By Claus Bolza-Schünemann
Chairman of the drupa Committee and Chief Executive of Koenig & Bauer AG
Between 31 May and 10 June 2016, Düsseldorf will once again be the centre of the printing world. Everyone is getting excited about drupa, the world’s leading event in the printing industry, which gives exhibitors the perfect platform to present new products and services, network and nurture customer relationships.
This year’s tagline, “Touch the Future,” is particularly relevant to us as a machine and systems manufacturer. We see it as our job to build bridges to the future and translate technology trends into products for the benefit of our customers. drupa allows visitors to discover these innovations for themselves. For many users, it’s their first exposure to them.
drupa is growing into a showcase for the future of the printing industry, which is already a pioneer of Industry 4.0 with its networked process chains. In fact, we talk about Print 4.0., an end-to-end digital workflow made possible by the intelligent networking of our machines and systems. Print 4.0 is the enabler for individualisation and personalisation in digital printing. For high-quality packaging that makes the crucial difference at the point of sale. Our industry is opening up new markets with the fast-growing range of solutions in industrial and functional printing. And last but not least, 3D printing, with its seamless digital process chains, is part of a new world of printing that pushes existing boundaries.
The five letters of the word d r u p a represent the key technology trends in our industry:
D for Digitalisation of printing techniques and processes
R for Rapid Manufacturing and 3D printing
U for Utilities, i.e. new consumables, substrates etc.
P for the growth market of Packaging
A for new Applications in functional and industrial printing
At drupa it’s not just about the packaging, but what’s inside, too! Let’s take these five keywords one at a time for a closer look at these technology and industry trends to find out how our industry is approaching them.
Digital printing technology and workflow
Industry 4.0 is on everyone’s lips, but what is only in the very early stages in many industries is already being put into practice in modern print shops. Intelligently networked machines and systems are linked to form continuous process chains. Quality is monitored in the production line itself by sophisticated sensors. The necessary standardisation is already very advanced.
It is no exaggeration to say that the printing and paper industry is the pioneer of Industry 4.0 – with a continuous digital workflow from preliminary workflows to end product. It might be the personal photo book with photos uploaded online, converted into a high-quality product in a modern printing centre on fully networked systems in a largely automated process and then delivered to the customer. Or it might be the annual report, sent to the printer as digital pdf files and then printed, folded, cut, bound and prepared for delivery in an end-to-end process. This is the new quality: the intelligent networking of machines and systems has advanced to a point where automation is economically viable even for small jobs.
Print 4.0 optimises the process, helping printers to minimise downtimes and significantly increase the utilisation of their systems. Sensor-based remote monitoring solutions in the machines sound the alarm before a component fails, allowing the equipment to be proactively serviced. Closed-loop colour management solutions alert the operator when color begins to drift, even before it is visible to the eye. Machine manufacturers also link, structure and analyse the data from service, sales and marketing to offer printers informative performance comparisons and more tailored advice and training. VPN connections have been in use for years, not only for remote analysis but also for troubleshooting, updates and upgrades.
Another megatrend is the rapid progress of digital printing processes. Recent market studies predict that the digital printing market will grow by 7.5% per year over the next 10 years, and the technology will spread from graphic printing to many industrial applications. Digitalisation is the key to small print runs of individualised and personalised print products. However, analogue printing will remain the method of choice for high-quality, cost-effective printing in large volumes. In spite of the growth of digital printing, analogue printing remains the guarantor of sales in our industry.
drupa 2016 will show how machine and system constructors are responding to the digital transformation. Manufacturers are increasingly turning to modular solutions to meet the requirements of customers in different sectors. Digital technology comes in many forms: in addition to system networking in fully automatic printing centres, it allows continuous processes in multichannel publishing, wide-ranging possibilities for individualisation, print-on-demand solutions and online printing services, digital decorative and laminate printing and digitally controlled high-speed cutting of large formats on a wide variety of substrates. For smaller print runs and flexible formats, there are new solutions for speedy and even automatic conversion. This creates new challenges, but also opportunities in the finishing chain.
In response to the many different forms the technology takes, members of the German engineering association VDMA are currently developing a manufacturer-neutral digital interface that will enable a seamless process and data chain from prepress to the finished product. It will allow print shops to operate entirely without paper-based job tickets. This process chain will be demonstrated live at drupa 2016, with the printed material being distributed to visitors.
Rapid manufacturing and 3D printing
Industrial 3D printing is also a digital process, but rather than printing digital documents, it involves printing complex three-dimensional components from a design file. This is known as rapid or additive manufacturing. The process is described as additive because the material is added one layer at a time. In principle, hundreds or even thousands of 2D layers are stacked on top of each other and usually fused together with a laser.
The umbrella term ‘3D printing’ covers a wide range of processes, which at present are mostly used to process various plastics and metals. The process is already being used in a number of industries; for example, to make individually adapted implants and prostheses, complex special parts for machinery, selected components for the aerospace industry, jewellery and every imaginable kind of prototype.
Users value the advantages of the additive process because unlike moulding or injection moulding, no mould construction is required. Prototypes and parts for pilot series or small production runs can be printed directly from the appropriately modified design files. And because they are formed layer by layer, very complex constructions can be achieved. It’s easy to create cavities for weight reduction; ducts for coolant, pneumatic or hydraulic media; integrated connections or cable supports on the part. In addition to this design flexibility, additive manufacturing makes it possible to produce spare parts on an as-needed basis, at the location where they are required. In future, it might be enough to store the design data instead of maintaining a spare parts warehouse. On-demand, on-site part manufacturing could also help to minimise logistics costs, transport times and distances.
Machine and system manufacturers are only just beginning to sound out the possibilities of additive manufacturing. As future users, they could produce highly complex, previously unachievable components for their systems. Bionic lightweight structures can help to increase speed and precision. Functional integration will allow construction spaces to be used more efficiently and enable further miniaturisation. But industrial 3D printing isn’t just of interest to printing system manufacturers from a user standpoint: with their know-how, they can make an important contribution to the development of this young, still immature technology.
At drupa 2016, 3D printing will be a focal area in its own right for the first time. There will be live demonstrations where small giveaways will be printed for visitors to take home. There will also be the chance to learn about the possibilities and limitations of additive manufacturing.
Experts predict that the young technology will have a profound impact on industrial value-added chains. In addition to this industrial dimension, additive processes also have considerable market potential in the end consumer market, with scope for new business models. For example, 3D printing service providers are reporting rapidly increasing demand from hobby model makers, jewellery designers and other creative professionals for print-outs of their designs. A digital workflow is already emerging for requirements of this type. Designs are sent as files to online ‘print shops,’ which then print them three-dimensionally and ship them to customers all over the world.
Another market, difficult to estimate at present, is 3D printers for private households. The quality of consumer devices is still modest, but the same was true of early inkjet printers. Today inkjet technology is well established and in many areas has replaced laser printers as the leading technology. Print shops should keep an eye on 3D printing and assess what opportunities there are for them in this emerging market.
Utilities – a growing variety of consumables and substrates
Nowadays there is high demand for direct printing on glass bottles, plastic films, metals, laminates, fittings and a wide range of other substrates. In order to print on the growing number of substrates with consistently high precision and cycle speed, the development of printing inks is progressing all the time. Industrial digital printing is one of the main drivers of development. One example is inkjet printing on tiles: one in every two tiles manufactured worldwide is already printed using inkjet technology. The machines used consume up to a tonne of ink per week.
Digital processes are also becoming more prevalent in large-format textile printing. Machines with hundreds of print heads apply individual patterns and colours with extremely high precision. The choice of ink is very important in this process. Chemicals and nanotechnology will be key technologies in the years ahead as companies seek to optimise the adhesion properties, viscosity and drying of inks to suit a given application. The market for inkjet printing inks is growing by 10% to 15% per year. Demand for water-soluble and UV-curable inks is rising particularly rapidly. The latter are hardened in seconds by mercury vapour lamps during the manufacturing process. Because this requires a lot of energy, machine manufacturers are implementing energy-efficient UV LEDs where possible.
In addition to colour, utilities will also have a key role to play in future markets such as printed electronics, bioprinting and organic photovoltaics. Conductive inks allow RFID chips and other circuits to be printed, while thin layer photovoltaic cells and battery electrodes can be printed using the roll-to-roll technique. Manufacturers of biochips for medical and biotechnology labs are also increasingly resorting to printing methods that allow them to apply ‘bio toner’ to a substrate with maximum precision. While these are markets of the future whose sales potential has still to be ascertained, we can already see a steadily growing variety of substrates and printing inks in markets such as packaging.
Packaging – global growth
Unpackaged foodstuffs spoil quickly. It is estimated that 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted globally every year because it spoils on the journey from field to consumer. The amount of available food that spoils due to inadequate packaging varies from 20% to 40% depending on region. Preserving food in foil-coated cartons, plastic film, cans or bottles can make a vital contribution to fighting hunger and preventing disease caused by poor hygiene. Packaging also protects non-perishable goods against damage that could reduce their value or even make them unsaleable – an important, often overlooked contribution to the protection of resources.
However, packaging does a lot more than perform this basic function. It also serves as a means of communication. It provides patients with important information about medications. In logistics, information about the content of a box is printed on the outside. And of course, manufacturers use packaging to convey marketing messages to their customers. Thanks to QR codes, augmented reality and other tools that make packaging interactive, these messages can be integrated in multimedia form. Informative and attractively designed packaging plays an important role in the product experience. The packaging design influences the picture that consumers form of a brand. Positive, high-quality packaging often constitutes a decisive incentive to buy at the point of sale. According to studies, it also plays a significant role in brand loyalty.
In the case of mature products, where there is little to distinguish between competing products in terms of quality, external appearance becomes especially important. Printing techniques combined with new materials and inks enhance not only the look but also the physical feel of the packaging.
Printing technology is also the key to intelligent packaging. It can help to show the actual shelf life of a product, eliminating the impreciseness of ‘best before’ dates.
Thanks to printed sensors, smart packaging can register interruptions to the cold chain or indicate the freshness of meat, fish or vegetables. Printed GPS transmitters make it possible to track the transport of high-value products and reduce the risk of theft. Holograms and seals printed on packaging make life more difficult for counterfeiters.
According to current forecasts, the growing demand for packaging will boost sales by US $ 187 billion between 2013 and 2018, causing the global packaging market to grow to US$ 975 billion. This is being driven by the urgent need for non-perishable foods and a growing awareness of hygiene, as well as increasing consumption by the growing middle classes in newly industrialising and developing countries. To create loyalty to their brands among these new customers, manufacturers use attractive packaging. At drupa 2016, there will be a focal area dedicated to this trend and the growth market of packaging.
Applications – new approaches in functional and industrial printing
Printing is fulfilling more functions all the time. Printing machines and systems structure and finish surfaces, create very fine functional layers with high precision, are used to make touch displays and diabetes test strips, and decorate every imaginable type of product. In the ceramic, furniture and textile industries, printing is taking the place of conventional methods of decoration.
Today there are more than 5,000 tile printing factories worldwide and more than 170 gravure printing presses printing laminate floors. At the world’s largest textile printer IKEA, printing is the method of choice for decorating fabrics, shower curtains and coverings for beds and upholstered furniture. Nowadays motorcycle helmets, skis, snowboards, car dashboards and keypads on electrical appliances are also directly printed on.
According to forecasts from market researchers at PIRA, by 2020 the sales volume of industrial printing will double to more than US$100 billion. In this market, printing press manufacturers often supply modules for a particular application which other manufacturers can then integrate seamlessly into their own systems and thus the customer’s own processes, thanks to appropriate interfaces.
Printing is also exploring new dimensions. For example, direct printing on three-dimensional objects is increasingly replacing the use of labels. Systems for the personalised printing of plastic objects are appearing on the market and will be on show at drupa.
The growing number of often highly specialised applications is due to a key industry trend: Print 4.0. In the highly developed, always distinct production environments in the printing industry, ‘off-the-shelf’ printing presses can no longer meet requirements, or only to a limited extent. Printers need solutions adapted to their individual needs. These solutions must be able to network with other machines and systems, receive control signals through digital interfaces and monitor process quality and performance with their own sensors and intelligence.
They must also be aligned with customers’ cost structures. Faced with stagnating or even declining sales, printers need more productive technology. But they often have limited capital for investment. The manufacturers of printing and paper technologies respond to this by offering to modernise existing equipment.
This is because of the success of the equipment: modern printing technology is so durable that it often makes economic sense to upgrade existing systems with new features embodying the best available technology rather than buying new equipment. In response, a growing number of manufacturers are offering their customers the option of adapting their intact old systems to today’s requirements by integrating modern modules.
As a machine and system manufacturer, we, too, are responding to our customers’ changing needs in this way. We offer the solutions you will need to achieve customer satisfaction in the years to come. Tomorrow, as today, we will exploit every technical opportunity to fulfil your requirements. drupa 2016 will provide ample evidence of this.
