2018 Predictions from ebeam Technologies
By Elsa Callini, Business Development Manager at ebeam Technologies
The digital printing industry has come of age, but many label and packaging printers haven’t yet reaped all of the benefits on offer. As demand for environmental awareness rises and margins continue to be squeezed due to competition in the market, print manufacturers will continue to explore innovative label and packaging solutions that provide them with an advantage in terms of both profit and sustainability.
Ahead of 2018, I foresee several key developments will significantly influence the industry:
1. Personalization is going to take off in a big way, especially for food and beverage packaging — almost two-thirds of all printed packaging (in terms of area) is for food and drink applications. Combine this with the pull of personalized promotion and brands can access a powerful marketing tool – just look at the Nestlé U.K. KitKat personalization campaign, which resulted in 56,000 custom-made wrappers and a huge social media engagement. In 2018, I think that we will see many more food and beverage brands running personalization promotions.
2. Sustainability will define competitive advantage – Brands looking to achieve a successful sustainability programme will need to ensure that sustainable practices and technology are implemented in every step in their supply chains. By using fewer resources and achieving greater efficiency, they can reduce the carbon footprint of their manufacturing, helping to achieve their sustainability goals.
We’ve all heard of ‘green’ technology but we predict that in 2018 more and more of us will become aware of emerging ‘blue’ technologies, such as electron beam curing, which enables print manufacturers to increase throughput, efficiency and sustainability to realize benefits to the bottom line and the brand image at the same time.
3. Standards identification – Brands want to be associated with good manufacturing practice and safety standards, and we predict that 2018 will see more and more initiatives aiming to identify products and processes which guarantee a constant and high quality result or outcome.
In 2018, we expect to see these to develop further and gain popularity amongst print manufacturers, label printers and package converters as the business benefits manifest themselves as a clear competitive advantage which drives early adopters to excel.
