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
#314 - Industrial Inkjet: A decade of development: from potential to powerful ROI
In this FuturePrint Podcast episode of 2026, Marcus Timson is joined by Dr Simon Daplyn, Product and Marketing Manager at Sun Chemical, to take stock of where industrial inkjet is heading - and why the next phase is less about “print” and more about manufacturing outcomes.
Simon reflects on 2025 as a year where momentum began to translate into implementation, particularly in packaging, with renewed interest in hybrid approaches that combine digital inkjet with analogue techniques (especially flexo) to hit the metrics that matter: speed, reliability, and commercial viability. But the bigger story, he argues, is inkjet’s expanding footprint beyond familiar territory - from direct-to-shape and metal decoration to functional deposition in emerging industrial markets.
The conversation rewinds to the early InPrint years, when integrators and component specialists helped manufacturers explore what might be possible. Fast forward a decade and the shift is clear: the ecosystem - printheads, software, robotics, ink delivery, and materials science - has matured into tangible, production-ready solutions.
Simon also challenges a persistent mistake: trying to replicate analogue workflows with digital. Inkjet’s advantage is not simply cost-per-litre or a like-for-like replacement of gravure, flexo or screen. It is agility, reduced waste, inventory efficiency, faster time-to-market, and the ability to deposit expensive functional materials only where they are needed.
With FuturePrint Industrial Print in Munich as the backdrop, Simon outlines why 2026 could be a breakout year for direct-to-shape, metal, flexible packaging, and new industrial applications - powered by collaboration across a growing ecosystem of specialists.
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FuturePrint TECH: Industrial Print: 21-22 January '26, Munich, Germany
Welcome to the latest episode of the Future Print Podcast. Market is my first podcast of the year, and I'm really happy to have um back with us a relatively frequent guest because he's so um open and helpful with insight into trends and changes and developments for um printing generally, but more specifically we're gonna have a chat around industrial print technology. So welcome back to the podcast, Dr. Simon Daplan from Sun Chemical.
SPEAKER_00:Hi Marcus, very good to be here again.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, great to great to have you back. And um I wonder if we could kick off, Simon. Um and not everybody knows you, so a short intro about yourself, and then what we'll do is then maybe have a look. We're still early enough, I think, in 26 to have a look back at 25, and then perhaps a look ahead for 26. So if you could kick off just giving us a giving us a short intro about yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. So uh yeah, as you mentioned, I'm I'm Simon Daplin. So my my role at Sun Chemical is uh product and marketing manager. So I look after um part of the Sun Chemical portfolio in terms of what products we're delivering to the market um and what we should be doing next, and looking at the trends and the market situation and and looking at you know positioning and targeting and all those kind of um core marketing activities. Um and then I'm also handling a lot of the uh the marketing communication side for the digital group um in terms of the content messaging, and and obviously a big part of that is is working together with FuturePrint to uh to get the messages out there.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for that. And and um one of the things, one of the skills you have as a both a uh a scientist, I I guess that would be fair to say, as well as uh as a very good communicator, is provide some sort of headline insights that are relatable, actionable, and so on. Give us a little bit of a feel for how you felt 2025 was as a year. It's quite a big year in certain markets, just to give us a feel for what you felt were the kind of headline were the um notable insights from the year.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think um 2025 was a was a was a really interesting year, um, building on the back of 2024. Obviously, um 2024 being a droopy year, um, there's there's lots of um new developments and people showcasing new technology, and and normally the implementation phase of that kind of follows on in the in the in the subsequent couple of years. And we we started to see some of that um fall into place in 2025 uh and gain some momentum, certainly um on the packaging side of things. Um almost a resurgence, if you like, in in hybrid technology, which was really interesting. Um, people looking at ways of getting the best of both worlds in terms of digital and some analog techniques, mainly flexographic printing, to deliver kind of really key metrics that that customers and and print service providers in in the high speed and packaging space are looking for. Um, but we also saw emergence of of kind of other industrial areas uh of print. Um obviously there was a big um noise around higher viscosity and and lots of print head manufacturers looking at at the benefits of of uh using print heads in different ways in into parallel markets, which is great to expand the footprint of where of where digital print can go. Um but also in some of the substrate areas looking at um printing onto metal, not only in in packaging, but um for more industrial applications outside fascias and and things like that. So trying to look at how Inkjet can be exploited into a into a wider kind of remit of application spaces, and and that's kind of bodes well, I think, for the future. It's it's finding a place, and people are contacting us all the time to look at new markets, new segments, particularly in the industrial space, which is uh which is exciting.
SPEAKER_01:And Simon, you were very much involved as a I think a believing ambassador and one of our um founding exhibitors back in 2024 for the imprint show. And that at that time, so we're rewinding even further, and then if you can remember that far back, hopefully you will. Um give us a little feel for the change since then, perhaps. There's been massive macro changes and geopolitical changes and and and everything else that we're fully aware of, but more on the technology side, how do you sort of chart the differences back then to where we are now? It's reassuring to hear that you're getting lots of inquiries through industrial markets. Perhaps new for ink, yeah. How has the core technology developed since then? And obviously, with your expertise with Inc. But generally with it with the technology, how how's it changed over that period of time?
SPEAKER_00:It's a good question. I think I think we're we're talking about 10, 11 years now since the first imprint, and when we were part of that, um, I was at a company called Xenia Technology at the time, and it was it was the perfect show for us because really at the time there were very few um events, forums, exhibitions where people could come and find out about the technology. The technology was pretty well established in certain markets, right? In in wide format graphics and and emerging in textiles, let's say, and and some other areas, ceramics um was just starting to take at that point. But what it was was a platform for people looking to develop technology or or indeed promote and sell component parts of technology. So we saw really for the first time, maybe not the first time, but in integrators becoming um a thing, like guys who had the capability to bring expertise of print head and delivery system and ink together and and build something fairly bespoke for customers who perhaps were interested in Inkjet but had no idea how to use it or uh didn't there weren't the the systems on the market that really met their their needs. Uh we saw the emergence of of lots of software um and people really starting to understand how Inkjet could perhaps be exploited um in more industrial markets outside of the well-established technologies there. And and really in the intervening 10 years, the the pace has accelerated a lot. If you think about um the array of print heads that's now available, the the the quality of the printhead, the the the speed that we're able to deliver, but also the the increase in the expertise. And there were lots of small companies dabbling, Xenia was one of them at the time, which was really building bespoke systems and um and ink combinations to to look at quite diverse markets. I remember printing onto polystyrene boxes for for fish packaging, all the way through to uh the first kind of direct to shape printing on um hard helmets for building sites with with customized um logos and things like that on. And if you look at where the technology was then and what we can now do in terms of direct to shape as an example, um and and robotics handling and handling parts, um the the software that's involved in in creating the images, measuring each piece individually, and understanding where the inkjet head needs to traverse and and and to maintain a specific throw distance over shapes and geometries. Uh, the technologies really come on leaps and bounds in in all cases, from the print heads through the software, the ink delivery systems, the integration capability, and the ink. And I think if you ran the same show now, which I guess uh is part of what what your event next week is is designed to do, or or let's say a stepping stone towards that, I think companies that come to that kind of event now would see real solutions, not just the ideas of of what may be possible, but which you can really talk to a number of different players and uh have something that's really tangible rather than something that that maybe at the time was like shooting for for the moon a little bit. I think it's all all the pieces have kind of dropped into the place over the intervening 10, 11 years, and it's inkjet's really a tangible, uh established and and very advanced technology in terms of uh industrial print environments.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and that's a an exciting thing. And I guess over the period of that time, knowledge of Inkjet success has grown within the perhaps manufacturing community too. There's always a lag, isn't there, between we do that with AI now, don't we? There's a lag between what's possible and what will actually happen in each market due to adoption. It's just a reality. There's a lag between the innovators and the adopters. And I guess that's become more aligned as well as you said, the inkjet head's becoming more and more robust, resilient, consistent, stronger, faster, better. And and I guess the ink within all of this often is it's an all it's so obvious we need ink, but often the innovation lags a little behind it because the ink isn't always the central point at the start of the process. I guess that's starting to align more now. And you you'll be um far better than I in terms of explaining. But I think inc has has moved forward as well, hasn't it, to meet those new demands.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, absolutely. Um for various reasons. Everybody's understanding has got better. As as ink manufacturers and developers, yes, we need to know the chemistry very well, but it's it's about how we use that chemistry in conjunction with all the other technology to deliver the end use requirements. And so we know a lot more about how inkjet works, um, you know, waveform development, how we use software and uh integrators to get the most out of the fluid. Uh, and then we know a lot more about how fluid and substrate needs to interact to make sure that whatever is printed has all the end user requirements, uh, whether that and and and can work as a functional item or part of a functional product, right? Whether that's a packaging, whether you're printing uh onto a glass bottle, whether it's printed electronics, um, whether it's a biomedical application, the the fluid needs to deliver a functionality uh and have a series of kind of uh standards or targets to hit. Um, and so as our understanding has increased as the raw materials toolbox that's available to us, that's evolving all the time because a lot of raw material suppliers were providing very um interesting products that were really useful in screen or flexor or gravier applications, but weren't precise enough in in size or purity and things for for us to use in Inkjet. And most raw material suppliers into those markets have understood the growth of Inkjet and the need for something a little bit more specific. And so those kind of materials available to us are are far greater than than they ever have been, which again helps to drive the kind of new applications and new kind of new areas that we're we're able to operate in.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so in a way, concept to reality, in keyword that you use there as well, functionality. I sense as well from what you're saying and also from from general observation that I recall back then it was much more uh industrial print was much more pointing towards decoration. But now functional come into play a lot more, isn't it, with with perhaps what you know, with ink and maybe not even ink at in times fluid deposition and so on, within what we could perhaps term as more functional industrial ink yet as opposed to just decorative industrial incit. So uh on that note, assuming I'm right, and and it is ready for functional markets and already playing in functional markets. What are the drivers towards adoption in your view? Because it's all very well and good to say, okay, well, it can now do this. What is appealing for manufacturers with functional inkjet? What is the appeal? What is the driver for adoption in your view?
SPEAKER_00:In in terms of functional inkjet, uh, I I don't think the drivers are massively different from decoration, honestly. And and one of our challenges as an industry, and you know it's a drum that I've been banging for a couple of years, is is to step away from all the technical aspects. I know I just went into all the raw materials and the chemistry and stuff like that, but the the reality is as a as a print service provider, a converter, a brand, I don't really care about how that's done. That's that's kind of our our role as technology providers to ensure that these things work. Um, it's about delivering beyond the printing part, right? So it's it's about uh materials efficiency. So reducing the amount of waste. And obviously, from a functional point of view, we're often talking about quite complex, relatively expensive materials, particularly if you're talking about uh printed electronics or other functional coatings that um are applied. And the ability to be able to deposit those when you need them, where you need them, um, on demand, obviously, is uh is a massive benefit. Um we can start tailoring inventory requirements. So instead of having to commit to a specific run length of a coating line or another print process because of the break-even points, effectively inkjet once it's set up and the design creation is pretty inexpensive. Once you've invested in the equipment, whether you're printing one or two meters or ten thousand meters, your your kind of cost per square meter, if you like, is uh is very minimal difference, if any. And so you can print what you need when you need it, rather than investing in in um overkill levels of of inventory, taking up cash flow and stuff like that. And these are the kind of things that that we need to start talking about more when we're discussing how each jet can find its place in these industrial markets, because it's all about um efficiency, um, it's it's all about tailoring um cash flow, making stuff uh viable commercially, um, and and often margins are on a knife edge. So if you can if you can reduce some of the complexity in the workflow, um, if you can find ways of reducing waste or enabling people to use materials more efficiently, I think those are kind of some of the the hidden benefits sometimes. Um I remember I think at one of your your events, the event in Valencia last year, I I presented a slide about what I called scaling mouth doubts. And there's always been this doubt in Inkjet because there's always something that's holding back people in investing in it. And people say, oh, the technology is too slow, I can't print at the throughput I want, or the fluid, the ink's really expensive. Um, like my price for a gravier ink or a screen ink per liter or five kilogram pack or whatever it may be is way more for inkjet. Um, but obviously, we're using that chemical much more efficiently and getting more um more product for the same amount of fluid that we can't hit brand colours or functionalities that it's only useful in short run. I think all of those are kind of doubts we've we've more or less put to bed now. And what we need to talk about and have um the the converters and the brands understand is the other benefits in terms of what process efficiencies, what savings um they can they can make overall in their process um versus just honing in on one or two things that that they they kind of have traditionally thought about inkjet as a technology.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I guess that requires a shift from tactical everyday to strategic overview, doesn't it? So it's in integrating a technology that adds value that is not possible with the current format. So it's about, as you said, agility. One ability to move quickly to fast-changing demand is critical right now, critical in all over the world, but I think more so even than anywhere else in the world. In Europe, we're under, I think, more pressure continentally compared with others. Um and being able to articulate and understand quickly the economic advantages because that underpins the argument. And it's not about comparing one with the other and saying, well, one's cheaper, but actually it's that ability to be fast, flexible, and add tangible economic value to a business that gives you that advantage. And it's it's talking to you now. It seems so what's so obvious, but we we're still some of the market seems to be locked into a well, I'll either go analog or I'll get digital, and hopefully it's better than or inkjet, hopefully it's better than my current, it's flawed thinking, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, and and from our point of view at Sun Chemical, we fundamentally believe in both technologies. Um, with providers into both analog and digital, and and we think there's absolutely a place for both of them. And and one of the common mistakes that we find with people investing in in digital technology is they're trying to replicate exactly what they do in conventional with the digital process, and you kind of end up in a lose-lose situation. We think we think digital is a complementary technology to to flexo and lithographic and and gribio printing. It's not it's not a replacement. Um, and there are some things that analog technology does unbelievably well and will always do well, and probably better than digital in certain scenarios. And there are many tangible um areas where a digital process can deliver you significant benefits over an analog one, and it's about finding the sweet swap, sweet swap for both. And and it's not about oh, I'm I'm I'm doing this on a gravier press, uh, but I've I've heard about inkjet and I think this is the way I want to go, but I just want to do all my gravier jobs on an inkjet press. Well, I don't think that's the best utilization of the technology, and I don't think you get all those all those benefits um that we've talked about. And and inkjet quite often we're we're talking about superficial um benefits that everyone can see. So people only consider the the printing process, and okay, the the ink cost me this much more for a an a digital ink versus uh an analog ink, and my drying is this, and I've I've got all this workflow set up, and now I'm gonna have to change it, and that's gonna cost both. There's a lot of stuff ahead of that that's kind of what we call hidden cost that isn't always considered from a digital point of view, like the inventory investment and management, like the creation and storage of screens and plates, and the time to market and the ability to act very quickly to customer and market demands. I think there's there's obvious reasons now that where digital plays more and more run lengths for pretty much any uh industry are coming down. Consumers want more uh choice, um, more personalization from a graphics point of view, but that that can easily apply to functional coatings as well. When we look at medical devices, you're you're starting to get uh inkjet applications where we're using inkjet as a deposition tool to tune dosage of of medicines, for example, to specific levels for individuals rather than uh a mass uh everybody gets the same. Uh and and to do that with an analog technology is really difficult. But if you still want to print hundreds of thousands of meters of the same thing, um then that's really a space where analog is key and always will be. And so it's about finding the right way to exploit uh the technology to it to its maximum.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. And then looking ahead really from for Munich, which is very close now, and what kind of themes are you expecting now that some will be um delivering at the event?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, what what's interesting to us about uh future print uh tech in Munich next week is is it's really uh looking at industrial print markets. So uh rightly, lots of focus has recently been on on packaging and labels and and and markets like that, which have a huge potential for digital digitals penetrating now, and the growth expectation is is very high. So there's a huge amount of focus from uh a large number of companies within the ink-check space on on those kind of dedicated markets. Um but within the within the industrial space, we start to open up things like uh decor again, functional printing, um, industries like automotive that that should be able to reap benefits of digital, but there's there's not so much penetration yet. And it's a chance to get in front of people again, um, have conversations, really understand how digital can find its place in some of these industrial markets, how some chemical can support from a fluids point of view, how we can work with with our industry colleagues and peers on delivering something that makes sense. Um, and what's really interesting when you look at the the exhibitors list, you've got such a broad range of um suppliers into the market that very few is a standalone OEM that has a total solution that's selling uh an off-the-shelf printer for a specific market. I think so many of us that are there are collaborators looking to collaborate with with the other exhibitors, but also with with the visitors to deliver something that fits their need. So there's lots of integrators, lots of uh drive electronics and software providers, uh, ink companies, and I think it provides someone that's looking to implement uh an inkjet or a digital project within their business, a way of doing that and talking to lots of people in the same place about how that can manifest. And I think more and more we're certainly finding, and talking to people throughout the industry, what is clear is that a lot of people now are looking towards integration expertise rather than buying a standalone system that already exists. There's a huge market for that, don't get me wrong, there are uh amazing bits of equipment from a whole range of OEMs that are delivering unbelievable print quality, speed, accuracy, colour, uh, everything that is needed for certain markets. But there are other ones where people want something that's a bit more bespoke, unique to them, that needs to sit on an existing production line, for example, that's looking to add a functionality or a print in situ. So you can't afford to have a printer offline um disrupting your your workflow. Um, and I think those are the conversations that that we're kind of expecting to have and hope to have, and understanding how we can support with with the right solution um for some of these emerging markets, uh, as well as talking to people about stuff that already exists, obviously.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And the event is shaped up extremely well. At least a sellout success. We've got no space left, and as you said, a fantastic array of different brands and businesses and experts and influencers and 50 plus speakers. Um, and then a conference cover and a cool conference covering everything from really functional additive decryptive packaging labels, anything that you may need to know about the wonderful potential of in a variety of different markets. You can solve your problems by coming and making people like some who have had that expertise and knowledge and the products and solutions to deliver against your bespoken customers' needs. So listen, Simon, thanks so much for joining us today. Excited about next week. Thank you for you and to you and Tom for supporting the event. And um, yeah, looking forward to speaking again at sometime soon. Any final thoughts you might like to sign off with?
SPEAKER_00:No, I I I think I think next week's shaping up to be a great event. Uh, we're we're very pleased and proud to be part of it and onward into 2026. I think this is really a year where you'll see um emergence and and and establishment of technology in and inkjet into in or growing into new areas, particularly in in areas like director shape and metal decoration, flexible packaging, and some of these new emerging industrial uh markets, it's it's really exciting where the technology is headed. So I think we're shaping up for a for an exciting 2026.
SPEAKER_01:Fantastic. Thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER_00:My pleasure. Thanks again, Marcus.
