A brand-new way of working with digital packaging

By Johannes Pieger, Digital Print Manager, Schumacher Packaging

One of the unsung benefits of digital corrugated packaging production is that lines of communication have also changed.

Whereas in the past we dealt with purchasing departments, we now talk directly to marketing because they have an influence on the price by deciding on how much color is being used and the overall packaging design.

In the future, manufacturers will work on print data preparing jobs for digital printing instead of producing clichés as in flexo. It helps that we have a centralized pre-print department in-house, which is an important success factor.

To successfully start with digital, you need one person who is responsible for the project. Coordination with the pre-press department is as equally important as the maintenance of the press with qualified staff.

Already, we have three Delta SPC 130 single-pass presses using food-safe inks from Koenig & Bauer Durst. For us, they have reached an industrial standard and proven for mass production. Board quality is not an issue for us.

They are also helping to drive our sustainability initiatives. For us, this is being “grandchildren sustainable”. By that, I am not just thinking about our current employees, customers, and suppliers, but also future Schumacher generations.

This is another reason why our target is to become climate neutral in corrugated production by 2035.