Printing Industries Alliance (PIA) conducted its “Post Drupa Report NYC” Thursday, August 18, at Club 101 in Manhattan. The event featured multiple presentations and panel discussions, including one moderated by none other than Label & Narrow Web editor Steve Katz. The panel featured Edwin Bokuniewicz of Xeikon, Paulo Monteiro of GMG, Erik Holdo of Konica Minolta, and Jim Gavitt of Xerox.

The panel explored the latest trends to hit the labels and packaging space, as well as some of the notable occurrences at drupa 2016. In addition to digital and hybrid printing, the group discussed the rising relevance of color management and its role in the industry’s changing landscape.

Marty Maloney, executive vice president of PIA and the event’s host, added that print remains the dominant form of media. According to Maloney, print’s perception is “way below where it should be.”

“The market is too big not to have a lot of players,” said Gavitt. “Plus, packaging is so diverse, there are so many different kinds of packaging and technologies.”

The data revealed during Katz’s panel discussion verified that theory, especially in the Labels & Packaging segment. According to Katz, North America makes up 19% of the global labeling market, whereas Europe accounts for 26% and Asia leads the way at 42%. South America makes up 9% of the market.

Pressure sensitive labeling and glue-applied labeling are neck and neck for converters, as the former makes up 39% of the market, and the latter accounts for 37%. Sleeving represents 17% of the label market, with in-mold accounting for 2%. “With the exception of the glue-applied segment, they’re all showing significant growth,” said Katz.

Color management has played a considerable role in the success of the label and package printing markets, as quality and consistency are among the area’s key drivers. “I like to use an analogy for color management, where we take it apart like Frankenstein and put it back together to look like a real person,” explained Monteiro. “That’s what GMG does and it has to be done on prepress so that we have the presses under control. Whether you’re using analog or digital presses, they all need to come together color-wise.”

Since most printers have the ability to run CMYK, spot colors become a critical part of color management. “When we go to special colors, we have to decide how we’re printing them, whether it is using extended gamut or a direct Pantone color, they need to be controlled,” added Monteiro. “That’s where we come in. We can achieve the same color appearance, and that’s what the customers want when they understand the limitations of the presses. First, we set the expectations, and then we start to work with the prepress and go to the press for good color management.”

Extended gamut uses seven-color printing to achieve the Pantone colors. Printers must deal with associated challenges, including moving from flexo to digital printing. “The spot color issue is basically the key to nail down,” explained Xeikon’s Bokuniewicz. “Usually with CMYK, you’re going to get more capability on the digital side of the house with expanded gamut. That’s a fact no matter whether it’s ink or dry toner. It’s where that spot color comes into play. The numbers are always there for accurate color, but the tweaking is always different.”

The panel discussion included label industry trends like the increasing prevalence of digital printing, as well as hybrid presses and their impact on flexo. In 2016, it is projected that 130 new digital presses will be purchased, compared to 93 flexo presses. In the US and Canada, there were 218 new presses sold in 2015.

In North America alone, there are 2,000 label converters with annual revenues greater than $1 million, and the region only accounts for 23% of the total value of the global label printing industry.

The event also allowed Konica Minolta, Xeikon, and GMG to give industry insiders a sneak preview of Labelexpo Americas, schedule for September 13-15, 2016, in Rosemont, IL, USA. “Labelexpo has somewhere between four to five times as many registrants as Graph Expo does, so that tells you a lot about the label market,” said Holdo.

Konica Minolta will highlight its decorative and embellishment capabilities, such as foil, which drew considerable interest at drupa 2016. “When we look at the market, we don’t want to compete against everyone else that’s already in the same space because it doesn’t make sense,” said Holdo. “We want a little piece, and the strategy for our label printing side is a continuous feed running through the core of one of our most reliable 70-page per minute color toner EP engine. It does phenomenally well, and that toner is a bio-resin based toner that is UV safe. It’s great for label production, and it fits a nice little role because so many companies are doing short runs.”

The company will run previews of spot coating and foil capabilities, as well as a new shipping to intake solution set that works with existing products in the market. This Konica Minolta solution features a dashboard format that can unify all aspects of a single shop. “We’ve done a lot of development on connectors, and we can even connect into systems that don’t have any external APIs or any method of connecting into,” said Holdo. “Now we can connect into them and extract information to make it a two-way street.”

Xeikon will continue to highlight Trillium One, a high-speed and high-quality digital printing solution that allows full integration into a workflow. With Tonnik liquid toner, users can print on coated substrates. For the label and narrow web market, Xeikon will showcase Fusion and CX3 printing technology, capable of running at up to 98 fpm. Xeikon will also highlight its folding carton diecutting capabilities, as well as a new color management tool, ColorForecast.

GMG will be showcasing a separation tool that was not ready for drupa, but will make it debut at Labelexpo Americas. “If you want to reduce the number of colors to print a certain job, now you’ll be able to do it on your Epson, HP, or Canon before you go to press,” explained Monteiro. “That’s the big thing coming for Labelexpo.”