What is the outlook for the Labels and Narrow Web market?

The outlook is positive as the market clearly continues to grow. The current political unrest and multiple years of the pandemic have proven that Labels are much more resilient than other markets. That doesn’t mean it is plain sailing of course. There are many immediate challenges and longer-term trends that printers and converters need to contend with and prepare for.

What are some of those immediate challenges for the Labels market?

There are many challenges being managed by label printers every day and that’s set to continue into 2024. Supply chain continues to be a significant operational factor for many businesses. Labor issues are everywhere, from lack of access to falling skill levels.

Declining prices are also having a huge impact on the sector, driving down margins and creating some urgency around improving efficiencies to offset this. For those not investing in technology that can improve OEE (Operating Equipment Efficiency) and overall quality it will be a challenge.

Are there any key trends that readers should be aware of as they prepare for the coming years?

Absolutely! Many of the challenges mentioned previously are drivers of some internal (to printers/convertors) trends. Printers are investing in automation and more intelligent workflows to reduce dependency on raw labor but also remove the impact falling skill levels can have on quality.

Key external trends include Personalization, Digitalization and Sustainability. Personalization can come in a variety of forms from variable messaging (variable printing) to more SKUs. More SKUs means shorter runs requiring more setups per year. Variability messaging from digital print technologies is often new to businesses, making their worlds inherently more complex.

The complexity doesn’t stop there, with a growing trend in Digitalization we are seeing growth in the use of codes, variable data, RFID tags – all designed to drive more personalized customer interaction.

Sustainability or having green credentials is focused in two places, too: the end-product and the converter’s business. Customers more and more expect minimal material usage and what’s used to be fully recyclable – circular economy! It’s come down to fewer materials that need to perform more functions, while internally, businesses are being required to lower use of chemicals, energy, etc.

Knowing some of the key market drivers, what are the tools available to help converters meet these drivers?

Earlier we talked about labor pressures. In this area the obvious solution is automation – create workflows that are more autonomous and ideally more efficient. The use of 100% inspection technology can help improve a lot of internal issues converters face. Low skill levels – don’t have your press operator set pressure and register, have an automated system do it for you. Gain efficiency and predictability while being less dependent on skilled labor. Free up your workforce to do more while automated tasks are being completed.

These tools improve OEE by letting printers run to more exact quantities – eliminating expensive overruns needed when there is no real time visibility on waste levels. Running shorter saves everywhere – less energy, ink, substrate, time used. It provides an opportunity to do more with the equipment you have all the while ensuring better outgoing quality. Doing this can directly offset the impact of lowering prices and squeezed margins.

As for trends, inspection technology clearly supports businesses’ need to be more sustainable through efficiencies – simply using less makes your greener as a business. Supporting the drive for a more sustainable end-product, inspection technologies are ever more critical. As processes become complex, the need for vigilance is ever more present.

Inspection technology IS part of the digitalization trend and very complimentary to supporting technologies like RFID, variable and fixed-code verification! These systems support more make-readies (more SKUs) by being able to accept setup data to better automate setup to support faster turnarounds.

Another example of digitalization is the digital process itself. In combination with companion quality tools like 100% inspection it is possible to “go to press” almost instantly AND ensure 100% compliance of often variable content with embedded technology, such as RFID.