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
#350 When Direct-to-Shape Meets AI, Automation & Personalization with Florian Fässler, Polytype
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Printing on curved packaging sounds simple until you try doing it at industrial speed without missing nozzles, wasting materials, or slowing production to a crawl. We sit down with Florian Fässler, Head of R&D for Digital Technologies at Polytype, to unpack how direct-to-shape digital printing has evolved from a promising alternative into a robust manufacturing process that can handle real-world airflow, turbulence, and uptime demands.
We get into the technical leaps that matter most, including greater throw distance, modern inkjet printheads, and waveform optimisation that improves drop speed while reducing satellites. From there, we explore why manufacturers and brands are increasingly choosing digital direct-to-shape for short runs, rapid changeovers, and simpler logistics, especially in B2C and web-to-print models where lead times can be hours, not weeks. Florian also explains how printing directly on the container cuts label carrier waste and supports recycling goals while keeping inventory lean.
The conversation moves from decoration to capability: variable data printing enables unique QR codes and barcodes within the run, opening doors to connected packaging, traceability, and smarter customer engagement. We also look ahead at AI and automation, from AI-generated artwork to operator support tools, predictive maintenance, nozzle sensing, and even what happens when procurement becomes agent-to-agent ordering. If you care about industrial inkjet, sustainable packaging, mass customisation, and the future of manufacturing networks, this is a practical, grounded listen. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.
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Welcome To Future Print
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the Future Print Podcast, celebrating print technology and the people behind it.
SPEAKER_00Hi, welcome to the Future Print Podcast. This is um Marcus Simpson. I'm delighted to have with me a gentleman I've known for many years. He still looks quite young though, so he's obviously enjoying a healthy life in Switzerland. Welcome back. Well, welcome to the Future Print podcast, Florian Fassler, who is the um head of RD for digital at Polytype. Welcome to the podcast, Florian.
SPEAKER_01Nice to be here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, good to have you with us. We're going to explore the evolution of digital with a focus on director shape. I know you've been very much leading the technology development at um Polytype. So I'm excited to learn more about your views on the development and the advances that you've made as a as a business.
Florian’s Path Into Direct-To-Shape
SPEAKER_00Just kicking off, Florian, give us a little bit of an introduction about yourself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I worked since uh 15 years for Polytype. I started uh large format virtual machines uh at the time, then moved over to roll-to-roll machines for our converting uh department, and since 10 years for the Polytype direct to shape uh part, uh where we print on all kinds of shaped packaging. Uh besides that, uh I also had the opportunity to start what we call the OEM business, uh, where we sell our printing technology, uh most likely our electronics and our software, to other machine building companies. And throughout all these, both Polytype and also OEM projects, we did many different uh direct-to-shape applications for different markets and customers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and this and the story of Polytype is great. You've you've obviously transitioned, you still have a very strong analog business and technology and experience in that in terms of direct-to-shape. Um if when you if you're looking, let's have a chat about the analogue to digital journey.
Reliability Gains And Throw Distance
SPEAKER_00If you look back over the past decade, what do you consider perhaps to have been the biggest technological breakthroughs in direct-to-shape digital printing? Um, and how have they changed what manufacturers can now achieve?
SPEAKER_01Um, yeah, so so what we see uh when we're compared to to uh 10 years back, uh we can now have uh larger throw distances uh and still print uh reliably under industrial conditions. Uh, we don't want to to miss nozzles uh every three minutes. Uh so this is uh this is very important. And in order to get there, we had to do uh several uh we had to learn a lot. Uh for instance, uh to understand airflow inside our machine. Uh a direct-to-shape machine is much more complex in terms of turbulences and airflow than a label machine, for instance. Uh, you could say we're printing inside a big mixer, which is a challenge. We but we we managed to overcome that thanks to to modern computer simulations and and thanks to that the design, the the uh the countermeasures that allowed us to get further. And also very important is modern print heads combined with with the waveform optimization, so we can achieve higher drop speed and less satellites. This is a bit uh the technology part. Uh other than that, we see also now in when we speak more about business, uh we see uh mass customization. Uh we print, for instance, on drinking bottles, uh, reusable drinking bottles, where we can turn a piece of plastic into a personalized item uh that can be used and valued every day. Uh, you see that in kids go to school with their water bottles, uh, people go to fitness, uh, they go cycling, they go hiking. It's really uh an object of daily use that has a high value, and we can produce that kind of product now with over 100 pieces per minute and still have a different product all the time. So this requires not only the good mechanics, which Polytype is known for since many, many years, but we also had to build up the necessary data processing and and software capabilities. When I look more into the the uh the learnings we had from the OEM business, uh uh they really will see in the next months or years uh quite dramatic changes. Uh in just like automotive, uh, they really embrace the advantages of of uh digital printing. Uh and for us, it's it's really interesting. Uh I say our form our OEM business is like our Formula One department. We explore uh really new ways and new technologies, which have then also an impact on our daily business. Uh doesn't matter if we print on a car or a car part or uh key model, it's printing on a curved object, and we have to apply the same technologies uh just on a larger scale.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's um exciting because obviously your well polytechs core business has been focused very much on director shape, perhaps in in in um more of a consumer packaging area, but um exciting to hear automotive is becoming more of a thing, and I think that's also uh perhaps a clear indication of how strong and effective the technology is in that um actually automotive's an incredibly demanding manufacturing industry, isn't it? The fact that you're beginning to work in that space and also with different OEMs is interesting, is also really should underline to people listening that this is a high-quality industrial process now, that the work you've done has refined the process and and the technology is robust and resilient and also flexible. So that's really exciting to hear. Um, just sort of uh why digital director shape, I guess, is the it is the overarching thought in my head. Director
Flexibility Without Labels Or Waste
SPEAKER_00Shape Digital occupies perhaps a unique position within industrial manufacturing. What advantages does it offer compared perhaps with the traditional more analog decorating technologies? And where do you believe it creates perhaps the greatest value for manufacturers and brands?
SPEAKER_01So uh when we when we speak about uh packaging, uh the the most obvious advantage is is the flexibility and uh the short run. Uh many many printers in the industry face a challenge with uh minimal order quantity, which go down, uh, but they cannot produce that uh in a in uh in an interesting way uh financially anymore, and that's where digital comes in. Uh we can be much faster. It's also simpler logistics. Uh, we have some customers that are in in uh in a B2C business, so uh web shops. There we're we're speaking about lead times of days, or in sometimes even even hours. This would not be possible with analog, and this this really gives uh a lot of of potential. Uh PolyType has always been a direct-to-shape company, being it in in analog or non-digital. Uh that's we're a no-label company, if you want, or we we print the label directly on to the shape without uh the carrier material. This is the same for for analog and digital, and and there clearly we have recycling advantage because we don't have carrier material off the label. It's also that uh since we don't have this this label aspect, we we really print what we need at the moment, uh, and we also have less waste uh thanks to that. And maybe the the last interesting part uh uh is available data. Uh we can print uh unique barcodes uh or texts uh as an integral part of a production run without having laser marking to the end. Uh and this this opens uh really a lot of potential for applications like connected packaging or or things like this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, interesting. And I know having conversations with Polytype before, people like Clay earlier from that, but the the consumer beverage market, for instance, and the growth of functional um drinks and coming out of more disruptive innovators is provide you know your your technology solution really provides that agility and ability to to do things in that are impossible and analog. And and um I really see that the the the structure of packaging changing and also the the the innovators within it, it's not only dominated by the major brands, we're getting new disruptive influences that are more perhaps open to embracing the new ideas because they're less perhaps constrained by um you know much larger supply chain logistics, etc. So it's really interesting. Um
Growth Markets For Digital Packaging
SPEAKER_00with that in mind, next growth markets with um which sort of application sectors you've you've mentioned a couple already, do you believe will drive perhaps the next wave of growth for direct to shape digital printing? Are there industries you feel are only just beginning to recognize its true potential?
SPEAKER_01Yes, I think it's not a surprise if I mention beverage can. A lot of companies go after this this market these days, uh, because we see uh a tremendous potential uh there anyway as a as a as a packaging material and and uh uh drinks in cans is is is a good opportunity because uh there's also uh older uh companies like uh craft breweries that that would love packaging and be able to sell their their beer in a in a in a nice can. That's where digital is is is really really interesting. Uh where I see the the why uh do we play in this market? Uh because we've been building uh machines for the cup industries for for 10 years now. We have many market machines on the market, and for us it's just a logical step also to go to to to beverage cans as well, where we can can really offer uh a good mix between a fast and a cost-effective machine uh on an industrial level. Uh another thing I see is is uh bottles. We started with with uh drinking bottles, uh reusable drinking bottles, but we see uh also trend towards cosmetic bottles, uh, which actually is actually a nice fit with our tube business because we already print uh cosmetic tubes also since many years, and a lot of brands have the same design on a tube, but also on a on a bottle, because it's uh depends on on the product, and like this, we can offer really a full solution digital both for for uh cosmetic bottles and uh where we can add uh effects uh like uh screen printing, uh can replace screen printing, we can uh really have uh nice CMYK, photorealistic graphics. Uh, we we really get uh good results there. Uh and if if you ask me in general, uh I think uh with uh the what I said at the beginning, with increased throw distances, we we we we start to be able to print on almost any object of daily use. Uh so yeah, director shape really has a lot of of uh potential.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean obviously the packaging industry is huge and you know one of the probably most resilient um i industries in the world in terms of its link to consumer um spending, uh but but but equally exciting to hear there are other uh sectors and industries that are starting to begin to understand what can be done with this technology, and um that's exciting too, and it I guess it adds variety and diversity for polytype as well, and which means you can expand into new markets, which excit is exciting.
Variable Codes And Connected Packaging
SPEAKER_00Director Shape, clearly on this theme, really, is moving beyond simple decoration towards enabling perhaps smarter manufacturing, mastercast customization, and and that flexibility with supply chain. How do you see the role of directors shape evolving over the next five to ten years?
SPEAKER_01So it's uh it's uh an enabling technology for connected products uh by uh printing variable codes uh directly on the the uh the the object. We have really some nice examples where where customers printed uh unique QR codes on on uh drinking cups. Uh they sell that in in restaurants, and with this this unique code, uh as they sell the drink, they activate it, and then it's valid for uh say two hours, and customers can can stay in the restaurant for these two hours and and get free drinks, and after that it expires. Uh, it's really a great opportunity also to to connect with with customer if we speak about classical packaging, and it's it's almost for free because the a digital machine can just do it. You don't need any any labeling like we've seen sometimes. Uh it's really really directly uh available. Uh what I also see uh, as I said before, we can turn a piece of plastic in a finished product. Uh, we can also do that in a in a connected, autonomous way. We have customers that already do that. Uh so just directly from the internet, they go directly to the machine, the machine prints it, and afterwards the whole logistics is also uh digitalized and automated. Uh, it's really amazing if you walk into these these factories uh for what they produce or what uh the output of these factories are, there are very little people working there. It it really looks like the future of manufacturing. Uh because digital makes the most sense the closer you are to the customer and speak about packaging, I think there will be a trend that the packaging and the filling process they get closer to each other because you just in terms of timing you're closer to the customer, can can react to to uh varying demands, and for me this is just a logical step.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so there's a few things that you mentioned, a couple of things you mentioned there, which are really interesting. So the the ability with variable data to be able to print, like you say, onto to bottles or objects or cups within a restaurant that's defined by uh the period of time so that you're able to connect with consumption and then the barcode goes out of date, so you that very quick, or the it's a QR code, I assume. So that's really clever. And and and I guess what what people are starting to do is or what manufacturers are starting to do is understand the connection potential, not just of the technology in decoration terms, but the connectivity of the product as well, which is which is really exciting, and also like you say, within within manufacturing itself, the connectivity is actually becoming more and more of a um uh you know a normal thing as opposed to something that is futuristic. Is that fair to say?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. We uh so we we have it's not classical packaging, it's more reusable cups that are printed in in real this automated way, but we see that also as as a good opportunity for us to learn how this is working, this this highly automated, highly digitalized workflows. Uh because in the I think in the future also the B business will be much more automated, and we have a lot of learnings directly from what we do today with this these reusable cups uh that can be transported to that kind of application as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, really interesting.
Quality, Productivity And True Cost
SPEAKER_00So customers clearly are asking for things that you're developing, and also perhaps you're listening to customers and develop them more quickly. How have these conversations with customers changed over the years? Are they still primarily focused on print quality, perhaps, or productivity, flexibility, traceability, and total cost of ownership? Um what what are the primary drivers really for customers?
SPEAKER_01So we're we're uh printing uh uh so it has to look nice. Uh so uh obviously print quality is still uh key uh key aspect. Also, uh our customers need to make money, so productivity is also very important. Uh but that said uh the differentiation to digital is that uh it adds flexibility and uh gives more uh in the sales process of our customers so they can react more quickly to to customer demands, they can deliver uh faster. Uh so this these are the the most important aspects. Uh sustainability is something that everyone is asking for, but this is more like a baseline. This is just something that's to be more sustainable when you you bring new products to market, otherwise it will just not be uh interesting. Um one thing we see often, uh I think many, many people have that that are in in digital printing, the ownership is crucial. Uh, first, when we speak with people that are not so often in contact with digital printing, uh they always speak about the ink price, which is is uh by orders of magnitude higher than you know in in an analog printing. Uh so this is what people see, they say, oh, digital is so expensive because the ink costs a lot. But actually, this is not the truth. You have to look at the whole uh the whole total cost of ownership, because if you bring in the the production efficiency, the you have less waste, you have the sustainability, you have the the shorter lead times, the short the the short runs, then uh we're back on even though the ink looks really expensive. But if you look at uh the the whole picture, we have many applications where we see that digital is actually less expensive than uh conventional printing processes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, total cost of ownership uh has been an issue for many years in many industries with digital because of the uh uh ink price being on a on paper higher. Your customers now starting to fully understand total cost of ownership, or is this still something that you have to say, look, this this digital solution does this, and this is the total cost of ownership, or do you still get that barrier where people say actually the ink costs more? Is it still a a challenge, or is it starting to become less of an issue?
SPEAKER_01No, it's becoming less of an issue because we also have many of our customers, they have now more than one machine from us, so obviously it's working. So at the beginning, it's always people think it's not suitable for large volumes, but we we've proven the opposite. We have many customers that print uh hundreds of thousands or millions of pieces every year, uh, some of them uh also with with variable data on it. Uh so a uh a production run on a digital machine of a million pieces, every one each one with uh an individual QR code is becoming normal. And so no one would have believed. This is possible with the digital print, but it's actually the reality.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, interesting. And also with GS1, barcodes will start to change, won't they? I mean, it's just going to suddenly happen. It already is. You can see more and more QR codes being used on packaging as well as barcodes. Eventually, QRs will be the normal and on everything. And then the potential for I think is super exciting for the kind of businesses like Polytype, because you've got that uh variability potential that clearly, from what I'm hearing, is is what customers are are really tuning into because capturing consumers' attention and their loyalty, you know, one had yeah, and one would imagine brands have to use all of the available tools to them. So I I'm excited for you. It's really quite uh a confluence of change, really, technological capability that you have with printing technology and digital printing technology with consumer change and then brands and marketers on the retail level fully embracing it.
Adoption Barriers And Digital-First Startups
SPEAKER_00But I suppose there are still barriers, there always are to new things. People like um things to stay the same and predictable. But um what technical or commercial barriers perhaps still prevent the wider adoption of the digital director shape in European? Um is the challenge now primarily technological? Is it economic or is it organizational?
SPEAKER_01It's uh a bit of everything, like always. Uh so what what we see, for instance, uh it's a generation thing as well. Uh uh we're we're also selling a lot to to family-owned uh customers, and sometimes the uh the older generation is a bit more reluctant to look into a digital process than the younger generation. We see a lot of change there. Uh we see a lot of digital initiatives in in uh in large uh in large customers or larger groups. Uh so it's changing, but it's it's taking time. But uh it's it's all accelerated by all the the other digitalization uh topics uh that are around these days, like uh also like AI or or uh uh digital supply chains and all of that. One one barrier is certainly uh uh the the technology or the complexity. Uh we build quite fast machines and obviously uh they requires a substantial invest. This is for smaller companies sometimes difficult because the the uh the alternative today is to go for a a really small digital printer that requires hand loading, uh relatively low financial invest, but at the other side you need a lot of people to work on these machines. So there's what we see, there's a gap between the two, but we've also proven uh we've worked with startups. Uh they're not startups anymore, but thanks to to a really efficient and fast machine, uh they were able to grow their business rapidly, which is crucial for a startup. They they don't have years to grow their bus business, they have to grow fast. And with a uh a fast and efficient machine like ours, they they had that, they could grow rapidly uh and and uh really become a successful business.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's interesting. Startups entering. And are these startups digital first? So they're they're startups that just have digital, or are they startups that have a bit of analog as well? I'm just interested whether the digital is enabling startups.
SPEAKER_01No, they're the the most successful ones, they are really digital first. Yeah, they come with uh with a digital DNA, uh they don't they don't have uh an analog legacy or something. They go full digital. They it's really a different mindset.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, a different mindset also, and um I think we've seen that in other perhaps you know um more you know, retail, you know, wide format industry and commercial as well. Is that we've seen that we've seen digitals coming coming out or startups coming out and into uh disrupting whatever, but it's interesting it's starting to happen in packaging. And and and that I guess the preconceived notion with packaging was perhaps it's too difficult to do that. Um, but from what you're saying, it's starting to happen, which is also a testament to the to the quality of the technology, frankly.
AI For Artwork, Training And Uptime
SPEAKER_00You mentioned AI just then, and obviously automation and the smart factory you've mentioned previously too. How do you see artificial intelligence automation and robotics influencing direct to shape production? W were the biggest perhaps gains come from from quality, workflow optimization, predictive maintenance, or entirely new manufacturing models?
SPEAKER_01I think a bit of everything, uh it's it's it's uh an exciting part of my job these days to to to being allowed to think about all the opportunities that we get from AI. Uh we can start with uh with that uh the reusable uh cups I've mentioned before. Here uh AI has a huge impact because nowadays everyone can generate a nice artwork without uh having to hire a graphical artist or being one uh yourself. Uh you can ask AI to create a nice design for your uh birthday party, for your marriage, for whatever. Before that, uh that the printing houses had to offer templates or or some prefabricated stuff uh which fit, or maybe not so much these days. Uh it's it's really easy to create the nice design, and you can have that feature integrated into your web shop, into your uh 3D product designer. It's all available off the shelf these days, so it's quite easy to start. And this this is really a driver for business because you get really nice products you like, you feel you they really belong to you because you created them. Uh, it's not a template you've chosen, you you had them created for you, and this is really an important driver for this kind of business. We've also seen uh uh digital printers are are uh not so easy to use, they're relatively complex due to their uh interdisciplinary nature. You have inks, you have fluids, you have software, you have mechanics. Uh it's always a challenge to train operators. And normally operators they have quite they may change uh quite quickly. Uh, it depends also a bit on the country. And here, AI can help us a lot in training, uh, in in optimization and troubleshooting. We we did a very simple thing to test once. I would say we have a pretty good operator manual, but sometimes people are reluctant to open it and to search for the information. Uh, and here AI can do a tremendous job. Uh, we just uploaded the existing operator manual to an AI agent so customers could ask the agent questions, and it would just go through the existing uh operator manual and reply to the question in a very high-quality answer because it's us that created it, and there it we really see something where we can make the operator's life uh more easy. Uh, you mentioned predictive data, of course. This is a topic. Sensor data has been available for many years on production machine, but it was difficult really to to uh turn it into a meaningful information. It was just uh too much information, uh it required too much development to get something meaningful out of it, and thanks to AI, uh uh we can we can uh change that now. A good example is is uh nozzle sensing technology. This is uh very exciting technology that allows us to get an acoustic feedback on every ink chat nozzle, so we can have the nozzle health without using a camera. It's very interesting. Uh, it will be a major uh building block to to reach uh an even higher level of viability. Uh, this technology was published 30 years ago. You find patents that are 30 years old, but just that data processing capability was not there at the time. So the the the physical part of it was there, but they couldn't take advantage of it. And this changed now. So we can have that now on on a machine and and really uh bring uh uh an advantage to the operator. Another thing is is uh supply chain. Uh personally, it's I might be wrong, but uh I don't think then in five to ten years there will be uh still uh human uh beings, uh people in the in the procurement department that buy cups or tubes or or bottles uh from each other. Uh if you're making toothpaste, uh then you need this kind of of quantity of of tubes to fill that in. This is something that that uh can be automated, and I'm sure it will be automated. Uh so there will be uh this will be done by AI agents that that deal with each other, that that order these these products uh from from each other. And if that happens, uh this will have a dramatic effect because uh these agents they don't sleep, uh they react really fast, they probably don't have too much personal relationships, obviously, between each other, so they just go for the fastest uh delivery for the the lowest price. And if I imagine that, if uh I think it's a bit like high frequency trading, and there digital can play a major role because uh it's inherently digital already. Uh you see it the machine can tell if it has capacity to produce something, it can tell what it can produce, it can tell when it can produce. Uh it's it's really uh uh a key element of that. And that's why I think uh digital will become even more important in the future.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, that's really interesting insight about using AI to automate some of the more functional or perhaps um process-oriented tasks uh that the humans currently do. That um, and like you say, also interesting that it would search for the best fastest rather than be based perhaps on human habit or relationships or or whatever. Uh so it's optimizing, but it's also liberating pe the business from um from having to having that cost centre. So I think that has a value, doesn't it? And that releases the the human to do the more creative, more uh strategic uh roles, which I think fundamentally is is is uh a positive uh positive thing. And
Sustainability Through Local Production Networks
SPEAKER_00and just uh in terms of financial sustainability, but sustainability in the environment uh generally, um what digital prints always had that um uh character that is perhaps around efficiency and printing on demand, which is is obviously good for productivity and and efficiency. Um with sustainability perhaps in the environment more in uh centre of mind, um much of the discussion perhaps is focused on inks and materials, but but from what you were saying earlier, direct to shape printing can also reduce waste, inventory and production steps. It takes some of that away. Where do you see the greatest sustainability benefits emerging over the coming decade?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this is this is certainly one thing. This just in time production, you can produce what it's what is needed, and and uh you can even do better with that the closer you get to to your customer. So, as a packaging producer, the closer you are to your customers, the quicker you can react. Uh and this is a trend we see, uh, this decentralization of manufacturing plants. Uh uh I mean smaller distributed and also highly digital production cells that can form a nation or continent-wide manufacturing network. We're printing objects, we're printing packaging. If you take a beverage can, if you transport that, you transport air. Uh in terms of volume, it's almost just air, it's a bit of aluminum, a little bit of ink, but mostly air. So it's not very efficient from that point of view. The closer to you are to the place where it's filled or consumed, even the better it is. That's why it makes sense to to really distribute it. You can still have that the whole logistics part or the whole uh administration part centralized, but if you can distribute your production network uh over a large area, you really can optimize your your uh your logistics. And you're also very flexible because you don't have to ship any any uh printing plates back and forth, it's just digital. You can you can always be flexible and and and print uh at location A or switch to location B if if uh if uh you have more capacity there. And this I think this is really a great opportunity uh for digital printing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and um it's interesting. So that what you said there, decentralization having um it had different names perhaps in the reshoring something. Maybe it's got confused with that. But the point being that at the moment the centralization is starting to become a restriction for manufacturers. So whereas it was always a way to be more productive and more efficient, what you're saying is it decentralization is much more of a a trend that you're seeing evidence of because it places much more power into the responsiveness of that particular area, whatever that may be, whether that may be certain socioeconomic profile or it could be cultural, it could be economic. Um so it's so it's uh the fact that's gaining traction again is is really exciting, as you say, for digital digital printing and and also enables um you know a more sustainable profile for consumers and for um producers. So that's really interesting.
Why Collaboration Drives Inkjet Progress
SPEAKER_00And just a little bit about collaboration, I was just because in the conversations that we have uh uh around digital printing, it seems that actually it's a lot of collaboration that goes on, really. Um and success, I guess, in isolation is is rare. How important is collaboration between perhaps the printhead manufacturers, ink developers, machine builders, software providers, container manufacturers, and brands? How important is that in accelerating innovation or director-shaped printing?
SPEAKER_01I think it's it's very important, and it's also uh I think it's also quite unique. Uh in the ink chat has a community. Uh, so the community meets at different uh events or different conferences, different trade shows. On one hand, you can say you always meet the same people, but at the same time, this also shows that it's really uh uh uh an ecosystem on its own, uh, this digital printing community. And I think it's really something that that's valuable. Uh uh we cannot uh develop everything ourselves, uh, or we don't have the competence to do so. Uh uh we're very good at mechanics or at software, but we have no idea about chemistry. Uh that's why we need good partners in in in in chemistry. Uh so ink developers, uh uh or also uh pre-treatment uh and and everything. And then this, thanks to this community, you always find a good partner that that that helps you uh go further or or go uh yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, it's really it's really an important part of it, isn't it? And it's like you say, it's it's utilizing the expertise necessary in order to deliver the best result for you, but also for the customers that you have. And that that makes more and it gives you that agility, it gives you that ability to use the right tools, the right ingredients, the right people for the right job. And I think that's uh that's clearly a very positive thing.
The 2035 View Autonomous Printing
SPEAKER_00So difficult one, predictions, but always like to ask. We are future prints, so talking about the future is part of what we do. So if you were to look ahead, which seems a long way off now, 2035, but what I've noticed at my age, time fly is much quicker. Um, if you were looking ahead to 2035, what do you think director shape printing will be capable of, perhaps, that isn't commercially viable right now? And if you can remove one barrier that would most accelerate the adoption, what would that be?
SPEAKER_01So predictions are always different, difficult, but uh of myself. Uh but so I'm a digital printing guy, but also I'm an automation guy. Uh I believe that uh we'll see machines that run more autonomously, uh, even if it's just during the night shift. But a digital printer is perfectly capable of doing a lot of things uh in an autonomous way. Uh in the machine tool industry, this is already the case. Uh and I don't really see why this shouldn't be possible for a direct-to-shape printing machine as well. Of course, it requires uh reliable machines, you don't want them to stop uh five minutes after you've you've left. Uh, you think they're producing the whole night, but after five minutes, they this is not a good thing. So you need uh reliable machines paired with uh predictive maintenance and monitoring. And I think uh PolyType, which is his long history in creating uh very reliable machines, is in a perfect position to make that happen. We also know that thanks to the the machine that we have in this e-commerce B2C setups, uh what it takes to fully embed a digital printing machine in a fully automated digital workflow. That includes also the the supply chain and and even delivering the products to to the customer. Um in terms of process, uh I think we should be able to find something better uh when it comes to to uh metallic effects. Uh what we do today with with all these foils is just not very efficient. I'm really hoping we find uh uh a good process to do digital metallization that really creates uh gold or silver effects that are comparable to what we do today with with foil. That would be very interesting. As process distances increase, uh this will unlock a big potential to print on many other uh objects. Uh it requires uh, besides the whole printing, also the correct workflow and and the algorithms to transform a 2D image onto a 3D shape. We're doing a lot of work here uh that's probably not so known for the outside, and we're also not able to discuss that further, but we're really doing uh interesting things uh with with major players in different industries, and and this will become to the market very soon. Uh there I see a lot of of potential. Um, and you ask what barrier I would remove. Uh I don't I don't see right now uh really this this one barrier uh that I would like to go away. Of course, our industry is conservative, and uh of course it's sometimes slow to adopt the digital printing, but also for a good reason. Uh and it just takes time, and uh some go a bit forward, some are a bit more conservative. This is just the way uh the way it works, and and I'm fine with that. I don't I would I wouldn't want to remove that if I had a magic wand to to to make it disappear. It's okay like this. Uh it's many many challenges, and it's our job to to to solve these challenges, but uh yeah, I I cannot tell a clearly a clear barrier I would want to go away.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I and I think from what you've said throughout the discussion is there are many things that you're developing, you know, and you mentioned just there, the the the advances with throw distance, enabling you throw distance means the distance between the injet head and the the surface is getting greater and more accurate and more able to translate a 2D image into or onto a 3D shape. The the advances there starts to provide a wider range of objects. Is that right?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and and that, like you say, is usually exciting. I guess, like you've said, a conservative industry is one big for a good reason because it's built on a certain culture of quality. And digital offers, and certainly polytype technology offers the quality and now the speed as well. And it just takes time for people to accept and understand and and to not feel they're making a huge risk with investment, but actually they're adding all of the benefits that you've said into their production suite. What I also like, just finishing off though, from what you've said all the way through, is all the different points of connectivity and change that's happening, not just in your business but in the wider world, that is starting to, by the sounds of it, to accelerate it. And the final thing was I love the fact there's disruptive innovators out there that are adopting digital first and playing in uh uh an industry such as packaging, which is a creative, exciting, fast moving one. Listen,
Thanks, Wrap-Up And Where To Follow
SPEAKER_00Florian, thank you so much for joining us. Really fascinating to learn more from you, your perspective in your role as head of RD for the digital division at Polytype. Um, appreciate your giving us the time. And thank you again for joining us. Thanks.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, you can subscribe now for more great audio content coming up. And visit futureprint.tech 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 Future Print podcast.
