According to business development executive, Wendy McLoughlin, print service providers (PSPs) are driving rapid growth in the digital flexible packaging arena. By honing in on the burgeoning number of start-up entrepreneurs, digital printing allows new market entries to compete head-to-head with established big brands – good news for the economy, and consumers.

‘HP Indigo 20K and 25K presses are helping PSPs meet the growing demand from brands for shorter runs, speed to market and more personalised experiences, alongside growing their businesses and margins by winning jobs that aren’t typically profitable with conventional production,’ Wendy reports. ‘They are doing this by, for instance, offering smart packaging

with brand protection elements, variable data and unique designs generated by HP SmartStream Mosaic or Collage software and a pack that is also compliant with EU and FDA food packaging regulations.’

According to HP’s internal testing, the Indigo 20K and 25K presses offer the fastest time from file to pouch with a tailored end-to-end solution compared to conventional flexo and gravure print, lamination and pouch-making methods. Additionally, they reduce environmental impact by 40 to 60% compared to flexo printing and between 60 and 80% compared to gravure printing. Any short to medium run under 10 000 linear metres fits perfectly into the HP Indigo space.

These scenarios to minimise complexities, waste and overheads and maximise versatility and creativity have been confirmed by Didget Printing, Kemtek’s longest-standing converting partner in South Africa. Didget has invested in four HP Indigo digital presses – a WS6600 that replaced its original 4500 press in 2014, the first 20K model for flexible packaging applications in 2017 and a second 20K model in 2021.

Didget launched its DID.IT campaign at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to provide expertise and mentorship to entrepreneurs who are committed to making a difference within their communities by helping them to create and print a professionally branded packaging solution for their products.

Johnson Sehoro, owner of Sonwaro, a DID.IT campaign recipient, runs a Maboneng-based roastery that supplies coffee blends to top South African companies. The premises also serves as the base of the Ladha Barista Training Academy, a platform that Johnson uses to upskill students from St Vincent School for the Deaf and vulnerable females from across the inner city.

Sonwaro hosted the coffee bar on the Didget stand at this month’s Propak Africa 2022 trade expo in Johannesburg, providing a superior coffee and brand experience, and living out the DID.IT campaign’s vision.

Didget’s DID.IT campaign has assisted coffee entrepreneur, Johnson Sehoro, to create and print professionally branded packaging. He uses the Ladha Barista Training Academy as a platform to upskill students from St Vincent School for the Deaf.”

For its Propak Africa stand, the Didget team pushed the boundaries and enabled visitors and customers to ‘Imagine the Possibilities’. Building on its DID.IT campaign, a portrait by Maboneng-based contemporary visual artist Tumisang Khalipa, was replicated by creating a mural using 273 one-kilogram coffee bags, to the delight and awe of the artist himself.

Didget’s creative mastermind, Gabriella Finke, explains that the Didget team was phenomenal in terms of scheming up the 3m x 4m design and strategically using variable data to allocate a number and storyline to each of the 273 bags, according to how it fits into the overall design. ‘We had never seen anything like this done before, so decided to attempt the impossible,’ she reveals. ‘We printed three sets of bags to ensure at least one perfect result and sat with calculators and rulers to painstakingly check each component millimetre by millimetre to realise the possibility.’

Gabriella points out that the team was heavily invested in pulling off this project successfully. ‘They worked tirelessly to achieve this amazing feat within an eight-day turnaround time,’ she enthuses.

Marketing executive, Brenda Harris, adds that Tumisang was overwhelmed and emotional when he came to visit the stand for the reveal and has received several enquiries for commissions based on the exposure he received. ‘This networking microcosm is one example of the power of digital printing in the packaging arena to take an idea and place it into the realm of possibilities. Our next goal is to work with Johnson and his team to leverage the marketing opportunity to use local artists’ work to collaborate in the packaging space. Potentially, on the Propak mural, the individually numbered coffee packs could be sold as collectors’ items. Funds raised could be invested into an art foundation and regenerate this principle again to get local artists’ work recognised.’

Gabriella notes that from a more commercial perspective, they could approach corporates with a curated café concept for their coffee stations that ties together different artists’ work for sale as one-off collectables along with a great coffee drinking experience. Didget has also developed designs for 1kg bags that spell out the Sonwaro brand name, with the letter on each bag representing a specific blend. ‘The tone and colour of each bag conveys a different meaning in terms of its African roots. For example, maroon represents the clay soil in which the coffee plant is grown,’ she explains. ‘We will also be launching each pack with a back-story associated with that specific blend and the Sonwaro brand’s journey.’

Brenda emphasises that these initiatives are perfectly aligned with Didget’s promise of delivering superior high-end flexible packaging that is dynamic, innovative and relevant, as well as its vision as a company that supports local businesses. ‘We believe in growing South Africa’s community, educating its children and contributing to its economy. We launched a Print Local Campaign some years ago to help educate consumers about how this helps to secure more jobs with home-grown talented skill sets,’ she enthuses.

Gabriella is pleased to report that Covid-19 has changed the conversation that customers are having with their suppliers. ‘Their mindset has moved to be supportive of local companies and how they can get items produced within South Africa,’ she asserts. ‘Entrepreneurs want to deal with their supply chain partners face-to-face and be confident that they can relate to them and that these partners understand how their business and market is growing. Greater collaboration is necessary to move forward together. Local supply means that businesses don’t need to put down massive deposits on materials and then wait and hope for the best with the current sea freight delays and container price increase challenges.’

The other crucial thing is that our HP Indigo digital technology offering and the expertise that we share with customers from a strategic design and brand review, forecasting, planning and stockholding point of view is enabling small entrepreneurs to compete effectively with the best-in-class. The added benefit is that retailers are becoming more reliant on these entrepreneurs, which, in turn helps to create more local employment,’ Brenda remarks.

‘The digital packaging offering affords entrepreneurs the benefit of developing their own brand in tandem with supplying house-brands to major retailers. This means more options for consumers and develops product categories. Moreover, this combination not only helps them to be more efficient with their costings and colour strategies and to minimise material waste, but to compete on a level that’s viable for their business,’ Gabriella notes.

When Didget’s MD Graham Finke reflects on the journey taken with Kemtek and HP Indigo, he describes it as remarkable. ‘Over the past four years, we have started to outgrow the space in our current premises and had to create a mezzanine level and move the warehousing to a unit down the road. We see huge potential going forward to take this idea elsewhere in the country and into other parts of the continent,’ he comments. ‘Filling the capacity on the second Indigo 20K press within a month was phenomenal, and we keep asking ourselves how we coped without it when we look at both presses consistently running at capacity at the same time.’

Ed’s note: Didget, along with sister company Trempak, is rated AA by British Retail Consortium certification for food and non-food contact flexible packaging, including printed reel stock for sachet, VFFS and horizontal flow wrap machines. The company’s technology investments also enable printing, laminating, forming/sealing and adding a zipper to gusseted bags, pouches and stand-up pouches. The team can provide test market production, advertising and marketing samples.

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