Big Brands are embracing digital printing at an all-time high, and this is not limited to the corrugated packaging sector. They are seeking global solutions that cover all four packaging sectors: corrugated boxes, folding cartons, labels and flexible packaging. With the advent of production systems that can handle all four sectors, brand engagement is starting to grow exponentially. Therefore, the future of digital printing is bright.

Manufacturers must seriously consider and start investing in digital printing. Big Brands are adopting digital printing technology, which brings competitive differentiation to the market. By observing other markets, we have found that once a technology is digitalized, there is no going back to analog. Therefore, converters absolutely need to start the transformation to digital printing.

The introduction of water-based inks, especially the water-based corrugated cardboard printing inks, is a major change in the industry. It has brought tremendous value not only to corrugated packaging converters, but also to brands. It is well known that color drives sales, whether on chemical white or bleached white board or on industrial packaging of ordinary process materials. Similar to E-commerce or many other industrial applications, color is desired but previously unattainable. This is the first time I have seen color implemented on process and it is a significant change that provides high value to brands and converters, increasing flexibility and use cases, opening up the process world to digital printing.

The application space is definitely expanding because of the emergence of water-based pigment/dye inks. The productivity and flexibility that is provided by using process and water-based inks, and the opportunity to achieve higher productivity by using process and water-based inks, is a huge change for converters and provides opportunities for their brand delivery.

Digital printing has historically been positioned for high graphics printing on white corrugated, which is about one-third of the market. The remaining two-thirds of the market needs to be addressed. This innovation addresses the other two-thirds of the market, so the emergence of water-based corrugated cardboard pigment inks will accelerate the adoption and spread of digital printing across the market.

The ability of water-based corrugated cardboard inks in the corrugated market will have a significant impact on manufacturers and big brands. So it will be a game changer in the market, and the evaluation of converters around digital printing and the adoption of brands around digital printing will be the catalyst or potential catalyst to move this market forward.

Digital printing will definitely find applications in the food and beverage space and will extend well beyond food and beverage into the industrial market. In the food and beverage space, when you start to see retail-ready packaging on the shelf, craft packaging is acceptable, but you need this image quality and standout compared to other images here. Digital printing provides the effect, and traditional printing methods do not.