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
#270 Digital Inkjet Print for Packaging & Labels: Opening Minds & Changing the Narrative
In this special episode of the FuturePrint Podcast, recorded ahead of Labelexpo, Marcus Timson is joined by Dr. Simon Daplyn and Allan Bendall from Sun Chemical to explore a bold new campaign designed to showcase the true potential of digital inkjet in packaging and labels.
Simon explains why Sun Chemical has shifted the conversation away from technical minutiae toward the bigger story: how inkjet can deliver real business value for converters and brands. From flexible workflows and SKU agility to connected packaging and data-driven engagement, digital print is positioned not as a replacement for analogue, but as a powerful complement that brings flexibility, efficiency, and new creative opportunities.
Allan introduces Sun Chemical’s new “toolkit” of fully finished packaging samples—including labels, pouches, flow wraps, and cartons—developed in collaboration with OEM and supply-chain partners. Using vibrant fruit-themed designs and variable data, the samples demonstrate the versatility of inkjet: the ability to print high-quality packaging with virtually infinite variation, minimal waste, and a seamless path from concept to finished product.
Together, Simon and Allan underline how Sun Chemical is enabling the industry to rethink print not just as a process, but as a platform for brand storytelling, consumer engagement, and sustainable production.
If you’re heading to Labelexpo, don’t miss Sun Chemical at Hall 3, Stand D92 to see the campaign in action and experience the future of digital packaging first-hand.
Listen on:
Apple Podcast
Google Podcast
Spotify
What is FuturePrint?
FuturePrint is a digital and in person platform and community dedicated to future print technology. Over 15,000 people per month read our articles, listen to our podcasts, view our TV features, click on our e-newsletters and attend our in-person and virtual events.
We hope to see you at one of our future in-person events:
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. We have a doubleheader today Ahead of Label Expo. Sun Chemical are doing something really creative to showcase the power and potential of digital inkjet printing technology, and I'm really happy to have with me today dr simon daplin and alan bendel from sun chemical, who are going to explain a little bit more about this campaign, why they're doing it, how it was done and what we can expect to see at labelel Expo. So welcome to the Future Print Podcast, simon and Alan.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Marcus.
Speaker 4:Thanks, Marcus.
Speaker 2:Well, welcome. I know you're really busy build up to Label Expo big show and you've been working really hard, I think, over the past few months to bring this campaign and idea together, so I'd love to hear a bit more about it. Simon, would you mind sort of like introducing perhaps the theme and idea where it came from, etc and I know Alan will be contributing as well to that. Over to you, Simon sure.
Speaker 3:Thanks, marcus. So, yeah, in the run-up to Lego Expo, we really, I guess from six months plus ago, maybe the start of the year, we we started taking a step back and looking at how we were presenting ourselves and and, more over the tech, the technology, um, and tuning the message for the audience, right, so what? And we've discussed, uh, in the past, marcus, the challenges that we have as an industry in convincing people about our technology and what it does. We tend to get bogged down in the technical details of resolution and ink chemistry and drying and and all these things. And I think, um, what we realized is that that's our job, right, that that's, that's a that's a basic level expectation of a user of a printer is that it's going to work, that the printer delivers the ink in the right way and the ink does its job on the substrate, and that's fully what they should expect. It's our job to get those aspects right, together with our partners and the whole inkjet industry to push the technology. But when you're in a forum like an exhibition or sometimes even a conference, to get bogged down in the technical details kind of turns people off a little bit and what they need is to really understand. Okay, what can inkjet offer my business, my brand, how do I use it? What can inkjet offer my business, my brand, how do I use it, what can I get from it? And that's really the kind of direction that we've taken here.
Speaker 3:We're not going to start talking about the minutiae of detail of what's behind the chemistry and why it does what it does, because, frankly, some of that's confidential. But the other part is it's not really of interest, it should just happen, and so it's about changing the narrative. I think we've discussed before the concept of creating a story or an explainer for the right audience to show really what Ickjet can do in terms of its flexibility as a process, how it can benefit in terms of process efficiency, inventory management, the way that we can run multiple SKUs through a single job. There's so many things that inkjet can do that can bring significant benefits to the customer, and what a lot of us end up doing is talking about the tiny technical details of our specific part of what inkjet can do, and, as you can imagine, it's quite hard as an ink company at an exhibition to show what we do.
Speaker 3:We can't really have wet chemistry. We're not going to do a mock-up lab and say, okay, look, look, all the testing we do, this is, this is how we make an ink and this is what we do and this is the chemistry stuff, because it's a, it's impossible to set up but it's quite dry. Um, and getting samples has historically been difficult because we're not a machine manufacturer either. So producing high quality samples to really showcase quality samples, to really showcase the ink in its final form, ie on the product, has been challenging. But this year we took that challenge on and Alan was a big part of that, as I'm sure he's going to explain. But the idea was really to show finished packaging items demonstrating some of the key benefits of inkjet, like on the fly. Sku changes, small changes of image within a label production run.
Speaker 3:For example, we can change the background or the, the, the visuals from label to label, even through through a workflow, using the qr code and the variable data, to expand on the possibility of connected packaging and how brands can start to tell stories to their customers through the packaging. The packaging becomes almost a secondary advertisement for the product that's inside it in terms of maybe telling a sustainability story, maybe doing some brand loyalty work where customers sign up, and then you get what's become the real currency for brands these days, which is people's data right and collecting information about the consumers. They're buying trends and patterns and stuff, and these are all kind of deliverables that brands want to see. That inkjet can do. But because we're so focused on saying, well, we can print at 1200 dpi with three picoliter drops and this and this and this, and our abrasion resistance is this according to this standard, that's all super important, we have to do that, but that's not going to sell the technology to a brand owner or a high level converter and and so we're trying to change that story a little bit and show okay, here's some inkjet printed, fully functional labels, packaging, um, and this is. This is how we did it, and we've worked with a range of partners to do that. So we're not just showing printed film, we're showing a fully converted and laminated pouch, for example, to show the print in its final solution and how some chemical can kind of support customers to get to that point on their digital journey.
Speaker 3:And I'll stop in one second. Just one quick point that I wanted to make is what? What digital? One of the misnomers about digital and and one of the key groups of people that we need to educate are printers that are already using very high quality analog systems, whether they're using flexo or gravure, and they see it as a bit of a threat to their business or as a replacement for those technologies. And we don't really think that that's the case. We think that inkjet has absolutely a huge role to play, particularly in the future of packaging, but across a lot of industrial applications. But if your sole intention of using inkjet is to do exactly what you can do currently with your preview press, but drop in inkjet to do exactly the same job kind of doesn't make sense. Gravure's been honed over years. It's very, very good at what it does, but there are those benefits.
Speaker 3:I mentioned that in a complementary way, um, inkjet or digital print can augment, uh, a convert, convert or a brand's offering by saying, okay, that that job's great on on growth blueprint.
Speaker 3:But what if I've got a job where I only need a hundred off, a thousand off if I want to run a specific promotion, if I need to do specific in in country or or like within different country variants and stuff like that?
Speaker 3:And we know from all the data that's presented in the market from Smithers and others that the run lengths of print are coming down because of those factors. There will still be a huge amount of high run length jobs being done in packaging, but the run lengths for labels for corrugated, for cartons, for flexible packaging are all reducing, for labels for corrugated, for cartons, for flexible packaging are all reducing. So the share of volume under 5,000 square meters, for example, in some cases is 30 and 40%, and so inkjet is a really good technology to look at those kinds of run lengths. And the more jobs that we have, the quicker the job turnover does need to be, and there are the core areas where inkjet can play. So stopping talking about all the technical aspects of it and starting talking about how digital can bring a benefit to people's business alongside their analog technology.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and that's the key thing, isn't it Alongside, not replacement? Alongside it adds agility, it adds that flexibility and does different things, but to a standard sufficient enough that it can it really can meet the challenges, these fast changing demands. So that's really exciting. So thank you for that, simon. So alan will bring you into the chat now. Take shape. Oh yeah, tell us a bit about the project that you're doing and what you're going to be launching and showing next week in Barcelona.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So I think this project has been really exciting because we, you know, as Finan's Fed, we as a business, have always had to try and have a conversation around wet things, ink things, the fact that they have a technical form, without necessarily having anything to talk to, right. So, you know, we'll have some samples that may show you know how the visual intent looks. But actually, what we're doing with our toolkit is we've designed a range of products which span labels, flexible packaging, like Simon said with the pouch, some flow wrap material, like your chocolate bar wrappers, self-adhesive labels, wraparound labels, and what we've done is that we're working with our OEM partners and other collaborative teams. We've then managed to create this range of products with a similar, very same, you know, visual intent. So not only have we created a range of products, but we've also created this, you know, this brand, almost a sun chemical brand which allows us to communicate in some nice bright colors and I'll talk about the imagery in a minute but it gives us a very clear, you know, virtual brand that we can talk through with interested parties. Now, these interested parties could be converters, printers, print groups. They could be brands, converters, printers, print groups, they could be brands. Um, but ultimately the goal, as we said, is to, you know, to to communicate.
Speaker 4:Why, all right, why, why think about this? Why think about using, you know, inkjet technology and, as simon said, you know, if you're going to use it as a me too, for your existing pack, that you're producing in some other kind of analog, then that value that you could extract out of digital is going to be somehow diluted or, even worse, lost through that move to a different technology just because you can. So we're not saying that that's the route forward here, just because you can, right. So we're not saying that that's the route forward here. But what we are saying is that in a complementary value-add space, we believe that the digital, the inkjet capability, on a whole bunch of different reasons, whether it's the connection to the consumer, whether it's for regulatory reasons we can go from a solvent-based or a UV-based print that could be out in the market right now and convert that to an aqueous solution. So we're using different technologies. Not only do we have UV, we have the aqueous solutions as well, which gives us a wider range of opportunities when we start talking about flexible packaging.
Speaker 4:So we work with our teams, our marketing teams and some of the creative teams across Sun Chemical to come up with a visual intent, a design route that we could then apply to a range of different packaging formats, route that we could then apply to a range of different packaging formats. And not only did we then create one pack, one artwork per view, let's say, we then created almost an infinitely variable range of imagery, combining fruit designs, which are inherently bright and fresh and exciting, and again using different background imagery as well to call out the capability to print a whole reel of labels or a whole reel of pouches, pouch material, to ultimately have a pack size or a run length of one, for example. This, then, helps us. We don't then just need to talk about the value. We can physically show it, and that is one of the things that we wanted to do with this toolkit was to be able to talk in a, you know, around a table in person with people who are interested, uh, to understand what the reality of this is. And, um, because it is shown, you know, we can unreal a reel of labels, uh, and over a meter and a half, two meters, and they're all different, you know. So this was what we wanted. We wanted to give our colleagues and our teams, the capability to build a story and have a conversation with like-minded individuals in this space that physically shows and can physically demonstrate you know, this is a pack of pasta, right, this is. You know, this is real.
Speaker 4:And one of the big things that we are very aware of is that in the packaging space because, let's be fair, you know, label Expo has always been label driven, but now this year, we're starting to see more and more flexible packaging. We've also had the press releases in and around the folding carton space, so we've taken the advantage of all of this. So we will be showing folding cartons, we will be showing flexible packaging, we will be showing labels. So, you know, we can't show every single iteration or or combination of technology. However, as a group, the Sun Chemical business has the opportunity not only to create the digital print, the inkjet print component, but we also then have the capability to convert that print into fully functioning packaging.
Speaker 4:Now, whether that's through the adhesives that are used from a lamination point of view, whether that's through the adhesives that are used from a lamination point of view, whether that's any barrier technology that we build in, whether that's, you know, overprint, varnishes, feature effects or anything like that, the importance on the journey between a printed you know, printed piece of inkjet packaging and converting that into a finished or fully functioning packaging component. That is the key value-add sector in all of this. As Simon said, the technology behind the ink and the capability to get it to look good, feel good, stay on the material, stay the substrate, that's. That's pretty much a given right, um, but the capability to talk about this, capability to communicate this and the capability as a wider business to support, you know brands and print groups, to take that journey from that creative stage all the way through to the you know, fulfilment of that printed and finished packaging is, you know, this space that we want to be able to, you know, excel in ultimately.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's. I've seen it myself. We've done a couple of films, so anyone listening wants to have a bit more of a closer look. Check out futureprinttech, because, uh, there's some pictures and images and links to films on there showcasing the, the kit really nicely designed, a bit of a fruit theme to it, which is, which is nice, um, and yeah, you get a real understanding just of how, how it is right. And, like you said, it's not about oh, I can tell that's inkjet printed and that one isn't. It's actually you know what? It's top level, isn't it? There's no compromise on quality, but the understanding that needs to be made is that this is not really even a disruptive technology. Perhaps it's disruptive in the way you may want to think about how to produce labels or packaging, but actually it's about enhancement, isn't it? Not replacement?
Speaker 4:I mean on a personal level.
Speaker 4:I think the disruption has already almost come and gone in so much as the label industry has already taken that journey right.
Speaker 4:Um, you know the the move now into flexible packaging is is more about adding value rather than being disruptive, because we all know the businesses today, especially when you know you're running analog presses, you're fighting between the capability to print the long runs where they are still required, but then the flip side from a business perspective is you still then have to deliver those smaller volume SKUs that your client needs.
Speaker 4:And so from a commercial perspective perspective, from a profit point of view, maybe you win a bit on the longer runs, but actually you know the capability to make money out of smaller you know run lengths and smaller to produce in a cost-effective and efficient manner, not only from a costing point of view, but for all the reasons that you pointed out earlier on data around energy use and sustainability cues and all of the value add that doesn't necessarily get caught up in a P&L, but from an operational perspective and a production perspective, all of those key components add up to a massive amount of opportunity when you want to run 25 different skews and all you want is a thousand meters of each. You've got no setup, you've got no waste.
Speaker 2:you know you've got all of these added components that add in that value that we are, as an industry, crying out for yeah, absolutely simon, any anything you might want to add to that or just sort of so closing off and um, obviously it's a big week. Next week's going to be interesting. Yet the label market itself and I guess this is partly why you're making such an effort with this and bringing this campaign out has to be still one of the most I I don't know buoyant, positive, dynamic markets for the print industry. Is that the case still?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think. So what's great about the label market is it's really taken the ball and run with it in terms of inkjet technology and the benefits that that clearly brings to them, brings to them. Um, and the. The conversion rate in in label is significantly higher than any other areas of packaging right now, but the parallels are there and and it shows the direction that that can be taken and, um, what's what will be really interesting is when you, when you go to the show. Interesting is when you, when you go to the show, like at drupa, the amount of big players that are all staking their their future on on a digital program and and how that's gonna support brands and retailers to really do what they want. Um, I mean the.
Speaker 3:The one thing that never really suffers in in hard times financially is is the need for produce right and for food, and we have to label that. It has to be clearly identified, branded and have specific information on. So the label industry is quite robust from that point of view and their transition to digital really makes a lot of sense and we see parallels with many other industries. So a lot of really exciting hardware will be there and it's important to say that as a company on our own, we can't do any of this right. We purely make the fluid. We're able to talk about this kind of project because of the collaboration and the way the industry works.
Speaker 3:And one of the great things about the digital kind of project because of the collaboration and the way the industry works, and one of the great things about the digital kind of space, if you like, is we're so people are open to talk to everybody. So we're talking to printhead manufacturers, to software providers, to the substrate makers, to the uh, to the, the guys building the presses or the integrators that are building parts of of the process, because without all of us working together, the brand won't get any value. Um, so we can talk about all of this um, but it doesn't exist without without the people that that we're working together with and the people that hopefully we will, we will do business with in the future. Um, and that's the great part of this industry, I think, is the way that we pull together and deliver solutions that make sense for the final user, because we all know that our individual part of it is nothing on its own without the rest to support that.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, we're really excited to talk to people at Label Expo. Please come and come and join us. Um, we're in hall three on stand d92, so, uh, if you're interested in anything we've discussed on this, or you want to come and have a look at the concept and how we used the platform to talk about inkjet and deliver these functional pieces of packaging, then then you're very welcome to to come drop by, have a coffee and and see what we've been been doing for the last nine months fantastic.
Speaker 2:Well, listen, that's a great place to perhaps close. Thank you both for joining us. Have a fantastic event next week. I've seen the demo kit. It's really cool. It looks fantastic. Really helps. Uh, I guess storytelling explain the value and also to see the how, just how cool it looks fantastic really helps. Uh, I guess storytelling explain the value and also to see the how, just how fantastic it looks, is um inspiring in itself. So um, thank you for joining us. Well done and creating that really like the creativity involved and um have a fantastic label expo guys yeah, thanks, marcus.
Speaker 4:Thanks for your time thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: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 Futureprint events. We'll see you next time on the Futureprint Podcast.
