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
#261 Health, Hope and Inkjet: How Dursun Acun’s Eco-Driven Innovation is Unlocking New Markets for Digital Print
Breakthrough innovations often come from unexpected places. In this fascinating conversation, Dursun Acun of O&PM Europa reveals how a customer request to print directly onto bottles launched him on a journey that could transform flexible packaging printing forever.
What began as a search for better primers has evolved into a revolutionary solution that solves one of the industry's most persistent challenges: enabling water-based inkjet printing on virtually any substrate. Unlike existing technologies that require thick, expensive primer layers and specific materials, Dursun's innovation uses an extremely thin coating that dramatically reduces costs while expanding possibilities.
"Nobody sees water-based inkjet as a product on its own," Dursun explains, highlighting how the industry often misunderstands this technology's unique advantages. While competitors struggle with limited material compatibility, O&PM Europa's solution works with any substrate – from various plastics to metals and papers – allowing converters to use their own preferred materials rather than switching to costly alternatives.
The potential market impact is staggering. With an estimated €30 billion market for digitized flexible packaging currently underserved, this technology could unlock vast new opportunities. What makes this innovation particularly valuable is its alignment with growing demands for sustainability and safety. Dursun's commitment to developing non-toxic, environmentally friendly solutions stems from personal experience witnessing the tragic consequences of hazardous industrial chemicals in his community.
Now seeking industry partners to help scale this technology, Dursun envisions complete printing systems costing under €1 million that could print wider formats than current alternatives while maintaining total material flexibility. For converters, material manufacturers, and equipment developers looking to participate in the next wave of packaging innovation, this represents a chance to collaborate on something truly transformative.
Connect with Dursun via LinkedIn or email at da@opm-europa.com to explore how this game-changing primer technology could fit your business needs.
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FuturePrint TECH: Industrial Print: 21-22 January '26, Munich, Germany
welcome to the latest episode of future print podcast. It's marcus timpson really happy to have with me today derson akun from ompm europa bv. Welcome to the podcast, derson thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, marcus um, I'm happy to to to join this podcast and hopefully we'll get some nice out of it well, yeah, exactly, we're going to discover some new things.
Speaker 1:I know you've been working on something really exciting and potentially game changing, which we'll talk about a bit more as we get through the podcast. So that's all very positive and exciting. But first, if you don't mind, just to kick things off, could you tell us a bit about yourself? You know your background. Perhaps what sparked your interest in technology development for the print industry?
Speaker 2:All right, well, as you said, my name is Dursun Dursun Ajun. I live in the Netherlands for some time now and previously, you know, I was born in Turkey, studied here in Holland, got my first job at the Dutch printing company Dutch government company printing company and in 2015, I started my own company selling labels booklet labels for chemicals companies. But just before that, one of my customers asked me you know, if I could, you know, develop a machine that could print directly onto objects like bottles and so on. That was actually the beginning of this whole journey. I started investigating, I think, think in 2014, about the possibilities of printing directly shape um, and then in 2019, I had the first prototype of the label saver I called it, and this machine worked with a memjet technology water-based inkjet onto metals or polyethylene bottles, hcp, ldpe bottles, whatever.
Speaker 2:But with the development of this machine, I was forced to look for my own primers Because, as we all know, water-based inks don't adhere on surfaces like plastics and metals by themselves, so we needed a primer. I looked for this primer and, again, I was forced to develop these primers on my own. It took me three years before I had my first formulation from which I could say yes, this works. We have adhesion, we have a nice print quality and so on.
Speaker 2:But at the same time, when I was, you know, being active on LinkedIn and putting messages and posts on LinkedIn about my developments, we got a lot of interest from different areas in the market, like flexible packaging, and this sparked, indeed, the idea that we had two problems solved. One was the label saver printing with direct-to direct to shape, with water-based inkjet, which is still the one and only in the world, and secondly, flexible packaging was a great challenge because there are not many companies supplying flexible films with a certain coating where you can print with water-based inkjet onto. You know, the availability of these materials is extremely poor from my perspective, from my experience, um. So, yeah, these are the two projects that we are currently working on flexible packaging and the label saver.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, like you're saying, water-based is incredibly important for many reasons, isn't it? In terms of the future?
Speaker 2:You don't want to know how many different companies come to us and ask if we can either cooperate or if we have certain solutions on water-based inkjet. I think there is some. Just to put it nice, there is some ignorance in the market. When you talk about water-based inkjet, the first thing that people do is compare with other technologies. They don't see water-based inkjet as a technology on its own. One of the examples that I can give you is water-based inkjet is, most of the time, not water-resistant. I never heard someone else complaining about a paper label which is not water-resistant. When it comes to water-based inkjet, the first thing they do is, you know, touch and scratch and then rub the how it holds. You know, comparing to either a solvent-based technology or a uv-based technology. Nobody sees water-based inkjet as a product on its own, because it solves different problems. It's a different technology. So, yes, there is some weird ignorance about it which I can't really understand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so people need to kind of change their mindset around it a little bit and perhaps, yeah, like you say, say look at it as a standalone opportunity. Um, why is water base so important? You know, it's like one of those things you think, well, it's obvious, but I think people listening be useful to know why is water based so important, particularly for flexible or any packaging or labels well, there are.
Speaker 2:There are several, you know advantages, advantages that water-based can offer which other technologies still can't offer. I know that people are working on a safe UV inkjet system, for example, or safe solvent-based or on UV-based. In that work environment you need to take precautions like cleaning the air, not touching the UV inks, because they're all toxic from a safety point, from an ecological point and a sustainable point. You know the inks, water-based inks are far more friendly than all the other inks. That's a given fact right now and that is probably the main reason why the bigger companies, like you know, nestle or those type companies, are looking for these safe solutions because it's safe for people, it's safe for environment. That's all we want, obviously.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Just rewinding a little bit Dustin. So what led you to establish the business in the first place? Obviously you're an innovator. You're focusing on new developments where there are perhaps new opportunities, or solving those problems. But tell us a bit about the business. What sets you apart? What sets OPNM apart from others in the marketplace?
Speaker 2:That's a pretty difficult question question, you know, um, when I, when I said that I wanted to build this machine, um, there was only one reason and again I I will have to come back to safety. I remember there was a. There was some time in in the local area that I work and and live in, the local authority forced a bunch of people, unemployed people, to work in a certain factory and they had to work with paint with chrome six in it. That was more than 30 years ago, but the conclusion was these people all got sick. A couple of them died even on on because of, you know, getting cancer or becoming cancerous because of the chrome six element in the paint that they were forced to work with. That was very close to me. It was in a village where I live and it was a situation where I was in an environment very close to you. And that is maybe the spark that I thought I'm going to build something. But I don't want to build something that kills people. I want the safety because I believe that we can I mean, as a human being, we have the capability of doing good instead of trying to make money at all costs. So that is the main reason why I thought, you know I'm going to build something which is safe.
Speaker 2:Just recently I received an ingredient from one of my suppliers and on the safety data sheet of this specific ingredient I could see it's hazardous, you could potentially get cancer. And these are the ingredients that we don't use Immediately. I don't even test anything with it. As long as ingredients are hazardous, we don't use it in our formulations. So, coming back to your question, what does my company set apart? You tell me. You tell me, I mean, I'm trying to build something, and that's the commercial side of it, apart from my own life expectation. I mean, the commercial side is we want to build something that others don't or can't or won't. You know, and, and in a commercial sense, if you build something which is not existing or which is not very common, obviously you have something new, and whether this is commercially viable, that's the future is going to tell us. You know it's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it sounds like you're doing a lot of work based upon wanting to create healthier options or, like you say, safer options, more sustainable options, by solving technical barriers and technical problems, exactly, and that by creating these solutions, you can then commercialize and then work with larger partners to bring them to market quicker, in a way, I would imagine, than some of these bigger companies, in the way they innovate. And I think that has a lot of value for the industry itself because, you know, smaller businesses are a little more agile, can see ways through. You don't have a culture of conservatism or risk aversion or whatever. So you're like kind of really seeing with clarity, trends and opportunities and problems, and I think that has a huge amount of value and I would imagine that's what sets you apart significantly in a way. So, yeah, that's clear.
Speaker 1:You've already touched on it. You've obviously, with that sort of um energy that you have and commitment that you have, you, water-based is an area that is clearly like, as you've said, has a future, is more, uh, inherently sustainable and healthier, and particularly in the packaging industry, where that's a big concern. You've touched on it already, but you've recently been working on this that I think you've described it as a potential breakthrough. Why is it such a game changer? So you mentioned water-based and its flexible packaging. Why do so many people think it was impossible to solve?
Speaker 2:well, um, when we talk about water-based in-jet and and again, um, with formulating these, um, um, these solutions, um, there are several problems that others couldn't solve until today. Um, and one of the problems is adhesion. One of the big properties that we are looking for is adhesion of your inks onto different substrates, and that is one of the more than 20 properties that I am looking for when I formulate a primer. So, if you look at formulating a primer for a water-based inkjet, we are talking again about more than 20 really important properties, really important properties, and one of these main properties is adhesion on, again, on plastics, on metals, but mainly plastics.
Speaker 2:When we talk about flexible packaging, plastics is one of the big reasons that people couldn't get any proper attention on. Yes, we know HP has a solution. Just recently, fuji has a machine where they can print on flexible packaging. As we started telling this, you know there are a couple of companies like Zeal or Avery, dennison or Rafflatak. They have print receptive materials. Their biggest problem is the primer that they are using is applied with a quite certain thick layer and this makes the available materials in the market. That makes them quite expensive.
Speaker 2:So, again, from the availability perspective, yes, there is something in the market but it's not covering not even 10% of what the demand is. I mean in demand. I'm looking at figures that I looked up. We are looking at 30 billion euro market that could be digitized, that could be potentially digitized. But if you have a material, for example, costing 11 cents per square meter as a material on its own and you apply your primer and it's being sold for two euros per square meter, which market are you going to serve? So that is one of the biggest problems which we have sorted. We have, you know, with our primers we can get these prices of these materials drastically down to acceptable forms. So we can. You know we're not aiming at the 10%, but we are aiming at 60, 70% of that market that could be potentially digitized.
Speaker 1:Wow. So in this primer it's obviously something you've developed which uses far less material, enables quicker production. What's the key advantage? I guess you've just said it's a cost saving. So it's there for laying down less material, is it?
Speaker 2:It is laid down. It's an extremely thin layer. With this thin layer we can fixate the inks and the pigments of water-based inkjet that much that it can be used for flexible packaging. It can be laminated after having printed on a polyethylene base or a PET base, whatever material is needed. And the second option is I'm naming just a few of the materials that are available but we can prime any type of material, can prime any type of material. So again back to what is available is a certain range of 10, 12 different materials that you can find in the markets. But we say we can coat any type of material. One of the biggest problems is when you talk about chemistry and adhesion and so on. One material from a certain supplier let's name polyethylene from one supplier can have completely different properties than a polyethylene from a different supplier, and these are the key factors that can cause really big problems on adhesion on a certain plastic film.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so it's not just on one substrate, it's potentially a number. Is it mostly within the? Would you classify these materials as mostly flexible packaging materials, or does it go wider than that?
Speaker 2:I think it's wider than that you know. In our case, it's wider than that you know. It's even certain paper types. Maybe I should call it this way. Maybe I should call it this way substrate ink.
Speaker 1:And the third was I could tell this 10 times a day, yeah, but I think the range of materials suddenly opens up a vista of new opportunities yes, for converters and and so on, and that um will enable far more any any converter can use their own material.
Speaker 2:That is the key point. Sorry, that is the key point. Any you know, if they use a certain material from a certain supplier, with our primers, with our solutions, they can still work with that same material. They don't have to go to a to a supplier and say you know, I need a polyethylene or I need a polypropylene. No, you go to your own supplier. Either we will have that material coated or we can help them coat that material and print with digital inkjet on their own material. That is a big difference. That is a really big difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it's enabling new technical possibilities, but it's also empowering converters to be able to manage their material supply better, perhaps more efficiently and cheaply than they had in the past. So I can see the potential is kind of twofold, really, and across a number of different substrates as well, not just flexible, although flexible is fantastic because that's the holy grail, isn't it? That's the kind of wow, this is a big deal, but actually it could be across other segments too that are still significant and helpful for them to know. So the potential of this innovation, of this innovation really unlocks um a lot for customers and perhaps the wider industry, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:I, I think so, I think so. Yes, um, there is. You know, again, if you talk about 30 billion, uh, worldwide, um, that that's a quite a big number and and I, I don't, I don't think we are at 10% of that number right now. Even what HP offers or Fuji offers, we haven't hit that number. I don't believe so. I don't have the exact numbers, but that's a guess.
Speaker 1:It's a guess that I think there is still a huge gap in the market which hasn't been closed yet yeah, and this could accelerate digital adoption in lots of markets previously that were either a barrier because of cost or a barrier because of technical impossibility. So it's really exciting. So if you, if you was kind of perhaps looking ahead, what's next for you? I mean, obviously you've got this, you've achieved this. Yeah, what you hope, what you're hoping to, perhaps progress with this, and what kind of partners? Because I think you need partners and businesses to collaborate with you. Don't you to? To kind of realize this opportunity, really, because it's got it. Now You've got this. You've been working on it for years. It's now here. It's unique. What next for you? What would you like to happen next for the business?
Speaker 2:That's a really good question and we have been struggling with with, you know, marketing, our solution and um it's um. The problem always has been, as I'm as I would try to explain, is there is not a infrastructure when it comes down on water-based inkjet and I mean mean, you know, if you the machines are not really there, you know the, the, the printing systems. Hp has something, but HP is not really water-based inkjet, but it, it, it's. It has a common advantage to say Fuji has a machine, but those two guys have machines like in the 2, 2.5 million euro systems. And how many people, how many companies can afford those machines? That's the first big question. And Secondly, those systems can't offer what we are offering. Again, I'm coming down to say people can use any type of material with our solutions, they can use their own material, etc. I think HP and Fuji, they offer a solution. I'm not sure about Fuji, but HP is some sort of a dedicated material that they can use. Otherwise, there is no adhesion on plastics, for example.
Speaker 2:We are working on systems in combination with our solutions, building a total concept. So someone can invest in these machines ballpark number far less than 1 million euro investment and they can print on any type of flexible film. That is our goal. That is our goal Making these machines available in the markets together with our solution. I mean, our solution on its own can't do anything because, again, there is no infrastructure. We don't have the budget to build a huge system, or we don't have the budget for a huge marketing and bonding companies to our solution. We are a very tiny small company, so we have to work with partners. But if we are to be successful, if we manage to be successful, I think that is the game-changing part. You know, if you have a system far less than a million euros, printing wider than an HP, printing wider than a Fuji on any type of material, making the material accessible, more cheap, cost-effective than what is available, yes, that is a game-ch changer.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, that's the goal, yeah, and I think, like you said, tiny company, big ideas, and so what you need now is connecting with these, whether they're OEMs, developers, whatever you want to call the name of the type of person that may be listening who gets the idea, gets the potential, in order to take it to the next stage right.
Speaker 2:Exactly, that's the idea. That's exactly the idea, and finding those partners has been a really struggle. I mean, I am so committed and I can see the future in front of my eyes every day, listening to myself questioning my commitment each day. Am I on the right track? Am I doing the right thing? Is this the future? And every time I am being confirmed in my belief. So it's not something, it's not a wild idea that I'm chasing. You know, obviously, everyone would say probably the same thing about themselves, but I don't think I have a wild idea which is incredibly stupid to follow. No, I am being confirmed by everybody that I try to work with or already work with. This is a a tangible um, proven as well and proven.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely, absolutely but I think more occasionally, the right people. Isn't it's more a case of reaching the right people, isn't it? It's more a case of you reaching the right people that get the idea, see the potential and are prepared to work.
Speaker 2:Nobody is successful on their own, nobody is successful by themselves Nobody. Even Elon Musk had his own team and you know it's always finding the right partners. That's the key factor.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, yeah, it is, that's the key factor absolutely, yeah, it is the key factor, and I also think you've been going through the innovators journey as well, haven't you? Were you going to go through enthusiasm, the difficulties, the challenges, and then the time it takes seems to be 10 times longer, not just in the solution, but in reaching the right people to take the solution onto the next level. So I completely relate to that and understand that is like running a marathon, but in a different kind of way. It's kind of like self-questioning at times, isn't it? And it's difficult, it's difficult. So I I admire your determination. That's why we're recording this podcast, because I hope there's somebody listening there, uh, or more than one. That that kind of goes oh, that sounds interesting. I want to connect with yeah, how do how do listeners if they want to get in touch with you? What's the best way to get in touch with you? Durst, and we'll put your details in the show notes anyway, but on our website.
Speaker 2:On linkedin, if they google my name, you know I'll, uh, they can reach me on linkedin. They can call me, they can email me. You know those. I'm very yeah, we don't have a staff running around and, and, um, and, and my email is available to anybody. Um, so, um, what is it da? At opm hyphen europacom? Da opm hyphen europacom exactly that's my email address, so I see, yeah, so get in touch.
Speaker 1:What you're saying is I'm here, call me exactly, google me, whatever, and we'll have a chat.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's exactly you know. Again, I'm not um, I'm an open um person. In this, you know, everybody is interested who sees the same opportunities that we are seeing. They're welcome to talk with us absolutely brilliant, absolutely.
Speaker 1:It's been a pleasure talking with you. I I admire what you're doing, um, congratulations. You've got the solution. Now it's the next stage. I hope people listening connect with you and this is the start of you kind of raising your visibility to the community of innovators and I'll be excited to hear what happens. So meet, joining us. Durson, it's been great having a chat with you thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you Marcus.
