How digital printing can free cash trapped in the supply chain
At PackPrint 09, Ken Stack of EFI Jetrion details digital printing's attributes to meet the break-even point of flexo, achieve label-printing turnaround times of hours rather than days, and help cut converters' carbon footprints.
Linda Casey -- Converting Magazine, 9/21/2009 2:27:00 AM
So label printers, Stack explains, often will print a large amount of labels, sell part of the print run, store the rest at their expense until their customers are ready to order additional labels. In the meantime, the printer is stuck with the costs of printing, storing and managing this inventory of labels that he or she hopes the customer will purchase.
If the customer changes ingredients, graphics or any other messaging on the labels, the printer has to eat these costs and destroy the labels. Brand owners that are working so hard to make their packaging sustainable also are hurt as this process can result in potentially thousands of labels being destroyed thus increasing the true carbon footprint of their products.
He contends that digital label and package printing can help "green" packaging by eliminating wasted labels, free up warehousing space used to store the labels, and offer just-in-time ordering and printing.
"If the turnaround time for labels is six weeks, with digital it can be six hours," Stack remarks. Digital's shorter turnaround time, along with the elimination of setup costs such as printing-plate processing and mounting, enables label printers to offer shorter-run jobs. Stack rhetorically asks: "How much interest would you have if you had that cash in the supply chain in the bank instead?"
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