Sustainability should always be at the forefront of any business that is involved in printing at the start of a New Year and this has been a common trend over the past few years; But every year we notice more and more printers taking this to heart and implementing systems to their business’s where sustainability becomes a goal.

Obviously there is a lot on unknowns regarding COVID-19, the new variants and how people, businesses, companies, corporates can survive the pandemic. A common thread is that We Will Survive! And as such we need to strategise, prepare and streamline our operations to be the most effective and efficient that we can when we move into the new normal…..

Labels & Labeling have published a superb read based on industry leaders’ expectations for the year that is 2021. Click here to see the full article. Credit is given to the team at Labels & Labeling for this interesting article.

We have picked 2 industry leaders who are close to our hearts here at CSM from the article for our readers to view below!

Jakob Landberg, sales and marketing director, Nilpeter

Covid-19 has no doubt presented an entirely new challenge, both for personal and business relations, but Nilpeter predicts a bright future ahead. 

After a gentle start to 2020, for obvious reasons, it seems the printing industry is recovering quite well. Printers experienced a quick rise in demand for labels and flexible packaging, and now, the investment climate is back on track.

In 2021, Nilpeter predicts that the steady growth in labels and flexible packaging will continue, and furthermore expect increased demands for more efficient production, based on new, modern technology and equipment.

We have seen a great deal of focus on the actual print operation, making sure the operator experiences an attractive, modern user interface, and that should continue in the new year, 

Printers will look to create a competitive advantage through new value-added technologies and efficient production parameters – faster job settings, job changeovers etc.

Nilpeter focuses all activities on meeting these trends and will launch several new products within flexible packaging and combination printing in 2021.

Richard Knight, CEO of A B Graphic International

It’s inevitable that some industries and sectors will thrive, while others will decline. Labels, however, seem to be faring better than many. I strongly believe that working from home is here to stay, perhaps in a hybrid form, and there will also be a reduced importance on physical office space.

Healthcare solutions will continue to increase: warning labels, hand sanitizer labels, drugs and vaccines labels. Automation will continue to grow in importance as it has over the last few years. The growth of smaller online retailers will only continue to fuel the need for the short run digital offer and the growth of digital embellishment will allow this to grow.

People with more time at home (less commuting, lockdowns, leaving cities etc) fuel more hobbies and domestic labeling. Increased online shopping creates a massive increase in the need for shipping labels. With less traffic through restaurants and bars, there is the potential of a decline in high-end wine and spirits labels in some markets. With new car purchases suppressed, there is a reduced requirement for durable labels and likewise with the aviation sector with less baggage tags.

Shelf appeal will continue to motivate brands as more and more goods are sold in supermarkets, being one of the few shops that remain open in full lockdown. Growth in Amazon-style shopping will fuel logistic style label needs, and therefore the need for efficiencies in this type of label production will be of prime importance to label converters.

2020 and the coronavirus pandemic will only exacerbate the changes that the label industry was already going through. For example, the growth of online shopping has already led to the need for efficient converting lines to allow label converters to keep pace with demand. The growth of smaller retailers has been fuelled by the fact digital print can offer them varied solutions for short runs.