Inaugural Digital Packaging Summit Fulfills Its Goal to Educate, Enable Peer-to-Peer Networking
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.—The debut Digital Packaging Summit was held here Nov. 9-11 at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, bringing together some of the top converters and suppliers in the packaging industry for three days of digital print education and networking.
As an emerging technology in the industry, the Digital Packaging Summit served as an opportunity for printers and converters to learn more about the equipment that is available, what it is capable of and strategies for implementing it in their businesses. For equipment suppliers, the event provided an opportunity to meet one-on-one with potential customers and present case studies on how their products have been influential in the market.
A Proven Business Model
Following in the footsteps of the affiliated Inkjet Summit, the Digital Packaging Summit followed a structure designed around personal, face-to-face interactions between the top decision makers in the industry.
“This is where a lot of the decisions are going to start being made in terms of investment strategies and marketing strategies,” said Kevin Abergel, vice president of sales and marketing at MGI. “There’s no place else in the world where you can get this much quality time with this much quality type management from quality companies.”
In addition to one-on-one meetings and case study presentations, the Digital Packaging Summit featured multiple presentations from leading industry consultants, vendor and user panels, and a “fireside chat” featuring Diane Barton, the associate director of graphics for Perrigo Co.
The fireside chat provided perspective from a print customer and how digital printing could impact the business Perrigo takes part in. As a major manufacturer of over-the-counter and pharmaceutical products, one example Barton provided is that digital can be helpful in printing multiple languages on pharmaceutical packaging, which is a requirement in some markets.
Marco Boer, vice president of I.T. Strategies and a member of the Digital Packaging Summit advisory board, explained that digital printing in the packaging industry should not be looked at as a replacement technology. Instead he recommended during his “best practices” presentation that digital printing be viewed as a complementary printing method to be used in tandem with conventional methods.
While the Digital Packaging Summit provided an opportunity to learn more about the equipment that has emerged in the package printing market, it also served as a motivator for attendees to explore what could be possible for their businesses and customer bases by embracing digital printing technology.
“You want to be better at what you’re doing and take things to the next level with the new technology that’s coming out,” said Kelly Cart, digital support manager of Discount Labels. “It gives you a whole new goal to achieve.” PI
Cory Francer is an analyst at NAPCO Research. He formerly served as editor-in-chief of Packaging Impressions.
