will only wait for the market to break out. Only the amount will go up and the price will come down. However, the phenomenon of antinomy is that the high cost of digital printing restricts the growth of market consumption.
2. Shortage of professionals There is a difference between digital printing and traditional printing. The industry currently lacks talents who are both familiar with traditional printing technology and digital printing technology. Enterprises cannot recruit suitable technology and operating personnel, which will seriously affect the digital printing business. At present, this phenomenon has already gained attention in the industry. It is understood that relevant institutions have already set up digital printing courses. Digital printing suppliers are also actively helping label printing companies to cultivate digital printing technology talents. It is believed that the talent shortage will improve in the near future.
3. Market demand needs to be further cultivated Compared to previous years, the market demand for personalized and variable data has indeed increased. But overall, the market size has not yet fully risen. In terms of printing quality, there is still a gap between digital printing and traditional printing. A large part of domestic terminal brand manufacturers cannot accept the quality of it, and consumer habits need to be cultivated.