(Read the original press release here.)

According to the Smithers Report The Future of Flexographic Printing Markets to 2027, flexible packaging is the fastest growing packaging application, and for obvious reasons. It can minimize package transport costs between the converter, packer/filler, retailer, and end user. It not only takes up less space when empty than rigid packaging but can also be constructed on the spot from roll materials at the filling location, thereby minimizing transportation of ready-formed, but empty, packaging. 

Flexographic flexible packaging is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.4% to a total output value of $40.86 million in 2027, and during this same period digital printing of flexible packaging is projected to increase a whopping 53+%, as adoption of new digital technology begins to compete with flexographic printing. Putting that growth in perspective, digital label production was introduced in 2008 and projected digital label output volume (physical amount of production) by 2027 still only translates into about 12% of the total volume of label production. When you are starting from a smaller base, even modest growth will be comparably higher. The same growth trajectory holds for the transition of flexible packaging from flexo to digital.