Different perspectives on digitalization

PANORAMA Hybrid e InkJet Varnish unit in Mo-4 Nilpeter report

Complete digitization of the process and solutions with low environmental impact, the future of packaging is based on data, which are now the center of our universe, the Sun around which our working and personal lives revolve. Many are intimidated by technology, in some cases it is fundamental to make us more sustainable, to be more competitive and to support an innovative growth strategy.

This is demonstrated by the Istat developed analyses.

Only 3% of Italian companies can be defined as “digital accomplished” i.e. with high human capital, physical and high digitization.

Source Il Sole24Ore

We can proudly affirm the Group’s membership of this virtuous 3%. Our business model is what Corporate Knights define as “Clean Capitalism, an economic system where prices incorporate social, economic and ecological benefits and costs, and stakeholders know the full impact of their actions.”

“The global label industry has changed significantly in recent years: globalization, environmental sustainability and workflow automation, but what I think will create huge opportunities for our industry is growth exponential of digital technology, as I also found also during the last Labelexpo – Guido Iannone, General manager Nuceria and VP Global Sales All4labels Group.

The industry has certainly observed the impact that digital technologies have had on printing labels and packages, but we are still at the beginning of this revolution.

Since the first installations of machines, Xeikon and Indigo in 1995 and inkjet technology from the 2000s onward, our industry has been radically redesigned to the point where digital now represents 50% of all new printing machines in Europe. According to Moore’s Law, we should expect to be at the exponential growth point, the beginning of a real revolution. All types of digital solutions still have a long way to go. New electrophotographic and inkjet printing machines models continue to be launched.

The new generation of low-end analog/digital hybrid printing presses is still evolving, and the Management Information System is revolutionizing the way businesses are managed with increasingly driven efficiencies. To better describe my point of view on the subject, I will talk about two recent installations in the digital world that occurred at our Milan plant”.

A successful introduction with the PANORAMA Hybrid

Just over a year ago, Nuceria inserted a digital hybrid PANORAMA line in the San Giuliano plant as an impressive expression of an integration between a flexographic Nilpeter in combination with offset technology.

With the objective of achieving quality printing results, reducing set-up times, and recovering efficiencies in both production and waste, PANORAM exceeded all expectations. With Angelo Tribocco, Nilpeter’s Sales Manager, we have repeatedly been able to monitor how the technological investment has influenced the evolution of our business, characterizing the group’s future expansion plans.

 “In Nilpeter we do not fear the future – says Angelo Tribocco, Sales Manager of Nilpeter – indeed, we welcome it with enthusiasm and we are strongly convinced that it will be increasingly dominated by technology.

The winning concept is what we call “game changer” in Nilpeter. We strongly believe that, instead of relying on hoping that others create the “game changer” for us, we must pursue what we are best equipped to achieve: the printing lines integration and the one of the most reliable and tested digital technologies to create an absolutely winning instrument that allows our customers to reach new standards of creativity and quality while maintaining high levels of competitiveness.

It is the attitude to the continuous innovation of its transformation techniques, to the sustainability and to the efficiency and effectiveness of the choices of digital technologies that allows Nuceria to have a winning comparison with the challenges of the free market.

Today the market we are targeting is global and only companies that have a good knowlegde of their actions impact will e able to continuously growing virtuously. The real “game changer” is the company itself with the principles that guide it “. 

The first great advantage that Nuceria found was certainly the fast set-up time. The machine proved to be extremely fast, both in uploading files and in the actual start-up phase. All of this was made possible even by the extremely intuitive interface, even more accessible thanks to the mega touch screen through which the machine is fully controlled. The result is surprising: in a year ‘s work, the average set-up time ranges between 25-30 minutes, including die cut and raw material change.

The second aspect is that it has opened new frontiers, and it is the results achieved in terms of covering print results. The high level of opacity allowed us, in fact, to divert some types of work on this line that, until yesterday, would have been the screen-printing prerogative.

The benefits are evident: total origination cost elimination for our customers and better print performance. We’re calling it silkscreen 2.0.

Then, the third big surprise was the speed. Thanks to its 50 mt/min, the line shifted the break-even axis of short runs. We used to think of digital as the solution for micro-lots and instead the break-even moved towards medium runs.

The advantage of customizing each label in a varied way has opened new possibilities. We have, for example, produced (for a brand of spirits) a limited edition of bottles for which each of them had a label made unique by a serial number. Leveraging the engagement concept, as in this case, makes the end-consumer shopping experience extremely memorable. Thanks to this new technology, we were able to achieve it in a very lean way.

Finally, the most important aspect, for those like us must not propose only innovative solutions but also must have an efficient machine: reliability. Since the day of installation, the line has not had any downtime. The reliability shown is almost extraordinary enough to push us, by virtue of the productivity we have seen, to take the line to the third shift.

InkJet Varnish unit in Mo-4 Nilpeter installation

Nuceria installed the first InkJet print unit in Italy, thanks to a historic collaboration with Nilpeter that continues to raise the bar of its standards aiming to favor converters with flexibility, customization and supply chain excellence.

The print bar allows printing with higher than average thicknesses and makes decorations with premium effects thanks to the use of the latest HFE technology (FFEI and Xaar) that allows printing a range of tactile effects on labels and packaging in one step.

High Laydown Technology, which are the advantages?

HL technology can be used to create rich textures – emulating expensive substrates, enhancing beautiful designs and capturing the consumer’s eye through interaction with light that is often underutilized in packaging design but, that can make a difference on the shelf.

HL technology can be combined with matte flood coat paint to emulate micro-embossing techniques used in paper fabrication or embossing effects digitally applied to text or image details. When combined with a rolling/foil bar, the unit produces extreme foil effects for greater impact.

Faster turnarounds with higher effects

Nilpeter’s new high-build InkJet print bar replaces costly and time-consuming screen printing, allowing Nuceria to achieve faster delivery times with higher effects. Increased agility offers economic benefits without compromising quality, improving business satisfaction with large existing brand customers.

Innovation is not merely a technological adaptation, but aims the evolution of pre-existing ecosystems process. It required involving all the actors of the organization on the persuasion of the real benefits the changes could bring, to achieve a new organizational model and new more sustainable product concepts.As the most beautiful of journeys, it must be endorsed with customers and creative agencies to redesign, together, in a sustainable perspective, the perimeters so far known within which the packaging sector moves.

Only by investing in creativity and intellectual capital as a driver of technology will we be in a position to make our companies more competitive, with the right amount of awareness and courage.