Printing Industries Alliance hosted Digital Printing Think Tank II in its return to New York, NY, USA on July 26, 2017, where an update was provided on the latest digital printing trends. Nearly 150 printers, sponsors and vendors attended the event at Club 101, where presentations and panel discussions promoted an interactive discussion on a growing international market.

Canon, EFI, Fujifilm, HP, Kodak, Komori, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Screen, Xeikon, and Xerox were among the digital printing vendors present. Each company provided guests with a detailed account of their latest product offerings, and the presenters subsequently engaged in a panel discussion to forecast the future of the industry.

“Print is increasingly high-tech, it’s no longer the old industry,” explained Marty Maloney, executive vice president, Printing Industries Alliance. “We want to take that perception and meaningfully increase it.”

“Digital makes things possible that are impossible, and one of the biggest challenges people have is tracking counterfeit goods across borders,” said Chris Yanko, director of sales and support, North America at Xeikon. “Digital makes it possible with embeddable chips to track products.”

“Your presence here shows a commitment to digital printing,” added Tim Freeman, president at Printing Industries Alliance.

Digital Printing Think Tank II delved into the advancement of inkjet printing. According to Jim Gavitt, vice president of sales, Graphic Communications, ‎Xerox, inkjet is new, fast and requires less maintenance. Inkjet is cost-effective, too, for the right applications.

“In digital technology, inkjet is very fast so it has real legs from a production standpoint,” said Gavitt. “The serviceability will be very much improved as the industry moves more toward the technology.”

Aron Allenson, inkjet sales engineer at Screen USA, said that inkjet enables printers to get into new markets and expand their capabilities to serve existing markets. “Inkjet color is extremely consistent,” he said. “We have an unmatched lineup of inkjet printers, from UV label presses to sheetfed.”

Screen currently offers the Truepress Jet L350 for the labels and packaging space. The UV cured digital label press can print on almost any substrate and operates at 164-196 fpm in narrow web.

“If packaging is a market you're already in or looking to gain traction in, the L350 is a great fit,” added Allenson. “It lets you do anything from a silver BOPP to a clear. It’s a 4-color plus white, and the quality and consistency are excellent. There’s been a lot of acceptance of this product in the label market.”

Brent Moncrief, vice president of marketing and brand management at Fujifilm Graphic Systems, explained that printers must be vigilant of competing technologies like smartphones and tablets. The shopping experience has changed for many consumers, so the printing industry needs to evolve, as well.

“The competition is the device in front of you; that’s the reality,” said Moncrief. “The customer is thinking about the smartphone and not print, so we need to think about how we target the consumer. Print well-executed has a lot of legs. There are a lot of major companies investing a lot of money into the industry and inkjet. We’ve got to be smarter about how we market print, and then print smarter, regardless of what market you’re in.”

According to Moncrief, the label plays a major role in the shopping experience. Brand managers currently winning are delivering ubiquitous online and offline experiences.

“When we open an Amazon Prime box, the first experience we have is with the package,” said Moncrief. “Think of packaging as a major media channel. You keep the packaging from Apple products because it’s so exquisitely designed. Labels and packaging, everyone wants to be in it at this point.”

Moncrief added that between 2015 and 2020, global revenue for print packaging will grow $44 billion, which represents an 18% growth rate.

Fujifilm provides its labels and packaging customers with Fujifilm Graphium hybrid printing. The labels and flexible tags are printed with two flexo colors up front, then digitally printed, before concluding with two flexo colors on the back end. Unlimited configurable options, as well as digital finishing, are available with Graphium, as well.

Meanwhile, Erik Holdo, senior vice president of Production Print Solutions at Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA, detailed his company’s latest offerings for the label market. The company focuses on high-end inkjet technology, software solutions and digital enhancements.

Konica Minolta’s AccurioPro Label Impose is a software tool designed for label printing. The product is intended for automatic impositioning that optimizes media usage and creates label data to facilitate the cutting tool in one step. The software works in tandem with Konica Minolta’s label press, the bizhub PRESS C71cf.

“We’ve made quite a bit of an entry in the labels space,” said Holdo. “We do most of our work in the food and beverage space, but the nutraceutical market is expanding extremely fast.”

For more pictures of the event, click here for a slideshow.

Planning for the future
Digital Printing Think Tank II also allowed several companies to announce their plans for future events. Printing Industries Alliance will be launching the Print Drives America Foundation at Print 17.

The print advocacy initiative is a registered 501(C) (3) charitable organization that will host its inaugural meeting on September 10, 2017. Printing Industries Alliance’s Marty Maloney will also serve as the foundation’s executive director.

“Our members and all printers–as well as the industry at large, have been looking to give print a stronger voice in how it stacks up against other communication mediums,” said Printing Industries Alliance’s Freeman. “We need to enhance the positive perception and make it attractive to all.”

In addition, Xeikon elaborated on its plans to host Xeikon Café North America in October. The event will take place at two venues: the Westin Chicago Northwest hotel and Xeikon’s newly-renovated demonstration facility nearby.

“We’re very excited about doing this because we’ve done this very successfully in Europe over the past few years,” Xeikon’s Yanko explained at Digital Printing Think Tank II. “We’ve made our customers feel welcome in showing them how our technology works.

“Xeikon has always been very close to its customers,” he added. “Workflow has been very important to us. We show customers what they can do with the help of our partners, whether it’s color management or MIS systems. We want to have a very intimate, professional event and bring industry thought leaders together to explore workflow and learn from our customers. It’s really a sharing event.”

Meanwhile, David Lindsay, public relations manager at EFI, listed the benefits of attending EFI Connect, which will take place in Las Vegas, NV from January 23-26, 2018.

“Users groups from vendors are a great opportunity because they allow you to work with individual customers,” said Lindsay. “The technology gets more complicated every day and every printing company is expanding into new markets, and this is the best way to learn about the technologies.”

EFI Connect 2018 marks the 18th anniversary and looks to build upon the 2017 version, which was the largest EFI conference to date. The event, which is hosted by the Wynn Hotel Las Vegas, saw attendance increase by 8% in 2017.