The global packaging printing market is benefiting from the growing demand for attractive packaging. High quality packaging printing increases the aesthetic appeal of a product, producing a better finished product and improving brand awareness and product differentiation in the market. Technological advancements are also driving growth in the packaging printing market. Packaging printing is particularly important in support of the growth in the pharmaceutical and food and beverage industries where it provides enhanced aesthetic appeal, better communicability, and enables protection from counterfeiting.

In our own local market, packaging printing is becoming more important in the wake of the new proposed changes to food labels in South Africa. The proposed changes will not only reinforce rules already in place for product packaging, such as ingredient lists and sell-by dates, but will introduce a host of changes to align the country with more modern advances in food advertising, such as front-of-package labelling and more standardised nutritional information to help support better food choices.

Packaging Printing in the spotlight

The importance of packaging printing will be put in the spotlight at this year’s Propak Cape exhibition, taking place in Cape Town in October, where visitors will have the opportunity to see and interact with some of the latest developments in packaging printing innovation.

USS Pactech will be showcasing a Wipotec OCS track & trace solution for 2D bar code printing and verifying, which is set to become the new standard for retail packs to trace products through the value chain. Over the next few years, a new 2D-code technology will become the universally accepted standard, with retailers and manufacturers needing to adjust and switch to enable 2D-codes to be fully supported at every step of the supply chain. This is only possible with the use of high-resolution printers and other devices like the Wipotec’s Traceable Quality System.

Fujifilm Graphic Communication South Africa will showcase their new Valiani Omnia Die Cutting Machine at this year’s expo. The company will also display the Flenex FW plates, LED UV curing, Jet Press 750S, and FP790 printers known for being eco-friendly and waste and energy saving.

The Hubergroup will be introducing a new UV flexo portfolio at Propak Cape 2023. The new iray series will replace Hubergroup’s V flex series and is designed as a one-stop portfolio for UV flexo printing. The iray product reflects Hubergroup’s strategic approach to meaningfully simplify printers' workflow by consolidating an assortment of UV flexo printing offerings under a single ink system.

Indisol will display its series of Roland printers at Propak Cape. The Roland LEC2-330 - UV label printer with white ink and gloss ink for embossing; the Roland MG-300 – for Eco Solvent label, barcodes, boxes, posters, and canvas printing; the Roland LEF2-200 – for UV Object and Rotary printing; and the Roland GS2-24 - Vinyl Cutting machine for heat transfer, boxes and labels. There will also be live demonstrations of labels direct to bottles, boxes, labels, barcodes, posters, banners, and clothing.

South Africa’s Pyrotec is a leader in on-pack label and merchandising solutions. Pyrotec PackMark is planning to display its comprehensive range of product identification solutions, including labelling, coding, print and apply labelling equipment, software, and consumables at Propak Cape 2023. The company’s portfolio of world-class equipment from international manufacturers includes Markem-Imaje, ALTech, Accraply and ANSER all aimed at productivity.

Avocet Scales and Labels will showcase the company’s various printers at Propak Cape this year. The SWII, SWII-W and the FD500 are suitable in a variety of industrial environments to withstand water, high pressure and high temperatures. The CAS ERJR has a highly legible LCD displays and a stainless-steel platter and has a battery backup for uninterrupted use during power outages, making it ideal for loadshedding. The OKI c650 Media Printer is perfect for everything from marketing collateral to customer invoices with high-speed printing. This printer is cost effective, productive and efficient.

J-Pak will showcase the CO2/UV Laser Coders, InkJet Printers, Print and Apply and handheld technologies at this year’s show. The company provides a wide range of coding, marking and quality control equipment, including continuous inkjet and thermal inkjet printers, laser coders, food X-ray inspection systems, metal detectors, label applicators and checkweighers for a diverse range of industries.

Technology focused solutions

Technology focused solutions provider to the sub-Saharan market Kemtek, will showcase its range of Epsom Colourworks printing machines at Propak Cape 2023. Visitors to the company’s stand can explore cutting-edge solutions that seamlessly blend technology and innovation to reshape industries. Visitors can also engage with the company’s team of experts on digital printing solutions.  

Pantone will showcase its new edition of the Pantone Formula Guide. This versatile, end-to-end colour matching tool displays all 2,390 market-driven spot colours in the Pantone Graphics System on coated and uncoated paper stocks. Now updated with 224 brand new Pantone Matching System (PMS) colours, the latest Pantone Formula Guide also features five new eco-friendly Pantone base mixing inks compatible with coating in print production processes. Compact, handheld fan decks provide easy, on-the-go physical references for the actual appearance of Pantone Colours in digital design applications and include essential formulations for mixing spot colour inks to properly match Pantone Formula Guide colours.

New innovations and more

All these new innovations and more will be on show at the Propak Cape exhibition taking place at the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC) from 24-26 October. With just under 200 exhibitors showcasing the latest market related trends and developments, visitors to this year’s event can expect to see thousands of new and innovative products from across packaging, plastics, print, labelling, food processing and related industries.

Propak Cape is supported by the Institute of Packaging SA (IPSA), Packaging SA, Plastics SA, Printing SA, and the Aerosol Manufacturers Association (AMA). IPSA will be running a one-day high-level Responsible Packaging conference alongside the show on the Wednesday, 25 October.

Content-rich free-to-attend seminars will take place each day of the show, presented by industry experts.