At the end of 2020, FuturePrint connected with partners and colleagues to form a picture of how the pandemic had affected print, as well as looking ahead to 2021 and the challenges and opportunities it might hold for the industry. These conversations and insights were the foundation for the first FuturePrint Vision Report. In this article, Marc Graindourze, Business Manager Industrial Inks, Agfa, elaborates on his forecasts for 2021.

One of the key aspects of the Vision Report involved partners sharing their trend predictions for the year ahead. For Marc Graindourze, 2021 could be a shot in the arm for sustainable initiatives. He says: “Sustainable practices are gradually being implemented in our industry by all parties, not only by the printing companies, but also by the suppliers. While inkjet printing has intrinsic advantages in terms of sustainability through its low waste, low inventory requirements etc., this is a too narrow vision.

“Sustainability needs to be looked at from all perspectives; it is an attitude, and we are helping our customers in this respect. It is also one of the drivers to use water-based inkjet inks where appropriate, especially for printing on paper and carton-based substrates, for instance for printing corrugated boxes. Digital printing will be a solution for e-commerce (the boxes today contain a high amount of air); clever designing and printing of box sizes will make them much more sustainable.”

Marc also shares his thoughts on how edge band printing will develop in the year ahead: “Industrial inkjet printing often is one process within a chain of manufacturing processes; the better the printing fits with the existing pre- and post-process (often automated), the more convenient the entire process and the lower the total production cost will be. A good example is edge band printing. Agfa has introduced a new ink set specifically tuned to this application in 2020: Altamira Design PID.

 “We expect that 2021 will show the edge band production industry gradually implementing inkjet printing. The UV ink set is a key element of the solution. The Altamira Design PID ink set meets all requirements: consistent print results, a very wide colour gamut, low metamerism and IKEA compliance, in addition to fitting in with multiple pre- and post-processes.”

As well as offering insights on general trends, Marc also sheds some light on some of Agfa’s 2021 plans: “Agfa always considers not only the short term, but also the mid- and longer term. In 2020 we announced our latest investment to increase our ink production capacity, specifically for the production of water-based inks. We need this investment to grow along with our customers, for instance in the field of laminate production, where inkjet starts to replace rotogravure printing (for printing on décor paper). This trend has certainly not been slowed down by the pandemic, on the contrary. The year 2021 will show an even increased speed when it comes to the adoption of inkjet printing for laminate production.

He continues: “The second type of water-based inks which are a priority for Agfa are those used for printing on corrugated boxes. We invest heavily in this field. Inkjet printing with UV inks is still of key importance for Agfa though. For many applications, UV inks are the best choice. Agfa is a technology leader in this field and many industries contact us to look into their applications. This means that we keep developing and fine-tuning UV inks, for instance in the diverse field of printed interior decoration.”

Marc’s final thoughts on what we can expect from 2021 are positive, outlining the importance of collaboration to continuing success: “Industrial inkjet printing solutions are often the result of co-operations and partnerships. By the way, this was also one of the key topics during FuturePrint’s Virtual Summit 2 (October 2020). It is my belief that this will be a trend which will not be overturned. During 2021 and in the following years, we will witness the results of many co-operations in our industry.”

You can find out more about Agfa’s industrial inkjet business here.

You can download the Vision Report here.