Over 120 attendees gathered in Düsseldorf for the premiere Direct Container Print conference to discover the value of screen and digital solutions for direct-to-shape print. Held on 23 and 24 November 2015, the ESMA event featured 17 presentations and laid solid grounds for the continuation of this well-received concept. Delegates and exhibitors actively discussed the implementation of new technologies and their impact on food and beverage, personal care, beauty and household packaging decoration markets. DCP 2015 opened with the insights into a real case scenario of applying Krones DecoType technology for replacing the labelling machines directly at the bottler’s facilities. Now the bottler can and may become a printer himself, as it was heard in several other presentations, which also addressed the possible future conversion in the supply chain of the customer and the relocation of services. Delegates could witness the advances of digital printing to meet short run and customization demands. “After tile, textile, label and 3D printing, direct decoration is the next big independent market for drop on demand inkjet which offers technical evolution and growth”, commented Sven Kerpe from Markem-Imaje. Nevertheless, screen printing is “alive and well” as proven by the presentations of Sefar, SRS and Isimat who introduced their innovative InLine Foiling concept for metallic glossy effects. As long as quality remains the key to enter mass applications in such sectors as cosmetic packaging, the traditional print techniques or hybrid solutions have still a lot to offer.

More information: http://www.dcp2015.org