The Converting Curmudgeon​

Dear Editor,
 
In your recent excellent CQ 2018 Q1 issue, two articles were of particular interest to me. The first included the challenge of writing a straight line with inkjet dots as part of a vacuum process. Readers might be interested to know that the science of how to get the highest-possible quality (neither too “dotty” nor too “swollen”) is described in one of my apps: https://www.stevenabbott.co.uk/practical-coatings/InkJetLines.php

This covers the interconnected issues of how drop size, drop spacing and contact angle affect line quality.
 
The second was all about photonic or flash curing. It featured a sophisticated model of the high temperatures reached during such a process and how this might affect the substrate below. Readers
who want to explore the issue themselves can use my app: https://www.stevenabbott.co.uk/practical-coatings/flash-cure.php

This covers the power density and timescale of the flash, the thermal properties of the substrate plus it explores what happens in the time after the flash has ended.
 
As with all my apps, they are free, free of ads and open source.
 
Yours sincerely,
Prof. Steven Abbott

By Mark A. Spaulding 
 
The European flexible-packaging field is dynamic, developing, and decisive as a resource-efficient format, according to Jan Homan, chairman of Flexible Packaging Europe. He gave his annual continent-wide update last Wednesday at the Flexible Packaging Assn. Annual Meeting in Naples, FL.
 
Overall, the European flex-pack market was up 2.1% to $15.8 billion in 2017. The FPE defines flexible packaging as primarily value-added materials for primary retail and non-food end-use applications. It excludes shrink and stretch films for secondary-packaging apps, carrier bags, supermarket shopping bags and self-serve counter bags. Consequently, its numbers seem lower than they should be compared to the US market, especially for a region with 28 countries and 511 million consumers.
 
Some Curmudgeon bullet “points of interest:”

• The 2017 global flexible-packaging market hit $86 billion, up 4.5% over 2015; the estimated global market will reach $107 billion in 2022.
• Western Europe held a 14% market share of global production last year, up 2.0% over 2016, and Eastern Europe a 3% share, up 2.3% over 2016.
• Major Western European markets including Germany, France, UK, Spain and Benelux are growing at around the regional trend; Italy is growing at around 2.5% by value, slowing slightly from 2016; Turkish demand continued to grow at least 1% above the average.
• Depreciation of the Pound Sterling following Brexit is seeing more import substitution and more UK converters targeting exports to mainland Europe. Some mainland European converters are considering establishing a UK presence for production.
• Above-average flexible-packaging growth by value is seen in applications such as coffee, fresh produce, chilled foods/ready meals, pet food, and pharmaceuticals. Confectionery, one of the largest categories, was broadly static in terms of value.
• As for Eastern Europe, growth is picking up to around 3% in Russia, despite some international economic sanctions. Ongoing import substitution in Russia has seen production growing faster than national consumption during the year.
• In Poland, the market continued to grow relatively strongly at over 4% in 2017.
• Exports out of Eastern Europe keep climbing, especially begin sent into Western Europe. More converters, particularly those in Poland, are increasingly active in exports.
• The top five European flex-pack makers and their regional shares last year were Amcor Flexibles (19%), Constantia Flexibles (7%), Mondi Packaging (6%), Sealed Air / Cryovac (3%), and Wipak (3%). This is basically unchanged from 2015.
• CEFLEX is a collaborative project of a European consortium of companies representing the entire value chain of flexible packaging. The Project CEFLEX Vision for a circular economy states, “By 2025, there will be an established collection, sorting, and reprocessing infrastructure/economy across Europe for flexible packaging based on end-of-life technologies and processes, which deliver the best economic and environmental outcome for a circular economy.”
• FPE’s key sustainability messages: 1) Flex packs are resource-efficient and support sustainable consumption and production, help prevent food waste, and also packaging waste; 2) Flex packs are more resource-efficient than alternative formats, even with its currently low recycling rates; 3) Flex packs can be recycled/recovered, and this is the case now in several countries.

My Thoughts: As a slightly more mature market than the US, European flexible packaging is still growing at
a reasonable rate with pockets of above-average production and consumption. Estimates of European Union
GDP at 2.3% higher this year, and another 2% higher in 2019, only bode well for further flex-pack demand.
Brexit is still likely to throw some kind of monkey wrench into the economic mix with a March 2019 deadline for
the United Kingdom to leave the EU.

What the US flex-pack industry can learn from its European cousins, with help from the FPE, is how to deal with the packaging format's problems when it comes to recycling (collection, sorting, and reprocessing) for a circular economy. A North American version of CEFLEX would be a good step in that direction.

By Mark A. Spaulding 
 
The North American market for gravure package printing has been declining for 50-plus years, but expanded color gamut combined with new technologies and new ways of doing business is helping stem the outgoing tide.

Three speakers at last week’s GAA Gravure Global Summit in Clearwater Beach, FL, offered their insights for reversing the decline.
 
Here are the Curmudgeon bullet “points of interest:”
 
Dawn Connell, graphic development mgr., Snyder’s-Lance, Inc.:

• The wide-ranging snack maker’s brands include Snyder’s of Hanover, Lance, Kettle, Cape Cod, Emerald and Pop-Secret.
• Brand owners and their packaging printer/converters need to have the same brand-equity expectations that follow through from design/marketing to actual print production.
• The competitive visual landscape of a typical supermarket is a real challenge, with an average of 38,900 different items for sale. Eighty-five percent of consumers say that color is the determining factor when purchasing a particular product.
• Snyder’s-Lance maintains its brand integrity through 100s of master proofs, charts and logos yielding the benefits of consistency. Consumers take only 2-4 secs to decide if they'll buy the product, almost only by how the packaging looks.
• Early engagement of new gravure printing technology, new graphic designs is important for converters to communicate that to brand owners; prove level-set expectations that you know what you're doing.
• Expanded color gamut (CMYKOGB) did not turn out well at first because the company worked with only one printer; the solution was accurate profiling for predictable proofing.
• If there is inconsistency over time, the responsibility belongs only to the gravure packaging printer; the solution is Web-based printing process control tools for real-time data to review accuracy to please brand owners.
• Gravure packaging printers need to admit their faults and become the brand owner's partner, not just a vendor. The moral of the story: consistency, predictability, repeatability.

 
Prof. Robert Eller, School of Media Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology:

• Eller provided an update on this presentation at the 2017 program; here’s a link to my review of that talk: www.convertingquarterly.com/the-converting-curmudgeon/how-the-north-american-gravure-printing-industry-can-reverse-its-50-year-decline
• Game-changing breakthrough new technology is possible; the cost of gravure-cylinder prepress can be cut from $0.45/sq inch to only $0.19/sq inch. A new set of cylinders can be produced in less than a day through resizable and chromeless cylinder technology.
• With in-plant engraving, the gravure printer owns the facility, sets the priorities, and transportation time is non-existent. A complete set of cylinders can be ready at press in 16 hours.
• New high-risk technologies are 1) engravable Nickel on a resizable polymer base, and 2) engravable polymer protected by diamond-like carbon, which became commercial this year.
• Because an expensive development effort will be required to speed up adoption, reduce risk and share the cost, does the potential reward justify the cost of such a program?
• Printers were enrolled in the research project: Investigating wide-web flexible-packaging printing on 60-in.-wide flexo and gravure presses. Results: Conventional gravure does not begin to beat flexo until 100,000+ linear feet. Wide-web printing with new-tech gravure offers the following cost advantages: 5% at 50,000 ft; 8.5% at 300,000 ft; and 9.5% at 1 million linear ft.
• Cost and service are both obstacles to reigniting the growth of gravure, but there is a strong trend toward shorter leadtimes; Typical span today in 4 weeks, and 20% of all jobs are promised in 2-3 weeks.
• Expanded-gamut (EG) color printing shows that gravure is inherently an advantage over flexo due to its stability and more saturated colors. With 7 colors, gravure EG is substantially larger than flexo.

 
George Battrick, technical coordinator, European Rotogravure Assn. (ERA):

• Asia remains the hottest market for gravure flexible-packaging printing with 80% share vs. 20% flexo. Europe continues to be divided about 50/50, and North America is the reverse of Asia with 80% flexo and 20% gravure.
• About 600,000 gravure cylinders are produced annually in Europe.
• Using a 100 Index Figure to represent the cost per cylinder in Europe, Asia is at the 50 mark while North America is at the 200 mark.
• For packaging gravure, Germany leads with 52 plants and 143 presses; Turkey is second with 44 plants and 114 presses. In Europe overall, there were 350 plants and 886 presses in 2017.
• On the bright side, press makers have sold record-high numbers of press in the past few years. Examples of the latest high-tech, shorter-run presses are Uteco NXS 300 and W&H Dynastar.
• Findings of the 2014 GfK Study detailed brand owners’ demands for the printing of their packaging:
  1) Gravure guarantees quality; 2) gravure is ideal for high-volume print runs; 3) volume print run is decisive criteria for which process to choose; 4) Overall, there’s a tendency toward shorter runs; 5) Entire value chain is dealing with frequent graphic design changes and shorter lead times.

(Left) Frank Passarelli, product mgr. for BOBST North America, addresses attendees at last week's Gravure Global Summit. Passarelli is the new chairman of the Gravure Assn. of the Americas.

My Thoughts: Rebuilding the gravure market for package printing in North America is no easy task. Despite its best efforts, the value chain of suppliers and printer/converters are only slowing the decline for this clearly high-quality printing & coating method. As one of the program's speakers recalled, he asked one of his brand-owner customers his opinion of their new flexo-printed packaging. "It's okay," the buyer said. Just okay? THAT never would have been acceptable for any gravure-printed materials. So, the key -- to not just stemming the outgoing gravure tide but turning it around -- may be getting flexo buyers to understand that "okay" really isn't "okay."