Digital flexible package printing on the rise

Flexible packaging is an important and growing part of the global packaging market, with new applications, an ev­er-increasing volume of SKUs packaged using flexibles, and increasing consumer demand for packaging offering convenience and ease of use. Brand owners are looking to flexible packaging as a means to make cost and efficiency gains with lighter weight packaging, a better product-to-package ratio, and less waste from breakages and product spoilage. They are also looking to implement more frequent and seasonal packaging redesigns, be more responsive to consumer buying habits and to take a slice of the burgeoning market for versioned/personalized packaging.

Digital printing provides a means to effectively facilitate those latter drivers, and has been widely adopted by the label industry as a tool to leverage such growth opportunities. Take Coca-Cola’s work with HP Indigo technology, for example, where it has customized wraparound labels and personalized shrink sleeves. These projects have been so successful that they have gone global and spurred others, such as Scottish soft drink brand Irn-Bru, to try something similar.