Across North America, it has become increasingly common for small craft breweries to inkjet-print their beer cans.
New applications
The fastest-growing applications include textiles, décor and laminates, while the digital printing of ceramics is already quite mature. The InPrint survey asked respondents which industry segments were enjoying the most significant growth. The top answer was packaging at 60 per cent, followed by textiles—including dye sublimation and direct-to-substrate printing—at 53 per cent and non-textile-based interior décor—including wooden, plastic, metal and glass surfaces, along with wallpaper—at 48 per cent.
Printing ‘direct-to-shape’ is taking off with packaging applications. In Israel, for example, a Coca-Cola campaign saw two million bottles printed with unique colours, designs and numbers. The inkjet printing process used special software and algorithms and allowed customers’ unique artwork to also appear on other items, including T-shirts and hats. In North America, meanwhile, it has become increasingly common for small craft breweries to inkjet-print their beer cans.
As mentioned, textile-based décor and fashion represent the second-largest potential market. Digital inkjet textile printers are being used to create not only soft signage, but also apparel, upholstery and soft interior décor. There is a plethora of new, energy-efficient machines designed to reduce setup time and support short print runs, which in turn is helping reduce obsolescence in printing companies’ inventories and making it more feasible to test and market new designs. Ink matching remains a challenge, but designs are not limited in their colour range.
Three-dimensional (3-D) printing has received plenty of hype, but also inflated expectations. It is not truly an industrial printing process. Modelling is still very difficult and even industrial-scale 3-D printers are too expensive, slow, small and inefficient for mass production. A lot of time is required to create complex shapes by printing layer upon layer. The repeatability of 3-D printed parts is quite low. The process is only valuable for highly customized and personalized applications with complex geometry, such as those in the dentistry business.
That said, texture is becoming more important in printed visual environments. Research predicts ‘haptic’ graphics—i.e. those with a texture people can touch and feel—will take off in the future. And just like visual graphics, textural surfaces can be personalized and customized.
Examples include specially deposited inks on glass and ceramics, along with wood laminates. Previously, these types of surfaces could be printed to simulate a texture visually, but did not feel ‘right.’ Now, with innovative inkjet printheads inspired by 3-D printing, it is possible to create ‘natural’ effects on walls, décor, white goods and other surfaces. New ideas will continue to lead to new applications.
Frazer Chesterman is co-founder of FM Brooks, which is part of the Mack Brooks Exhibition Group and organizes InPrint shows, including the upcoming InPrint USA, to be held in April 2017 in Orlando, Fla. He was previously managing director for the Federation of European Screen Printers Associations’ (FESPA’s) wide-format exhibitions. This article is based on a seminar he presented at the International Sign Association’s (ISA’s) 2016 International Sign Expo. For more information, contact him via e-mail at frazer.chesterman@mackbrooks.com and visit www.inprintshow.com and www.signs.org.
