Digital Labels: Can The Future of Printing Help Your Products Today?

By Dan Welty

If you saw the movie “Seabiscuit,” you were reminded of how Henry Ford’s assembly-line process compartmentalized production steps and revolutionized manufacturing in the early years of the last century. Fast forward to 2004 and the new manufacturing revolution based on the elimination of those steps. Each step eliminated reduces cost and increases the speed of delivery to customers. Digital label printing technology eliminates costly steps and reduces production preparation time associated with traditional flexographic or offset lithographic printing. Although this article narrows the focus to digitally printed labels, most of the concepts parallel the printing of other package formats such as folding cartons and flexible packaging.

Think of the digital printing press as a larger, more versatile, and much more expensive version of a desktop printer. Data and graphics are sent directly from the designer’s computer operator to the printer via a network cable. No film or printing plates are required (see the workflow illustration comparing the conventional and digital processes). Each label can be unique, enabling both personalization and variable data.

There are three digital printing processes: ink-based offset with a digitally imaged “virtual form” replacing the plates; toner-based imaging similar to desktop laser printers; and inkjet. Except for proofing, inkjet technology generally is not viable for commercial quality printing. Project variables including paper, quantity, and graphic requirements determine whether toner or ink-based offset will be the most effective solution.

Digital is the fastest growing printing technology. Most industry experts agree that it will continue to take market share from other technologies to become the predominant printing method in many categories in the coming years.

No plates, no waits

Traditional flexo or offset label printing can require hundreds of feet of waste material and 20 to 40 minutes of makeready per color to prepare a job for production (See Table A, pg. 54). A six-color project thus can consume several thousand feet of waste material and two to four hours of makeready before acceptable labels are produced. Digital printing, on the other hand, may consume less than five feet and five minutes. The large reduction in time and waste material results in lower unit costs. Moreover, traditional label printing requires a printing plate for each color—for example, six plates in a six-color job—and additional plates for changes to copy or graphic elements. The digital process eliminates the need for plates altogether, significantly reducing the cost of project preparation.

When considering printing methods, recall Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare. Digital printing is faster in the initial production processes, but traditional printing methods, once they are ready to go, operate two to eight times faster than digital processes. This means that at higher quantities, traditional methods are more economical. The greater the number of colors and different items (labels) and the lower the quantity of the run, the greater the cost savings of digital. That said, there is no perfectly linear model for comparing the impact of the processes on cost (Table B).

Though it represented great innovation, Henry Ford’s new process initially was restrictive: hence his famous statement, “You can have any color you want, as long as it is black.” Traditional printing offers more than black, but at a price. Digital printing technology, conversely, can provide a broad range color without additional cost by reproducing many specified colors as combinations of the four basic process colors. Other printing processes use this technique as well, but with a directly related increase in material and time cost. Digital printing can drive up the shelf impact of labels by giving them more presence with full, “free” color. Studies show that 90 percent of consumers do not know which brand of wine they will purchase upon entering the store—a powerful reason to emphasize colorful, eye-catching graphics.

Ideal for small quantities

Are you designing private labels for stores, hotels, and restaurants? Do you reach niche-market audiences such as fishermen, bicyclists, or college students with affinity packaging? A wine producer, for example, could be adding vineyard designates (varietal wines carrying the name of the specific vineyards in which the grapes are grown). In any of these cases, the number of SKUs (stockkeeping units, a.k.a. products) probably is increasing while the average product quantity is decreasing. The wine producer may have expanded to six vineyard designates, five varietals, and two sizes. The resulting 60 SKUs make it more challenging to forecast per-item sales and related packaging materials. You may also be planning to present new products to your distributor or to conduct test marketing.

Digital printing makes it possible to order small quantities, permits any configuration of per-item order quantity, and eliminates the need to reduce the number of colors or graphics as a means to control costs. For packaging testing, you simply order a dozen labels at an affordable cost, apply them to your product, and display the test packages for feedback.

Taking the approach one step further leads to “one-to-one marketing.” Remember, digital printing enables each label to be unique. If you can acquire a list of guests attending a wedding, those who will receive wine as a corporate gift, or a company’s top clients, you can digitally print each person’s name and other personalized information on its own, individual label.

The proof is in the printing

Printing quality depends on the printing process, the printer, and the project’s variables. Without delving into the minutiae of graphic fidelity, it is reasonable to say that digital printing’s quality resides between that of the flexo and litho processes. As with any printing process, quality must be evaluated project by project. The good news is that digital printing is the only process that provides affordable production proofs—actual production samples—before committing to the manufacture of the entire project.

Foil stamping and embossing elements can be added to digitally printed labels. Like traditional printing, digital printing can be applied to matte or glossy papers and to white, silver, and clear synthetic materials. It should be noted that adding “analog” processes like foil stamping and embossing to digital labels eliminates some of the advantages of digital printing. Also, in most cases, more papers and other substrates are available for traditional printing.

Not a “silver bullet”

If you are tempted to think of digital printing as a “silver bullet,” not so fast—it all depends upon your business needs and project requirements. For example, if you typically ask for hundreds of thousands of one- or two-color labels per order, and there is no value in adding color or reducing your order size, keep ordering traditional flexo labels. Also bear in mind that there are relatively few digital label printers and even fewer that have completely mastered the technology. As with any emerging technology, you may prefer not to be the supplier’s “beta test.” You must search for suppliers who are committed, experienced, and already effectively managing the process.

All things considered, traditional printing processes are now competing with a new digital breed that is fast out of the gate and poised to pass them all on the back stretch—if not sooner. I would bet on it.

Dan Welty is director of marketing for John Henry Packaging, Petaluma, Calif.