The Opportunity and Growth in Digital Packaging Digital packaging is a compelling growth opportunity both for Xerox (Booth 613) and for its customers. According to Info- Trends, the retail value of digital packaging will achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 19% between 2013 and 2018. Folding cartons will show a particularly healthy growth rate, with a CAGR over 50%. Indeed, overall packaged goods production is growing, and the associated printing jobs are trending towards shorter runs. That’s because today’s brand owners seek to gain an edge not only with innovative new products, but with countless variations to serve every conceivable preference. With more distinct products for sale, more packaging print runs are within digital printing’s short-run sweet spot. Other reasons brand owners embrace digital printing for packaging include justin time delivery that reduces warehousing and obsolescence costs; developing prototypes cost effectively in small quantities; and adding value with variable data printing. Variable data can support packaging with multiple versions based upon region or language; marketing offers and messages tailored to individuals or groups; and serialization for tracking individual packages. All are Xerox sweet spots. Robert Leahey, InfoTrends’ Analyst for Color Digital Label and Packaging, tracks the digital packaging market closely. “With more than 50 global installations today,” Leahey says, “Xerox likely has more color digital presses dedicated to folding carton printing than any other digital press vendor.” Xerox achieved that leadership with its Xerox Automated Packaging Solution (XAPS), released in 2010, to capitalize on the productivity advantages of its iGen presses and automated workflow solutions. This solution is supported with the help of Xerox’s partners, which include EPIC and Tresu for ultra-violet and aqueous coating; KAMA for die cutting; and workflow suites from Esko and Chillipublish, to complement our own Xerox FreeFlow and XMPie software. Folding cartons represent only a portion of the overall digitally printed packaging market, which also includes labels, marking and coding, and flexible, corrugated and on-product/direct-to-shape packaging. But building on its XAPS initiative, Xerox has strong capabilities that can be applied across these various segments. These assets include its wide array of printing technologies (inkjet and toner, cut-sheet and webfed, narrow and wider-format), skills in system integration, and great partnerships in workflow and finishing that help Xerox deliver a complete solution. Used strategically, short-run and variable printing strengths can help brand owners respond more rapidly in competitive markets. And they give print providers an opportunity to offer endto end printing support for marketing campaigns, fulfilling both the packaging and the printed collateral. One specific market we’re looking at closely is pharmaceuticals packaging. One challenge, for example, is the fight against counterfeiting, which causes potentially hundreds of billions in annual worldwide losses for pharmaceutical companies, according to the US National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, while putting consumer health at risk. Some of the brand owners Xerox has Xerox Automated Packaging Solution (XAPS) spoken to are keenly interested in how XAPS can integrate brand protection and serialization solutions together. For example, with Xerox Specialty Image Text, converters could add gloss to text areas (Xerox GlossMark), create tiny serialized text that is only visible through a magnifying glass (MicroText Mark), or add unique serialized text that is visible only under an ultra-violet or black light (Xerox FluorescentMark Test), among other effects that can help to suppress counterfeiting. A number of these brand owners—who were surprised that Xerox was in packaging left eager and excited. Xerox is confident that with its increased focus on digital packaging, it’ll be turning many more heads moving forward. So, stop by booth 613 to learn how Xerox can help you with growth in digital packaging! Official Show Daily | PrintingNews.com GRAPH EXPO | September 14, 2015 | 27
GraphExpo Show Daily September 14 2015
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