| 89Conventional printing onventional press manufacturers have marked record sales as they face an onslaught of market challenges. Turnaround in recent years as converters looked to add capacity in the times are getting shorter; materials are harder to come by; prices Cwake of the pandemic surge ordering. But at Labelexpo are increasing; brand owners are keen on process regulation and Americas 2022 – the industry’s biggest reunion in four years – keeping an eagle eye on costs.fexographic presses were nowhere to be found, while digital press In that environment, a technology’s total cost of ownership technology stole headlines. becomes even more important as converters chase what It left many wondering: is fexo dead? Heidelberg vice president of digital print Dan Maurer calls, the ‘Flexo is not dead or dying at all,’ says newly-named Gallus CEO ‘tenacious pursuit of cost effciency.’Dario Urbinati. ‘Yes, we are seeing a strong drive toward digital – Total cost of ownership, or TCO, is a big-picture approach that but we do not see digital as being able to handle 100 percent of OEMs and converters are using to calculate the true costs of an jobs or completely replacing conventional print technology. We see asset over its lifetime. It’s a model in which the sticker price is only them as complementary technologies.’ one part of the equation. Today’s label converter is weighing and ‘Flexo technology is not standing still,’ Urbinati says. tracking the TCP – total cost to print – and factoring in a slew of Industry experts agree: fexography is certainly not going variables, including costs for servicing and maintenance, downtime, anywhere soon. It’s time-worn and tested technology, and one consumables and energy costs, just to name a few.that in recent years has only gotten faster, more automated and Gallus’ Urbinati explains: ‘I like the total cost of ownership easier to run. In conversations with the leading conventional press model because it really refects 360 degrees of your operation. We manufacturers, L&L learned that, in truth, fexo is far from dead, have invested extensive work into building a proper TCO calculator but rather, conventional print is adjusting to a ‘new normal’ and a to provide a true and fair view of costs associated with running a changed label converter. specifc piece of equipment.’In this view, conventional OEMs see fexo as a clear winner here. STATE OF THE MARKET Flexo presses, they say, afford converters an ink and substrate Throughout the so-called Covid years, fexo press sales soared, fexibility that digital just can’t compete with.driven by a pandemic-related buying surge in key high-run ‘I am seeing more sophistication overall,’ says Mark Andy’s segments, like food, beverage, household chemical and Schelmbauer. ‘Not only are machines getting more sophisticated, pharmaceutical markets. The rapid demand for quick-turn labels but so is our customer base and how they evaluate cost. Converters meant that many brands were shelving ideas for creative marketing are getting savvier with how they use the machine and how they and versioning, and fexo converters were kicking out labels as fast extract capacity.’as they could print them. In response to this rapid growth, converters of all stripes were AUTOMATIONlooking to add capacity. Speed has been a major factor weighing in fexo’s favor. However, According to a Reports and Insights study, the global narrow that line is getting blurry. Digital has historically been seen as a way web fexo press market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 6.1 percent to offoad short-run work, while fexo presses kick out the medium- through 2030. to long-run jobs. As we saw at Labelexpo Americas 2022, digital ‘Mark Andy had our biggest fexo year ever this year, by a pretty presses are only getting faster. This means today’s converter must considerable margin,’ says Tom Schelmbauer, chief business offcer now weigh the options between investing in a highly automated at Mark Andy. ‘Converters were tentative in their buying for a fexo press or new digital presses that can boast operating speeds while as they were trying to fgure out where digital’s place was. What they found is that a high productivity, high throughput fexo asset is even more important today. Once converters move their short-run work over to digital, they can really make serious money “ IS INDUSTRY 4.0 with their fexo machines by optimizing the distribution of jobs to OLD-FASHIONED NOW? assets that are perfect for what the converter is trying to do.’While the past few years have been fruitful for fexo OEMs, some THAT’S THE DISCUSSION industry experts predict that conventional press sales may cool in the coming years as brands and converters re-evaluate their digital WE’RE HAVING. HOW DO strategies post-pandemic.‘Based on extensive research we have done that included WE TURN THE PRINTING surveying large numbers of converters in the US and Europe over the past several months, we are forecasting that 2023 MACHINE INTO SOMETHING will be a much more challenging year for conventional/analog press technology and that converters will once again prioritize THAT NEEDS AS LITTLE their digital growth strategies,’ says Jennifer Dochstader of the INTERFERENCE BY HUMANS market research frm LPC. ‘We are predicting that the number of new digital presses sold will once again outpace the number of AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT conventional/analog presses sold and we could see a precipitous drop in conventional/analog press installations in North America LOSING and Europe.’Against the backdrop of all this, conventional press QUALITY AND manufacturers are responding to a changed buyer. WITHOUT TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIPToday’s converters are not simply looking at capital equipment LOSING based solely on speed and output fgures anymore. Data-savvy FLEXIBILITYconverters are looking at a machinery’s total cost of ownership Jan - Mar 2023