Go Hybrid with the DICEweb and turn your flexo press into a digital hybrid

Add Digital Capabilities to your Press

TLMI Digital label Survey - Digital Growth Rates to Eclipse Conventional

The North American Digital Label Study 2015, released by TLMI is sending some of the strongest indications yet of the growing importance of digital print technology to the label industry. The authors interviewed over 100 printers, 40% of which do not yet have a digital press, and 60 brand owners who represent over $1 billion in digital label demand. The goal was to gauge perceptions from both sides of the advantages and challenges of digital technology, and its value in use.

Key among the findings:

• The percentage of digitally sourced label volumes will more than double in five years jumping from 10.2% to 22.7% of the total.
• Brand owners anticipate that digital label consumption growth rates will be up to 7 times greater than those of conventional.
• In five years, digital installations will represent 3 out of every 4 presses sold.
• Inkjet systems growth will outstrip electro-photographic (toner-based) systems.

Production Impacts of Digital

Among the printers who print digitally today, an average of 15% of production had migrated to digital after one year; and after 3 years, digital accounted for an average of 19% of revenues.

On average, digital printers produced 13 jobs per shift, with run-lengths averaging 2,300ft – about one tenth of the average flexo run-length. The study does not examine the contribution to growth and to profit. However, computer simulation models and our clients' experiences have shown this to be a highly profitable business for the label converter.

 Eliminate a Second Pass 

 One significant finding for label printers who are looking for the most efficient digital workflow: “for over 70% of converters, most or all of their digital production requires a second pass for finishing and/or die-cutting.” By leveraging the hybrid printing method, mounting a digital print engine like the DICEweb onto an existing flexo press, no second pass operation is necessary, because the existing tooling is used in-line with hybrid printing. 

The hybrid approach can also help with the top two concerns cited by brand owners and packaging buyers: the perceived higher price of digital short-run production, and the need to re-specify label materials for digital. Not only is hybrid printing with the DICEweb more efficient than a stand-alone printer, but it has a lower investment cost than comparable UV inkjet machines. And, unlike water-based inkjet printers, no special label stocks are required.

Details of the study can be found by emailing info@tlmi.com.

DICEweb Hybrid Industrial Inkjet Printing - Customer Testimonial.

Hear first hand all the benefits of hybrid printing with the DICEweb from David Haak, owner of First Tape & Label in Texarkana Arkansas.

First Tape & Label use the DICEweb 10" printer configuration with 4 color capability. Mounted directly in-line with their flexo presses to take advantage of existing tooling and creating a single pass digital print capability up to 3 lanes wide.

See the video

Reduce the Anxiety of Deciding on Digital

Fierce competition within the label industry has put you under great pressure to reduce decision making time, as you race to beat rivals to market. Being able to understand, design and configure a versatile label printing plant to meet the needs of your customer is critical. And with more of your customers and competition turning to digital printing and converting technologies, it is clearly time to understand the impact this could have on your business.

So how do you best decide on what the impact of going digital would be?
Manufacturing process simulation or “discrete event” simulation can reduce the stomach-churning induced by contemplating a big investment. How? By allowing a user to model the effect of the investment on a PC before actually making it.

A good model allows you to react to change and make risk free decisions rapidly, accurately and efficiently. It outlines the effect on productivity, profitability or delivery time of an investment in capital equipment, people or other resources. It lets you play with variables like the number of operators on a shift, the rate at which new orders arrive and their size, and the time taken for each step in a process. It will show you bottlenecks and let you see the effect of different assumptions on throughput.

At Prototype & Production Systems our experts can help you understand how going digital will change your profitability, workflows and return on investment. We can work with you to make sure you fully understand the costs and benefits of adding digital inkjet technology to your plant.

Our simulation system is capable of generating useful reports, such as the utilization rate of the assets. We can work with you to understand the impacts of different “what if ” scenarios. For example:

• What if the run speed of the digital printer were only 50% of the flexo press and offline diecutter?
• What if the hourly costs of the different printing systems were different?
• What if the cost of digital ink (or a click charge) changed?
• How does the volume of completed jobs change if every job needs new plates and dies?
• What is the effect of doubling (or halving) the number of jobs my sales force brings in per day?
• How does average run-length affect productivity and profitability?

Because the simulator can run through a month’s production in seconds, and it can apply a random element to many of the variables it uses, it is possible to run dozens of experiments with different assumptions, and to export the results to create graphs that provide you with the insights into the behavior of the different workflows under different conditions.

If you would like to learn more about how going digital could benefit you and how to make an informed, evidence based decision, please contact us today.

Come and Visit PPSI at LabelExpo Americas 2014. 

PPSI will be displaying the next generation of the DICE™ Inkjet Color Engine and introducing the range of DICEjet hybrid inks at the 2014 LabelExpo Americas Show.

During the show, PPSI is showing the DICEweb add-on printer, which adds color UV inkjet capability to any existing press. The system includes everything required to convert a flexo or offset press into a digital hybrid printer. Equipped with automatic printhead-cleaning, and with robust and replaceable steel nozzle-plates, DICEweb brings a new level of speed and reliability to inkjet color printing.

PPSI will be located in booth 5410 in Hall D just inside the main entrance, PPSI will be providing samples of the DICEweb output as well as scheduling live demonstrations of the inkjet color engine.

Give any Flexo Press Digital Inkjet Capabilities

Introducing the DICEweb Inkjet Color Engine

 

The new DICEweb Digital inkjet Color Engine allows you to add high-quality digital color capability to any flexo press. 'Hybrid' printing delivers the best of both worlds:

• Offer reliable, high-quality industrial inkjet printing with up to 6 colors, without click charges.
• Run profitable short run jobs with no plates and no make-ready.
• Finish digital jobs inline, using existing finishing equipment.
• Use flexo stations for printing background whites, primers, and clear-coats with the digital print.

DICEweb is the second generation of add-on inkjet print engines from PPSI, the experts in automation and inkjet integration. Made in the USA, DICEweb prints high-resolution color images and text at speeds of 160 ft/minute or more - more than twice as fast as most toner-based printers.