Executive Outlook
ing at packaging, be it flexible or carton, on one hand is the increasing sophiscaon of the design and added value finishing of the packaging displayed at brickand mortar retail stores with a view to get the consumer impulse buying. On the other, the fast growth of online shopping, which is no doubt changing the packaging land scape, as in this instance endusers value the packaging for qualies other than its appearance and also, especially younger consumers, look to engage and build relaonship with brands. This provides new, albeit different, opportunies for flexo printers, provided they have the kind of equipment that can handle all these different requirements – be it in terms of added value graphics/finishing at point of sale or systems relang to antampering safety instore packag ing or enabling online shoppers to track their purchases from producon to delivery to avoid counterfeing and also in terms of equipment operaonal efficiency to han dle profitably a mix of job lengths from very short to long. How is Bobst poised to assist flexo printers in growing their business in today’s environment? BOBST flexo prinng offerings covers the widest spec trum of applicaons: we address the requirements of the labels, flexible packaging, nonwoven, folding carton, cor rugated board industries, have machines configured in line or CI, with web widths ranging from 14.5 in to 110.2 in — the list is huge and this is an established fact. As I dustry. BOBST has been an advocate of ECG and of indus try collaboraons starng in 2013 with the REVO project for narrowweb inline UV presses, it has introduced the THQ Flexocloud, a fixed palee system for corrugated board post print applicaons, and customers who have been implemenng ECG in their plant on installed BOBST CI wide web machines report good results. Never stop ping improving on our achievements, we have connued to address the crical issue of consistency and repeatabili ty on wideweb CI presses, which are prerequisites for achieving opmum results with ECG prinng. This is why our latest 20SEVEN machine featuring systems like the triLOCK that eliminates frame vibraons by locking bear ings firmly into place, the smartFLO that prevents ink flow peaks and inconsistent ink metering and the Full Surface Matrix dryer, deliver best results with ECG prinng. There are many opportunies to be seized by printers with the implementaon of the Extended Color Gamut process, to ensure compeveness in the market and also vs digital prinng for medium run producon. said before, today the industry needs more and because our commitment in respect to these areas is not new, I can say that our machines are ready for the future of packaging, be it in terms of automaon, interconnecvity and the like, or of latest processes, such as Extended Color Gamut prinng, that are driving change in the packaging in
Bobst
Todd Blumsack Vice President Business Unit Web-Fed
What one thing, more so than any other, should flexo printers be most concerned with at the moment? What is it they should most be focused on? They should focus on sasfying the requirements of print consistency and consistent quality of output and re peat orders for 100% product quality conformity with the job master request. This is a conformity that brand own ers aim to achieve on a global scale, irrespecve of where their prinng suppliers are located in the world, therefore printers should be equipped to deliver on this request. To this end, they should focus on the automaon/digitalizaon of the workflow in their press room, which improves the process repeatability and consistency and is indepen dent from human error; and can ensure a full control of the variables, in addion to also delivering utmost operaonal efficiency of the equipment. What areas of technology will most guide the future for flexo printers? What new areas of technology will open up the most opportunies? Again, printers should be forward looking and willing to embrace change through a certain degree of disrupon of their operaons and a redefinion of the relaonship amongst industry partners that would enable them to gain a lead in securing a solid future. At the current pace of our industry development and evoluon of market de mands, ge ng the most advanced kind of equipment alone is important in terms of ensuring operaonal effi ciency and the ability to handle diverse applicaon re quirements but is not enough in the long run unless looked at in the wider context of the value chain. I am speaking of IoT whose reach is encompassing and extends far beyond the producon environment and to which the definion is immediately associated. When the systems that relate to the producon are all connected and supply a constant stream of data to a system, the data can be tracked, analyzed and acted upon in many ways. This al lows the transformaon and the perfecon of the manu facturing operaons and processes which enable the prinng company and its supply chain partners to harness the data to drive growth. What current developments in the retail environment (including CPG demands) do you see most creang op portunity for flexo printers? The first consideraons to be made when broadly look
8 Executive Outlook Flexo Market News
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