Seen at Packaging Première Where digital makes the difference

Jul 22, 2019

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How has digital printing entered into paper converting and how has it helped to better meet the needs of buyers? We asked some companies that chose the Italian luxury packaging fair to reveal product innovations and market visions. Cristina Rossi

A quarter of a century after its introduction on the market, digital printing has now exceeded many of the initial limits and has entered the printing departments of many graphics companies, alongside traditional printing technologies, no longer just for color proofs or samples, but also for the realization of high value-added finished products. The market segment that first and foremost understood its potential is undoubtedly that of commercial printing, but in the last ten years digital printing has also opened a breach in the printing of labels and folding cartons, thanks to a decidedly high quality and to a flexibility that traditional processes are unlikely to offer.

In fact, digital technology makes it possible to respond to the increasingly frequent demand for short runs, for customization and experimentation ... but certainly not to the detriment of print quality. To better understand how digital printing helped brand owners to efficiently respond to their end customers, we interviewed some companies, mostly paper converting companies, present with a stand at the third edition of Packaging Première, the main event in Italy dedicated to luxury packaging, which took place at MICO in Milan from 28 to 30 May.

The first company we met was NAVA PRESS, which has been producing printed matter for the fashion and luxury industry since 1922 and is still the ideal partner for those looking for excellence and quality in the production of brochures, catalogues and books, magazines, but also packaging.
«Over the past two years, Nava Press has expanded its printing business to produce luxury packaging, creating a dedicated department where hot stamping-, die-cutting as well as folding/pasting machines plus cutting plotters and digital printers have been installed» says Gabriella Moretti, marketing & business development manager at Rotolito SpA and Nava Press (Nava Press was acquired by Rotolito in 2014, Ed.).

«Thanks to SwissQprint digital flatbed printing systems and two HP Indigo 12000, including one in the Nava Press plant, we make caskets, boxes and shoppers associated with the launch of new products or special editions for famous luxury brands, in particular in the perfumery and cosmetics segment. We also use digital printing for prototyping and we create mock-ups in two or three versions, using different types of paper, sometimes supplied by the customer themselves. Digital enables us to produce small print runs, for example 200 pieces, and in the perfume packaging sector we also serve foreign markets, such as the American one.

Flatbed plotters are used to print exhibitors, with personalized messages for product launches in stores. The customer comes to us with an idea, we support them in the development of the project, we define the types of ennobling and we create the mock-up in white. Then, once the mock-up has been approved, the customer sets up the graphic part and we digitally print the packaging. Some customers come to us because they know that we use HP Indigo, a 50x70 cm electrophotographic technology with seven colors that, thanks to the application of a primer, allows printing on any type of paper and cardboard».

On the international stage of Packaging Première, which has now become a meeting point between designers and international brands, FAENZA GROUP, today a reference point for high-end products and communication solutions, presented the latest output of the group’s business unit dedicated to packaging and future concepts prepared for its customers.
«The luxury world must always be ahead of the times, the seasons and the tastes» explains Claudio Rossi, CEO of Faenza Group «and we have always offered space for experimentation and innovation to help managers understand trends and allow companies to reach the market promptly and according to the desired positioning».
The group, composed of eight brands and operating beyond national borders, with offices in London, Paris and New York, offers customized packaging, made with different printing technologies, in medium runs of between 50,000 and 300,000 pieces. In addition to offset printing technology (Komori H-UV 8 colors plus paint), the company has two HP Indigo 12000 for high quality digital printing and Duplo solutions for digital finishing (painting and lamination).

The Faenza Group is present in a number of market segments: beauty, food, luxury, fashion and beverage.
«We support our customers in the design and creation of packaging, leaving them the choice between the various types of shapes and supports», Rossi explains. «As you can see, the packaging we exhibited at the fair is all white, without brands or with metallized supports, in order to protect our customers in the case of highly customized packaging: the message we want to launch here is that of extreme customization, without compromising the excellent quality of our products. Moreover, thanks to digital printing, each case can wear a different “cladding” and you can create different variants of the same product to perform market tests, just as we did recently for some important names in food and luxury».

The Pròto-typo Group, composed of four companies (Grafiche Paciotti, Cartotecnica Moderna, Grafox and Centurybox) that operate in the visual printing and packaging design sector, at Packaging Première launched the “Never Ending Packaging”, an ambitious project that has its focus on the creation of eco-sustainable packs. A stylized tree strictly made of cardboard was set up in the group’s stand to challenge visitors.
«Anyone who intends to start a path of sustainability, evaluating the conversion of their packaging into truly green containers, can ask one of our experts for advice» explained Laura Giovannetti, head of communication for the Pròto-typo Group.
«Just leave your data on a paper leaf and hang it on the tree. This is the first step towards a serious commitment: together with a team of professionals, developing authentic eco-friendly packs».
The various technologies used by the four companies of the group to produce packaging - mainly addressed to the fashion, food and wine sectors - also includes small and large format digital printing.
«We have Canon and SwissQprint solutions for prototyping and short-run production», says Giovannetti. «With large format machines we also print panels and displays».

One of the veterans of luxury packaging is certainly INDUSTRIALBOX, which for over 70 years has been producing rigid boxes, cases and caskets for the main national and international brands in the fashion, perfumery, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, confectionery, jewelery as well as the wine & spirits sectors.

The company, based in Argelato (BO), houses all the departments necessary for the most varied paper converting and industrial processes for packaging: design and prototyping, prepress and color proofing, offset and hot printing, lamination, embossing, die-cutting and much more. The total absence of digital printing solutions is striking. «For prototyping and color testing we use an offset, a 7-color Heidelberg Speedmaster with double spreader and lamination in line with Cold Foil», states Carlo Gregori, President of Industrialbox. «In this way we are sure to get a test faithful to the final printout. We create custom prototypes and mock-ups for design, materials and colors to satisfy the most demanding customer».

About 5 years ago GPACK-GROUP though began believing in the digital printing technology, and which at the last edition of the Print Oscars won the Graphic Industry of the year award, thanks to its extraordinary growth and to the high number of strategic acquisitions in which it has featured in recent years.
In addition to the acquisitions of GPP and Silton in 2016 and 2017 in the world of General Packaging, the Gpack Group has acquired Alliora Coffrets (rigid boxes) in France, the historic Interpack company of Pomezia, to consolidate their presence the pharmaceutical packaging segment and finally, in May 2019, the business unit dedicated to the billboard and paper converting business of Litorama SpA, a historic Italian graphic industry company.
«The Gpack Group is the result of the evolution of the Cartotecnica Goldprint by the Bramucci family» recalls Ombretta Maganza, Luxury Division Key Account Manager, present at the fair along with the new Marketing Manager, Giulia Berardi.

«We installed an HP Indigo 30000 in GPP, first in Italy, when there were only 8 in the world, a unique digital cardboard printing system. We invested a lot in promoting this innovative technology to differentiate the product, at the service of visual communication. With the Mosaic software you can create thousands of designs that are always different from each other or, more simply, customizations with variable data for new businesses or targeted events. Through the collaboration with important companies such as Campari, Parmalat, Nestlè and Barilla, in November 2015, we produced the first revolutionary campaign for a secondary packaging, with our historic client Parmalat, customizing 3,000,000 pieces of clusters in co-marketing with Disney: over 200 different graphics on 13 flavors of yoghurt to be cut out and used for Christmas. In 2017 with Barilla, still for Christmas, we created customized packs for “Abbracci” biscuits, with phrases sent directly by consumers through a portal dedicated to online purchases... what better occasion for a unique and special box in a single copy?
Today we use the Indigo 30000 also for productions in the pharmaceutical sector and for samples in the perfumery sector. Our task is increasingly to support customers, guiding them towards the new, great opportunities offered by digital printing, to transfer the actual potential of this technology to them: create interest in today’s and tomorrow’s consumers who are happy to follow the so-called trend topics and expect ever more innovative and quality packaging».

Founded in 1984 in Marano in the heart of Valpolicella by the Lonardi brothers, GRAFICAL now boasts 1,200 active customers and 3 million labels printed per day. It goes without saying that the core business of the company is still represented today by the wine sector, for which Grafical has been printing flawless and often customized labels for ten years using two HP Indigo 6800, web-fed digital printing machines based on electrophotographic technology.
«We are looking with great interest at the cosmetics sector», explains the young Anna Lonardi, responsible for marketing and communication at Grafical. «Our goal is to further develop the production of cases to offer our customers in the wine and cosmetics market a complete service. In this regard we are planning investments in the paper converting sector ... but at the moment we cannot reveal more details» concludes Anna, not little arousing our curiosity.
We will just have to wait to find out the future developments of digital printing at Grafical packaging.