Industrial labels | 63Sustainability, personalization and digital printing, which dominated the list of top industrial labeling trends for the past few years, lost their signifcance as market players focused on supply chain issues. Piotr Wnuk reportsndustrial labels might lack the glamour different standards can be harmonized and design efforts that go into to offer more fexibility to converters customer-focused, attention-grabbing and end users.Iprimary labels. However, they are an essential ingredient in keeping the wheels Turning to digital of global industry turning. In most cases, ‘The challenge now remains to maintain industrial labels must be machine-readable the speed and standard of service being and be adapted to industrial processes. demanded by customers facing their own Industrial labels are also a vital increasing and growing pressures,’ remarks component of a track-and-trace system, Aztec Label’s Colin Le Gresley. ‘With our ensuring traceability and combating the investment in planning and production Industrial labels must be machine-readable counterfeiter. technology, this is a challenge we feel well and adapted to the industrial processesThe market was valued by Mordor equipped to meet.’Intelligence at USD 49.25 billion in 2020 The latest Finat Radar report “The industrial segment and is forecast to reach USD 69.8 billion demonstrates the growing popularity of by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 6 percent digital print in the industrial labeling sector. has continued to grow between 2021 and 2026. Brands and label buyers forecast that their The global e-commerce sector continues label volumes will witness robust growth despite the challenges to grow rapidly, a trend accelerated by in 2022. The report estimates 6.4 percent the Covid pandemic. According to a report overall growth and a healthy 5.4 percent for over the past two years” by PayPal, 27 percent of US citizens have labels printed digitally. For digital labels, the accessed domestic and cross-border data suggests that one of the highest spikes e-commerce. The need for high-quality years. Overall, we faced challenges with will be seen in the industrial segment.shipping labels grows proportionally. strong demand growth, supply chain Palinkas confrms that brands demanding These shipping labels are also smarter, disruptions in raw material availability, more customization drives smaller SKU incorporating tracing and tracking capacity restrictions and freight, as well counts. This requires converters to produce technologies to prevent items from as double-digit infationary pressure. We shorter runs, pushing them to digital getting lost or delayed during transport. are expanding our supplier base to ensure technologies. ‘We continue to see this, There is also a push for greener options a wider variety of sourcing options while especially in the chemical drum industry,’ as the industrial label segment catches continuing to intensify collaboration he adds.up with similar trends in the wider and joint supply chain planning with our ‘One of the major trends is the use of packaging market. existing strategic suppliers.’ digital print technologies in industrial and It sounds like the industrial labeling space Jason Hellman, senior manager of durable labeling,’ confrms FLEXcon’s Ross is a proftable and safe market, but the business, pharma and industrial markets Hodnett. ‘Particularly, UV inkjet printing is increasing cost and lack of availability of at UPM Rafatac, Americas, agrees that the growing in this segment more and more raw materials now threatens that growth. most signifcant challenge is the ongoing each year. Materials that can be printed global supply chain issue, and the company digitally, as well as some of the older Confronting reality has responded by identifying new sources conventional methods such as fexographic ‘It is obvious, but the impact of the of supply. or thermal transfer, are becoming more and Covid-19 outbreak has been the biggest FLEXcon is a pressure-sensitive material more important.’ challenge many businesses have ever faced, manufacturer that focuses strongly on the Andreas Hoffmann, managing director let alone in recent times,’ says Colin Le industrial market. ‘The major challenge is of DTM Print, says the transition to digital Gresley, managing director of UK-based with the current supply chain problems,’ is already well under way. ‘That means the converter Aztec Label. ‘The impact on explains product manager Ross Hodnett. challenge now is to stay in the market by industrial labels was as immediate as it ‘Converters and customers in this space the numerous competitors because digital was severe – manufacture of machinery, need material so that end users’ factory printing is much easier and can be offered equipment and even vehicles were all lines won’t have to be shut down. almost by anyone. The challenge and deeply affected by the various lockdowns Discussions about backup materials and opportunity are to be better by offering and restrictions, effectively grinding alternate materials are dominating the outstanding, specialized digital print to a halt overnight. There were serious conversation. This is a particular challenge technologies.’repercussions in the logistics sector in this segment because the label materials too; frst due to the stock management are often precisely specifed and require Greener supply chainproblems arising from the initial lockdown, a lengthy qualifcation process to be ‘We are hearing requests about sustainable and more recently with a lack of haulage approved. Suppliers who can give converters solutions and addressing them where driver availability and pent-up demand a steady supply by using a multitude of possible,’ confrms Avery Dennison’s accelerating shortages.’ suitable options are winning the most Matthew Palinkas. ‘When it comes to Matthew Palinkas, product manager right now.’ durable labels, performance is critical. So, for durables at Avery Dennison Labels and As Hodnett points out, industrial sector the biggest challenge is ensuring that a Packaging Materials, says the industry specifcations and regulatory standards sustainable technology doesn’t sacrifce the has shown a high level of resilience. ‘The are rigid and lock converters into specifc required levels of performance for a specifc industrial segment has continued to grow products without much fexibility. This has application. That said, there are areas where despite the challenges over the past two led industry stakeholders to rethink how sustainable components are being used, Jan - Mar 2022