Growing flexibility

Despite the plastic backlash, the flexible packaging market is still buoyant and rotogravure, CI wide-web flexo, narrow-web flexo and digital press manufacturers are all getting in on the action, writes Lynda Searby.

For as long as most in the packaging industry will choose to remember, flexible formats have been on an upwards curve, gaining ground from their rigid relations.

Even Blue Planet II and the ensuing anti-plastic sentiment has done little to dampen demand for plastic-based films.

"Some of our customers are convinced the trend is moving away from plastic films but that contradicts what we are seeing in terms of actual projects, which is continued growth in consumption of substrates that are plastic based. It will be interesting to see what the future holds," says Werner Krummenacher, Gallus business driver for Northern Europe and Sub Saharan Africa at Heidelberg.

This is backed up by hard data too. The latest report from market research firm Wood Mackenzie Chemicals indicates that the flexibles sector will continue to grow in the next five years in Europe – to €16bn by 2023 – albeit at a steadier rate than previously.

‘Green’ films

It is possible that some of this demand might be met by paper-based or biodegradable films in the future. If these ‘greener’ options do materialise, press manufacturers are confident their equipment will be able to handle them.

"If that comes up, it won't be an issue for our presses," says Krummenacher.

Richard Warnick, sales manager, UK and Ireland, with Koening & Bauer, agrees, saying: "it shouldn't matter whether you are printing on paper or plastic film – you can run both on a flexo press."

On the digital printing side, there is some evidence that compostable and fully recyclable single polymer films are starting to take off commercially. Foxpak of Ireland is using the HP Indigo 20000 and WS6800 digital presses to produce digitally printed compostable and recyclable packaging; and AstroNova is offering Sihl's ‘environmentally friendly’ ARTYSIO packaging portfolio for its T2-L narrow-web digital press for flexibles.

Narrow-web short run work

Whilst demand is constant, run lengths are getting shorter, and narrow-web flexographic presses have emerged as a viable platform to shoulder some of this short-run work, which has historically been dominated by dedicated wide-web printers.

"There is a move from wide-web to narrow-web flexo, driven by shorter runs. We are seeing lots of projects in the 500mm plus width region. This has led us to develop the Gallus Labelmaster in a 570mm width and the rest of our flexo range will be available in this width in the coming months," says Krummenacher.

However, according to Koenig & Bauer, this particular trend could have less to do with the suitability of narrow-web presses for flexibles work and more to do with the saturation of the UK label converting sector.

"Due to over-capacity in the labels sector, converters are looking for new markets and see flexibles as a growth area. As the labels sector is familiar with narrow-web presses and the associated process technology, this is their first port of call when looking at printing and converting technologies to target new markets," says Warnick.

CI flexo dominates

He estimates that narrow-web's share of the UK flexibles market is in single rather than double digits, with Central Impression (CI) printing presses still accounting for the lion's share.

"We see label converters from traditional narrow-web backgrounds moving into the fringe area of flexibles. But once you get into printing lots of SKUs, a narrow CI machine is inherently faster, easier to change over, more versatile in terms of substrates and more stable from a print register behaviour point of view. It is also difficult and expensive to print with UV flexo inks – which are needed for a quality finish – on a narrow-web press."

As an example, he says that a CI machine could print on PET film using inks out of a box, at one-fifth of the cost and more than twice the speed (350-400 m/min versus 125-150 m/min) of a narrow-web press.

Koenig & Bauer's new Evo XC is a CI press with semi-automatic registration control. It can run with a range of inks, including curing, solvent and water-based inks, at speeds of up to 600m/min, whilst guaranteeing extremely stable register behaviour.

However, Jakob Landberg, sales and marketing director with Nilpeter, argues that nowadays, most high-end conventional narrow-web presses are designed for film printing with "sophisticated drive systems and heat management" to provide stability against tension.

"Sophisticated drives keep the tension low when needed – together with temperature management this avoids stretching," he says.Nevertheless, where narrow-web technology can really offer an advantage is in printing ever-shorter runs of shrink sleeves, pouches and sachets.

"We are seeing converters supplying the market using narrow-web presses for shrink sleeves, pouches and sachets," he says.

Narrow-web's place as the technology as choice for sleeves and wraparound labels is assured, as the inkjet inks used in digital print are not flexible enough to survive the shrinking process.

The digital influence

However, in flexible film printing, digital does pose a very real threat to traditional flexo printing technologies.

"Digital has been slowly taking share away from flexo due to its superiority in shorter run and variable data handling capabilities," says Mohit Bhushan, director, global product management, at AstroNova, a US headquartered specialist in digital inkjet presses.

He explains: "Water-based inkjet (WBIJ) has been around for a while now and growing in various segments like labels and advertising, especially for short runs and in-house labelling needs. However, its growth in packaging was hampered by a lack of suitable substrates as well as inks. Both technologies have now matured enough that WBIJ is now an adoption for serious players in this segment. The technological developments have been in response to consumer choices resulting in shrinking run sizes and the need for variable data."

Keeping the digital trend in perspective, Koenig & Bauer's Warnick points out that the share digital has taken to date from CI flexo is "minimal" owing to the higher ink costs, lower speeds and need to pre-treat films. "Depending on the inks used, the cost can be 40-45 times the cost of liquid flexo ink," he says.

Still, the rise of digital printing has prompted designers of narrow-web flexo presses to up their game on short run production performance, according to Nilpeter's Landberg. "More automation, which causes less start-up time and waste, is top of the agenda for designers of narrow-web flexo presses," he says.

Hybrids

Another way in which the flexo narrow-web press industry has responded to the rise of digital has been to introduce hybrid machines that combine flexo and flexo-based applications and digital inkjet capabilities.

"Hybrid machines were the number one topic of discussion on the Gallus stand at Labelexpo; all conventional press suppliers have entered this field," notes Krummenacher, highlighting the Gallus Labelfire 340 as Heidelberg's offering in this space.

Whilst short-run work might still be best carried out on a digital press with offline finishing, mid-size runs may be better suited to a hybrid machine that combines digital printing with analogue converting inline.

"For example, you might have two flexo units in front of the digital unit for applying an underlying white, putting foil on before overprinting with digital or applying a spot colour or varnish after the digital unit," says Krummenacher.

Printing presses: new technology round-up

At last month's Labelexpo Europe 2019, Nilpeter previewed new high-build varnish and high opacity white inkjet units on its FA-17 narrow-web flexo press, which also featured a new 17-inch high-speed semi-rotary die-cutting unit. The Danish company also displayed its new FA-22, complete with a 22-inch quick-change die station, and launched the all-new FA-26, built for value-added short run flexible packaging and labels – from pouches and sachets, to wrap-arounds, shrink sleeves, labels and more.

HP has collaborated with Karlville to introduce a complete ‘one day pouch solution’, previewed at Labelexpo. The HP Indigo Digital Pouch Factory concept enables stand-up and three-side-seal pouch production using HP Indigo printing, Pack Ready laminating and slitting, and Karlville pouch-making. Compared to traditional methods, production can be accomplished in a single shift, rather than weeks, enabling converters to profitably produce short run jobs, says HP.

Konica Minolta used the September show to promote its new AccurioLabel 230 (AL230) press, which was shown in two versions, including a flexo station for printing white inline for the first time.

Screen was another digital player to show the fruits of its R&D at the show. The new Truepress Jet L350UV SAI inkjet system for label printing features improved colour reproduction as well as "richer colour expression" thanks to proprietary colour management technologies. It is available in four models: the high-end Z model is joined by an entry-level model (E), a standard model (S) and a dedicated model for food labels (LM).

New from Koenig & Bauer is the Evo XC, a new compact, high-performance CI flexo press aimed at flexible packaging printers seeking a space- and energy-efficient press. The eight-colour Evo XC is available in two different versions with a maximum repeat length of up to 850mm and printing speeds up to 400m/min. It features a new dryer concept.

Another press in this class is Bobst's Vision CI, which was unveiled last month at the K tradeshow in Düsseldorf. Available as an eight-colour press, Vision CI features technical innovations and automation for repeatable process consistency, minimum waste and easy manufacturing. This followed the launch in September of a new hybrid ‘digiflexo’ label press from Bobst. The Master DM5, which incorporates Mouvent inkjet digital technology, is the most digitally automated press in the label market, according to Bobst.

New additions to AstroNova's QuickLabel series of label printers include the QuickLabel QL-120X, QL-300, and QL-850. Pitched at the food and beverage, e-liquid, and cosmetic industries, the QL-120X is a digital tabletop label printer with a two-year warranty and narrow label printing capabilities. Billed as the world's first five-colour tabletop label printer, the QL-300 allows users to print in CMYK+white through the addition of white toner. Thirdly, the QL-850 is a wide-format tabletop colour label printer, equipped with moisture-resistant, dye-based inks compatible with a range of media types. The US-headquartered company has also added the T2-L and T3-OP to its TrojanLabel series. The T2-L is claimed to be the world's first narrow format, flexible packaging, industrial-grade, water-based inkjet press with added laminating capabilities; whilst the T3-OP digital packaging and converting overprinting system prints directly onto materials such as cardboard, paper bags and boxes.

Xerox has announced two new optional capabilities for the iGen 5 cut-sheet digital press: the extra-long sheet (XLS) and fluorescent yellow dry ink. The iGen XLS enables a sheet size of up to 35 inches, whilst printers also have the option to utilise the iGen 5's fifth print station to run fluorescent yellow dry ink in addition to orange, green and blue gamut extension colours as well as white and clear.