FuturePrint Podcast
FuturePrint is dedicated to and passionate about the power of print technology to enable new opportunities and create new value. This pod features deep-dive discussions with the people behind the tech as well as market analysis, trends, marketing and storytelling!
FuturePrint Podcast
#244 FuturePrint Week Review – Connectivity, Creativity, and the Power of Digital Print with Dr Simon Daplyn, Sun Chemical
Join us for this special episode recorded in the wake of FuturePrint Week 2025, held in the vibrant setting of Valencia’s stunning Marina. Dr. Simon Daplyn of Sun Chemical returns to reflect on the major themes, trends, and technologies that shaped this industry-leading event.
Over three inspiring days, FuturePrint Week brought together global leaders, technologists, and innovators to reimagine the future of print—not as an isolated tool, but as a strategic engine for connectivity, sustainability, and storytelling.
We explore the highlights from the Leaders Summit, where discussions ranged from VUCA-era leadership to the role of trust and emotional resonance in B2B communication. Learn how initiatives like the Manifesto for More Sustainable Print are creating a unified framework for environmental responsibility.
Delve into the Packaging, Labels, and DTS Conference, where standout case studies—from Nutella’s mass-customised jars to Nescafé’s consumer-to-farmer packaging narratives—illustrated how digital print can drive ROI and brand loyalty. Discover how 2D barcodes, QR integration, and new regulations like GS1 Sunrise 2027 are accelerating change.
We also spotlight new technologies, including RF drying systems from 42 Technology, hybrid solutions from Gallus and Domino, and Sun Chemical’s new pigment-based inks aimed at high-efficiency, low-water applications.
At the heart of it all? Connectivity—between print, people, process, and policy. Tune in for a forward-looking conversation on how digital print is not just surviving but thriving as it adapts to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving world.
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FuturePrint TECH: Industrial Print: 21-22 January '26, Munich, Germany
Welcome to the FuturePrint Podcast celebrating print technology and the people behind it.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the latest episode of the FuturePrint Podcast and welcome back to Dr Simon Daplin of Sun Chemical. To the FuturePrint Podcast, simon, welcome back.
Speaker 3:Thanks, marcus, good to be talking again, Welcome back.
Speaker 2:Thanks, marcus, good to be talking again. Yeah, yeah, no, it's good to have you back, and part of the reason you're a frequent guest is you know your view in the industry, I think, is always really helpful and useful and that you do provide some good analysis from your position, I guess, within Sun Chemical, but also because of your background in the development of inkjet in various industries. So I always like having you back as a guest because you give us some really sort of fairly independent oversight as to what's happening. And part of the reason we're reconvening is not long ago, we were both at Future Print Week in Valencia, which was a fantastic event.
Speaker 2:A three day at this this time covered lots of content and, as I was just saying to you, part of the I guess part of the challenges as one of the organizing team is while you're there and the content's flowing and it's going well and everybody's interested.
Speaker 2:You're not me myself not always necessarily processing um the content to the same level as someone like yourself might be.
Speaker 2:So it'd be great to really just have you back and give you um the opportunity and um provide some insight really as to what you felt were perhaps some of the more interesting or the more standout themes from from the event, because we did cover quite a lot of content and we covered from april one. We had the leaders summit, which was a obviously more strategic in theme and perhaps content, not just within the industry but also outside, which which is interesting, and then obviously it was followed up by the um future packaging labels and dts conference, second and third of april, which was obviously a little more on the technology side, although it did still feature some some interesting trend stuff too. So, yeah, rather than listening to me, I why not um simon, give us, give us a bit of um, a flavor for what you felt were some of the key themes coming out of that week, which was the first, the third of april, which seems like a an age ago now, but it wasn't really, was it?
Speaker 3:no, it does. It seems like a while ago, but um but no. So thanks, thanks for inviting me back on, marcus. I think it's kind of a nice little wrap up of an event that I found really useful in general and gave a great opportunity not only to learn but to network and understand about the trends but some of the emerging technology in the market trends but some of the emerging technology in the market. Um. So, but if I start on day one, I was, I was lucky enough to join the leadership um summit on on on the first of april, which which gave a lot of insights.
Speaker 3:Actually, it's really useful sometimes to get a perspective from people outside of the industry on topics that are absolutely relevant to what we're doing on a day-to-day basis. Um, particularly on the on the leadership side, and I thought it covered a really good range of leadership topics without being too kind of lectury and kind of, you know, some kind of MBA kind of content. It was really around thought leadership, how to be authentic in what we're doing, how to embrace change and react to and respond to changes that are happening in business and the market situation, particularly with the volatility. I mean we talked a lot about the VUCA kind of state of the world at the moment and how volatile everything is and how uncertain the times are and it was a particularly poignant week for that with with the announcement of of uh of tariffs, I think, the week before. So there's a lot of discussion around that. But then how we can kind of push through and really um, make ourselves heard through storytelling, through, as I mentioned, being being authentic.
Speaker 3:I think beate van Loon did a really nice presentation and thought-provoking kind of talk on how to be authentic in your leadership, having a wide range of discussions and viewpoints across the industry, reacting to stuff that isn't technology-based wasn't talking about printheads and inks and substrates and stuff like that but really taking a step back and looking at how we all can do a better job at driving the change and being leaders for the industry.
Speaker 3:As I said, without it being a preachy, this this is how you guys need to do this. It was really asking questions of us and and challenging us. Um, I thought there were I think it was philip pasolin, right the, the marketing guy that spoke on using emotion and and playing into that and how to drive a story through the business and it's not just about the technical details and and kind of the positioning and targeting and things that we're all told about, but also looking at people's emotional responses to, to color, to messaging, to language, and I think that really resonated with a lot of people that I spoke to during the during the first day, on how we can kind of adapt a little bit, how we as an industry sell ourselves to, to take it to the next level of adoption really yeah, that's philly persoon and um, yeah, he works with a lot of top brands around that um, and then to some extent in psychology he also does a lot of work.
Speaker 2:He does use AI a lot to help aggregate information and stuff. But yeah, I guess it's the sense that, like we've talked, haven't we, that B2B is morphing behavior-wise into B2C and that, yeah, following on from that, we also had minute from. Also gave a really good talk from gelato, some of absolutely on how storytelling really can can help us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sell that message in a better way yeah, no, exactly right.
Speaker 2:so, yeah, it was, and it was nice because it was a good day, because it wasn't jammed with too much content. Like you say, there's plenty of time for discussions, so I think everyone really valued that and it was a really good way to begin the week. Yeah, absolutely. We also talked about sustainability, didn't we that day? Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:And that's I mean it's obviously a very important part and it became a theme certainly on the first day of the conference as well.
Speaker 3:But you had Steve Lister in, who obviously is a very well-known and respected speaker and expert in sustainability, particularly in the retail space, and it kind of gave again insights on where we need to be going, the direction of travel, how some companies are adapting Some companies know they need to do it but need support from the industry to be able to achieve their sustainability goals and really looking again at a thought process behind what sustainability is and how we get to that point, how we communicate what we're doing without falling into the traps of greenwashing and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:And, again, very engaging speaker with a lot to say and a really kind of useful way of approaching the sustainability topic without getting bogged down in all the detail but really looking from a relatively high level on how that is coming, how we need to embrace it and how we can support retailers, brands, converters to get to the position that they need to embrace it and how we can support retailers uh, brands, converters to to get to the position that that they need to be yeah, and, and actually prior to the actual formal beginning of the summit, you, you were part of a group, uh, meeting for the a manifesto for more sustainable print as well.
Speaker 2:Right, that we had.
Speaker 3:Yeah which which again, which again is is is a really nice, nice initiative. I'm very kind of proud to be part of that and for some chemical to be part of that, but it's let's be honest, it's been, it's been driven by by yourself and by uh, by carlos from hp, um really wanting to put together, uh, let's say, an independent, industry-wide look at how, as an industry, we can set some, let's say, core principles to be more sustainable, um in how we're printing, from uh, from raw materials all the way through to brands and retailers. So there's there's a big cross-section of people involved. Um, it's not driven, although carlos is doing a huge amount of the work together with you to drive this forward. He's been very clear that it's not an HP initiative and it won't work if it's just HP pushing this, that it's a community-based initiative and, similarly, for us I mean as an IT company, we're highly involved in it, but so are NASDAQ, for example. So it's not one or two. It's all of us acknowledging that sustainability is something that we need to talk about, but we need to make simple for people to understand and putting down.
Speaker 3:You know, the initial principles or framework for more sustainable printing in terms of things that are bite-size and hopefully easy for users of print and producers of print to understand and align with, so that as an industry we're kind of moving forward together and we have something, that kind of frames where we need to be headed, or the simple principles and for sure, in iterations of an ongoing it will fill the detail and become more complete from a technical standpoint and all those kind of things.
Speaker 3:But it's all about designing better, using better materials, printing more efficiently, making sure that what we have is recyclable and and the operational waste is worked, you know, using better chemicals, no emissions or low emission electricity, so all of these kind of things, reducing water usage, so stuff that really everybody can get on board with, that that people can understand. But it's, it's framing it so that it's it's easy for someone to say, okay, I, if I'm aligned with these eight, then then I'm on a good for someone to say, okay, I, if I'm aligned with these eight, then then I'm on a good track to to be responsible in what I'm doing yeah, yeah, exactly that, and I guess that's the um.
Speaker 2:The key is collaborate, creating it collaboratively, um, but also at a fairly high level to enable you what is a very complex and difficult topic, like you say to really provide a distillation of some of the sort of fundamental steps to take that isn't weighed down with over-complexity and overthinking and actually is more about guidance and making kind of improvements on a net level. So, yeah, and it was nice to be able to do that and launch it at what, what, what was a summit, and actually the summit then tackled sustainability and although, although the theme ran through the whole event, obviously there were other themes too, but that um, it's tackled and there's something tangible that's come from it and we're going to be, we're looking forward to developing it further as the months and years go by. So that's, that was brilliant. And, yeah, anything, anything else really on day one, leaders wise or theme wise that you felt was was worthy of a mention, or is it sort of now sort of looking to day two and three?
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, overall I think it's.
Speaker 3:It's about embracing change and being open to listening and understanding and building trust.
Speaker 3:I think that was a big kind of theme of day one is is being authentic means being able to be trusted, but, um, you know, through change, even through the, roman weishaupt did a, did a presentation on AI and the power of AI and where it's headed, and we all have to be open to that. I mean, it wasn't designed to scare or anything like that, but to show the possibilities of how technology can start to support what we're trying to achieve. So, overall, for me, it was about embracing change, being confident and leaders, leaders in in the right way to push the industry forward into, because we know the power of print, we know the benefit that it brings we it was very digital focused in terms of the, the audience and and and that's kind of the, the way we're we're headed, and I think there's there's a lot we can do within that space to to drive a greater adoption through some of the topics that were discussed on day one yeah, yeah and um, I think that's it, isn't it?
Speaker 2:it's using the power of the technology for creating value and adapting and embracing that change, because everyone's confronted with the same issues of volatility and high unpredictability, because that is the world we're living in right now, and it's um taking back control. And um, because I, because I think, as you say, what you know, when generally, generally speaking, when there's a lot of volatility, a huge section of the population kind of freezes in a way, right, doesn't make decisions, wants to wait, but I think the thing was there is about embracing change and moving forward, isn't it so? With not necessarily knowing the answers, but working it out. So it was really positive, not optimistic, which was, which was um, you know, inspiring really, I think, and that was one of the key things I think we wanted to achieve with the event. So we obviously followed the first day with packaging labels in direct shape, which we'd ran last year. Has much change in a year, really? Uh, any interesting things come out of it. Perhaps that, um, you, you would of note that you'd like to sort of pick up on.
Speaker 3:I think, as time goes by, there's more to talk about and more to share, I guess, and there was interesting stuff that maybe rounded because it's a technology conference, but there's different ways of approaching that, and so there was again sustainability was a theme. There was for me a really interesting presentation from Charlotte Neumeyer from Circular.
Speaker 1:Analytics.
Speaker 3:And so she's working in a consultancy to help people through the kind of minefield of sustainability with, with a particular focus on packaging and and the ppwr regulations that are coming in. So learning more about that in terms of, you know, minimizing packaging, right sizing, looking at the weight volume, empty space ratios, that that that is going to come in in europe now or is in there, how we need to use recycled materials and the impact potentially of compostable coming forward and the whole reuse and design for recycling, and I think it kind of opened people's eyes a bit to this. This is not something that's happening in the future, this is something that applies like today, and so you know all of the kind of deadlines and things bring into sharp focus how important our decisions now are, because the stuff we're developing today already needs to meet standards that are set, and you know there's three key years coming up that are set, and, and you know there's there's three key years coming up, this is 2030, all by 2030. I think she said all packaging must meet certain design for right recycling criteria, um, and that that will be fully established by 2028, which sounds okay, that's, but that's that's in three years.
Speaker 3:Uh, less than three years now, and so to be ready for some of these things that are coming in we really need to be talking about them last year and ongoing, you know, and there's, there's, there's a whole set of things coming for 2030 and then onward requirements from there. So it's um, it was really interesting to have that broken down, understand what that means and then understand. Look at some of her technical data on the parameters that she'd measured for or they'd measured for, benchmarking packaging and the approach to circularity and carbon footprint in particular, and what that means. So I think it was presented in a really kind of informal way, with a lot of technology there, without it being over over technical, and it was easy to understand and uh, yeah, a lot of a lot of food for thought yeah, and that's.
Speaker 2:That's a skill, isn't it, for speakers tackling an issue like that, which is weighed down with, like I said, complexity, complexity, legal language, technical shows did a really good job there, and you're right. I mean, let's be honest, the forces of change are coming from different areas, aren't they? They're coming from legislation, consumer behavior, brands and alignment targets, this and so on and so forth. So it's it's kind of um, maybe a a giant change. That's taking time, but it's. It's starting to accelerate now and certainly packaging is possibly in. I don't know whether it's similar to textile. Is it in terms of the requirements and the and the pressures on it to be aligned with sustainability, because it's closer to consumer? Perhaps in other sectors, I don't know yeah, I, I think so.
Speaker 3:And and you know um other sectors, I don't know. Yeah, I, I think so. And and you know um the this ppwr legislation that's coming in in europe. So, uh, how how we manage waste and packaging waste is it's the legal framework. Now it's not, uh, it's, it's no longer a target, it's uh, it's stamped, it's, it's, it's something that we have to do, and so that brings everything into sharper focus.
Speaker 3:We've been talking, and at conferences for many years. People have been talking about sustainability and how will we really get there? And a lot of people say, well, the only way to do this is through legislation to kind of make people do it, and that's the reality of today. Legislation is here, it's happened, and especially in the packaging, textiles is a bit different. That's in real sharp focus. It's likely to be one of the first industries looking at the digital product passport, so really detailed information on where all the materials come from and how everything needs to be recycled or reused at its supposed end of life recycled or reused at its supposed end of life. So there's a lot of industries that digital print is closely connected with, that are having quite serious legislative kind of requirements coming and it brings in sharp focus how prepared we all need to be for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so that was really interesting too. Anything else, there was a lot of talks, new technologies, new technologies.
Speaker 3:Case studies are great, so it's always nice to see how print is being used and success stories of how digital is enabling stuff to happen. So for me, there were two really good examples of that. One was Appetite Creative Jenny Stanley did a talk on connected packaging and gave some really good examples of how brands had used simple things like a QR code to create consumer connection with the brand, consumer connection with the brand and either to communicate sustainability messaging, for example or to provide offers or brand loyalty schemes. And the power of it was quite compelling in terms of the number of user engagements, of user engagements, the uplift in sales, the return on investment that was possible from creating a simple campaign through something as easy as a QR code within your packaging to drive that engagement with the consumer and build that brand loyalty. So that was a really interesting presentation for me in terms of where packaging, where digital's role within packaging, even if it's just the variable data part, can really drive forward the brand experience and the value proposition that brands can have from their packaging, because it's the first port of call for the brand right, it is their advertising platform in a way, and so that was really interesting. Um, and also, uh, particularly interesting was um, hp, um, and they gave a really good presentation of you know the importance not, and what. What felt different this time is we weren't just talking about, okay, here's a printer and this is what it can do, and these are inks that are compliant, and this is why and but it was it was no, we're there now we can print, we know how to print. This is this is the benefits of of doing it.
Speaker 3:Um, and they, they gave some really nice examples of, again, consumer engagement with print that could only have been done digitally. So I think there was the Nutella campaign that they showed, where they would print only two jars with the same design. I think it was within France and so it drove this engagement where people wanted to find out who had the jar with the same print that they had. So they varied the print so much could only be done digitally and it got a huge amount of traction and press and, you know, social media coverage for the Nutella brand with quite a simple idea, I guess quite complex in its execution in terms of how you do that and the workflow and the design behind that, but a really good example of that.
Speaker 3:And then he gave another one on um nest cafe in in south america and you know, engaging people with the growers of the coffee.
Speaker 3:So they, they used images of the coffee growers and introduced the consumer to the person that had grown the coffee to to again highlight their sustainable and ethical practices. These are the farmers, this is what we do for them, this is what they do for us. And now you're getting the benefit with with the jar of coffee that you've bought, and again they they saw a big uplift in kind of consumer um interaction and trust in the brand from telling a story through digital printing on their packaging. So I think those kind of stories that show us OK, we sometimes get bogged down in the technical aspects of it and that's really important, but here's how what we're doing can really make a difference for a brand, for a converter, for a consumer, and that's the whole point. Right, and that's that's how we're going to drive further adoption is by the understanding of brands and converters that digital print can bring real and significant value to their businesses real and significant value to their businesses.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's two great examples there Jenny's and Jose's talks and really, really, really rewinding to the Leaders Summit.
Speaker 2:Like you used the word trust again, and I think that's it, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Brands are using or starting to realise the impact and flexibility and creative, creative power, I suppose, of of digital in terms of actually being able to accelerate time to market with really clever ways of of using packaging as a stage, almost right, like as a stage for an expression and a connection that is is super, super clever and super cool and, like you say, it's connected to and it drives huge, huge kind of uh, word of mouth and and, um, and, like you say, trust that the, you know the brand really stands out, and that's the other point. Isn't it that very cluttered environment that fmcg and I know that the fmcg marketplace is in and I know that promiscuous shopper, promiscuity, price pressure is super, super tough at the moment and, um, you know, and I think from a converter's point of view, or for I mean the brands, actually from the brand's point of view, the retailer's point of view, you're probably able to make three or four times the amount of money on a campaign like that, aren't you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, and it's incredible and it's a lot to do with the software and the workflow and the understanding we. You know sometimes it's forgotten the advances that we've made or the industry has made in those areas to enable Effectively, if you wanted, a different QR code on every pack to go out, so it's literally unique to the person that picks up the pack. Um, I think that's maybe a bit further down the line, but brands will embracing this and and what was it? It's just learning new stuff. So there was another um fireside chat with with um, with stefan casey, who obviously used to work for for Nestle and is now not consulting but working for company trying to promote the adoption of digital through connected packaging.
Speaker 3:Um, and they we kind of take for granted a bit the, the 2d barcode, the and the qr code, but there's this new legislation coming that's going to really start to push that, because it's the GS1 sunrise, right.
Speaker 3:So brands want and consumers want to understand more about what the product is and they can do that through a QR code.
Speaker 3:But then you still need to also have a standard code at the point of sale.
Speaker 3:That we do, and the aim is to remove that standard barcode and so you're scanning the QR code for the product information at the point of it going through the till or the checkout, but it's also then got another layer of information about the nutritional value, any sustainability messaging, any of this connected interaction that you want to generate. So there's all these things that are coming where brands are going to have to redesign packaging and base everything around qr codes very soon in order to um for it to work at the point of purchase. So there's big projects going on with brands and retailers to make that happen. And again, that's something that is quite a convincing proposition for the use of digital print in terms of the variable data, how you can have it regional, more specific to consumer kind of demographics, and I think that's another powerful example of how the marketplace is changing, opening a door for digital to become, uh, more adopted and and provide a greater value proposition for for brands and retailers and the key word, connectivity, isn't it?
Speaker 2:so absolutely straight from the printing machine through the whole process to the end and both of those talks, and it's an exciting link between the two, isn't it that? Actually, it seems to be converging into that and I hope we see an acceleration of it. I know that I had a great podcast interview. It was with two gentlemen from HP, with Abel sanchez and um guy bb, and they went into quite a bit of detail about the.
Speaker 2:You mentioned a couple of things that hp have worked on and it's just really interesting. It's on the future print tv channel. It's a really interesting discussion with them both about how how it works and and they pick up some of the stories you mentioned there nutella and um, a couple of the other ones. It's just really relatable, isn't it? They're household brands and you get to see what's going on and how things can be and it's like the potential looks and you know they were saying you know we can turn an idea into reality so quickly now if there's a willingness from the brands. And there's still that gap between the knowledge that brands may have and the capability of digital and there's still a bit of a gap, quite a big gap, but it's starting to start to move forward, which is exciting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think that's where we all have to understand part of, I mean, I think, was it Jeff? Jeff Wettison from Keypoint did another really nice talk about looking at why digital hasn't been adopted further, because it's a key topic, right, we all believe in the power of it, we all understand the capability, and yet only 1% of packaging is printed digitally. So the ceiling is massive, but the conversion rate at the moment is extremely low and it's about, okay, how do we make this happen? And part of it is about that connectivity and that workflow, because a lot of people that have invested in digital in the past you may have, I don't know, single operating systems or workflows per machine rather than a fully connected space, and it's enabling that to happen connected um space and it's enabling that to happen, and I think that's where some uh work probably needs to to happen. But a huge amount of development has come and that's that's the interesting part of conferences like this.
Speaker 3:When you have the technical discussions, yes, there's the usual print haired ink stuff, which, which is hugely important, and you know from my side, from an ink company, we are the frontward facing bit that becomes part of the packaging, and so it's critical that we get that right. But we also need to understand that there needs to be more oems. We need more machines in the field. We need them to be connected? Uh, it needs to be. Can it be accessed everywhere? Is it reliable and repeatable? All these kind of things to to make sure that this chasm that that we've long referred to between the early adopters and and it becoming mature we we can get over that, and a lot of it is is. We've proved time and time again that the technology is good, it's reliable, it can do everything that it needs to in the space as a complementary technology to to revere or flex.
Speaker 3:So, whatever it may be, I don't think any of us think it's a replacement, but it's understanding the value and the revenue that can be generated from um adopting that and how we allow that incremental transformational change to happen within those brands so that they can understand really the benefits and how we can accelerate the adoption which um you know really interesting talking about ai internet of things, consolidation of the industry now, where you see lots of the big converters in the last 12 months have kind of merged or created partnerships and managing that along with the regulator and compliance changes that are coming. There's a lot for them to consider and if we can make that simple and deliver return on investment in in the way that was demonstrated very clearly in a couple of the talks, then I think there's a really bright future.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's almost as simple as like, I guess, seeing technology investment as a tactical saving or is it a strategic advantage, isn't it?
Speaker 3:It's kind of like it's probably not as simple as that, but a lot of what we were talking and seeing, I guess, was that you know if, if done properly, it is a strategic advantage to have technology but when, when you look at some of them, so, so there was, uh, I think, um, I think jeff gave an example of of a box plant converter that did did like thousands and thousands of jobs on its digital press and something like more than 50 I think over 60 of the jobs were single use. So if you'd done that in an analog way so they did single runs, single design, so every time you've done that you would have had to create new plates and stuff like that, and it was. It was a astronomical value benefit of doing it digitally. In terms of just the aggregate plate savings, I think it was 15, 20 million dollars, maybe 20 plus million dollars actually just on plate savings, um and so and that and the changeovers I think he said it was more than 20% of productivity improvement at the same time.
Speaker 3:So things like that, as people make the switch and that kind of data becomes available, I mean it's a hugely compelling argument. There's just not enough examples of it right now, because if you've invested a lot of money in a Gravure press, you want that running and delivering profit right. So there's always going to be this lag. But I think there's already some extremely compelling examples within the industry of companies that have embraced digital and really get a significant financial benefit from it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely a significant financial benefit from it? Yeah, definitely. And and the you know, like you say, there's a lot of um, interesting examples of perhaps more sort of you know trends and so on, but also the um, the use of different technologies on a creative level, utilizing this, the, the platform that packaging is really as a as a way to communicate as well, but there is also technology that's continually developing that could be inks in jet heads, it could be um software could be uh, that was plenty.
Speaker 3:There's plenty of that in the bundles as well, right yeah, there was loads, and I think that I didn't want to overlook the technology part because it's it is a tech conference and there was a lot of technology presented all in a way that wasn't dry, wasn't lots of stats and numbers, things like drying and curing. You know, exilitas, 42 technology and IST all presented very nice examples of advancing technology, particularly for water base but also for uv, in how we try and solve some of the problems, because we we all know that there is a massive drive from the market and the brands to move to water-based technology, but there's a big challenge in drying that and and so there was some really interesting kind of technology presentations on stuff that's coming that that could enable us to dry quicker and better, and that's that's obviously um beneficial um. From the ink side. I mean we talked about de-inking, which is going to be a very key part of of the, the recyclability approach, um nazdar mentioning the, the high viscosity and the benefits for, for corrugated printing, and then a more reinforcement of the hybrid argument of uh, using analog and digital together to create what they would claim as an ultimate solution. So Kento provided some really good case study data again of which combination on which design gives you the best benefit, whether it's a full digital, whether it's full analog or, in many cases, a digital analog hybrid, from their point of view.
Speaker 3:In the corrugated printing market, domino presented something similar on the label side of things, on how we're combining technologies to really get the best of both worlds, and I think, um you know, we, we would, we would align with that in terms of primers, coatings and sometimes base whites, for example, that that are more complicated for digital to do in a cost-effective way, that. But if you combine analog and digital technology, you can really get the sweet spot of both in some cases. So it's really interesting to see. That's an idea or a concept that has been talked about for a long time, but it's really um making yeah, and then great, and you could the kentento example.
Speaker 2:It was a beer company, wasn't it that you showed that one of the one of them and, um, it was really nice talk and and the impact of what they're doing is really um, clever and and different and so on, so it was really good. Obviously, you mentioned hybrid there, and hybrid's been, I guess, one of the lead markets for hybrid. It's been labels, hasn't it?
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:And obviously with Label Expo in Barcelona in September, there was quite a bit of label content too, Anything that you saw from the label side of things that you thought might be worth mentioning.
Speaker 3:I mean, yeah, obviously, domino presented very nicely on their technology for hybrid. You know, dario Avenatti from Gallus is always presenting. Domino presented very nicely on on their technology for hybrid. Um, you know, uh, dario urbanati from gallus is always presenting um in a very interesting way and a thought-provoking way and he, they had some new technology that they were presenting that allowed you to do gloss or matte on label that effectively the flick flick of a switch. So, particularly for uh, high-end wine bottles and stuff like that, where they're looking for a fully matte label with the uv ink, can be challenging and they they were presenting technology together with partners that allowed them to run glossy labels and then literally flick a switch and they can print the same design fully matte, which gives that flexibility. And these are the kind of things that then will drive further adoption.
Speaker 3:And digital is already probably well by far the most advanced in terms of the packaging space and adoption of digital. It's very compelling the for for that. But incremental value propositions like that, um, like combinations of uh inks and overprint varnishes and and enabling I think steve lister mentioned, like a, a move from using foils and metallics to a printed gold for a luxury brand that allowed a far greater level of recyclability of their product without compromising the value or the strength that they felt that that was providing to them in terms of the luxury space. So within label there's a lot of movement still space. So within label there's there's a lot of movement still. Um it's it's dominated by uv technology because it's it's perfectly aligned with with the needs of label um there's far less pull for water-based in that application but the speed, the quality is is second to none. Um from a digital press now from from a wide range of manufacturers yeah, yeah, there's a good couple of examples.
Speaker 2:In dantex, obviously, one of our partners and join and dave gray gave a really good talk, I think, on um, uh, you know, with the work they're doing there, so I think that's um, yeah, there's certainly a theme as well. Any other sort of like, just sort of some summarizing, I guess, really any sort of any other, any thing else you might want to pick up on?
Speaker 3:I just, I just think it's. It's really good to see that, in such a turbulent time, so much positivity, so much uh, reflection on okay, this is what we could have done better two years ago and, yeah, we are doing it better now. And and the way that we're all thinking about sustainability, that we acknowledge the problem but that there's so many people finding solutions to these challenges, whether it's how to print, how to stop inks absorbing too much in the substrate, how to change the materials to make them more recyclable I mean the the examples of substrate and doing shop fronts and exhibitions purely from corrugated based material, for example, is another really um, amazing way that print is being used and supporting a sustainable initiative. And I think I think that's it's always a key theme, but it felt it felt very much like sustainability had been embraced and really pushed forward in terms of our understanding and our kind of technology to support the market going in a sustainable direction.
Speaker 3:And then, in general, it's just great to talk to people, understand their technology, like, listen to the talks, but then go and pick their brains and having that opportunity to network within the industry and and find out where we all should be going and, and it's very there's a good camaraderie. It's not like all the guys go and sit in separate corners of the room because they're all competitors. We really are embracing each other's technology and understanding that without each other then the industry doesn't move forward. Similarly, with the oems or all the the kind of curing technology guys, there's, there's very much a camaraderie which you know. We've talked many times that the only way to move forward is through collaboration. There is no one company doing everything, and so to be able to have those discussions, to realize potential projects and drive the business forward and the industry forward is it's a great way and a great opportunity to do that yeah, yeah, it's brilliant.
Speaker 2:You know, I have to say I think the venue and the location and the the kind of environment you know, people just chill it's a fantastic venue, isn't it? And obviously, on the marina and weather was pretty good most of the times we were able to be network outside, on the roof, we had a dinner, so it's just like um, yeah, it's, it's conducive to just sort of taking time to think and and connect, isn't it yeah?
Speaker 3:but what was, what was great is senior people from significant companies were there. They weren't that they wanted to be there. So you had dario, you had the the ceo of dantex was there. You, you had a lot of decision makers, um, so my boss, the director of digital printers and chemical, p saunders, was there. So you were, people were able to have like significant discussions because it was, you know, senior and significant people went, not just because of the leaders summit, but because the content is always good. There's always something to learn, but something to say as well, and I think, uh, that really enables that collaboration piece to move forward a bit quicker, which is which is great yeah, brilliant.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for joining us. That that's a really good overview of the event from your perspective as well, which is really good in terms of actually helping me understand what actually happened. No, no, I mean, like I said, you absorbed a lot more of the content and were able to give us a much more of an educated opinion on that, so I appreciate you taking the time to do that, simon, and now I guess you're off um soon to berlin to fespa you'll. What are you launching there? Anything interesting before we sign off? You're going to be doing some new product launches, right?
Speaker 3:we, we will. So, yes, so sun chemical has a stand there in hall uh 1b um, and we will be launching a few things actually. So we will be launching a full range of new digital textilings based on pigment. So pigment space is growing rapidly within the market, the market pool, particularly from a sustainability point of view, and it's low water, lower energy technology. So we're launching a full range of that which will be called Zennia Sapphire technology. So we're launching a full range of that which will be called Zennia Sapphire for low, medium and high viscosity printheads, so to cover pretty much any textile printer that's out there in the market. So if that interests you, please come and see us. We've got some amazing samples that we'll be able to show as well.
Speaker 3:We're also launching a new ink called Streamline Toccata, which is an aqueous it's an Aqueous pigmented ink for poster printing. So again, an industry that's really moved from kind of solvent based into the Aqueous space. And Tocarta is a pretty unique product there in terms of its ability to print not only on blue back paper but also enable customers to print point of display corrugated as well. So there's, there's, there's a lot of flexibility in that um, and then we're we're introducing a low viscosity uv ink.
Speaker 3:The epson is making great waves in in the industry with their low viscosity print heads. Um, and that's always been a challenge for uv, but we've got a new low viscosity uv technology that that we're very interested to talk to anyone about and understand, and that's always been a challenge for UV. But we've got a new low-viscosity UV technology that we're very interested to talk to anyone about and understand how and where we can support people adopting that that are using particularly the Epson i3200 and S3200 printheads. So lots of new stuff, as well as all the normal graphics, wide-format graphics, textile and industrial printing inks that you would normally see from Sun Chemical as well.
Speaker 2:Excellent. Well, thanks for that. Good luck with the event in Berlin. And yes, I guess for us, for Future Print, it's starting to play in the Munich event in January, so we'll look forward to catching up with you about that too. Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening listening. If you enjoyed this episode, you can subscribe now for more great audio content. Coming up and visit futureprinttech for the latest news, partner interviews, in-depth industry research and to catch up on content from future print events. We'll see you next time on the future print podcast.
