Industry Trends

The following is the conversation between Sun Qingsong, the general manager of Zhejiang Yamingwei Printing & Packaging Co., Ltd., and others: 

I went to this year's DRUPA exhibition with two goals in mind - first, I wanted to learn about the latest advancements in automation and digitalization by foreign equipment brands; second, I was particularly interested in the latest technologies for flexible production, especially new equipment that can quickly respond to small-batch packaging orders. Fortunately, this exhibition provided me with preliminary answers. 

I think the advancement of equipment automation technology is remarkable. Previously, printing enterprises needed to install additional auxiliary equipment to achieve automatic loading and unloading, as well as automatic cleaning of printing equipment. The operation of these devices was not always stable because of compatibility issues. However, this time, major manufacturers have launched new equipment, and the automated operating system has become a "standard feature". 

In terms of digitization, I have noticed that many printing equipment now come with built-in embedded online inspection systems. These built-in online inspection systems offer higher precision in quality control compared to systems installed later, and they can directly input data into the quality management system. Previously, when we inspected large quantities of medicine box products, we used the final offline inspection method, which required an additional set of offline equipment, increased the number of workers, and couldn't automatically and precisely issue quality reports for each batch. Now, through the built-in inspection system, we can conduct detailed inspections on each printed piece, significantly improving the inspection granularity and quality management level. I also noticed that some leading manufacturers have developed their own MES systems, which can monitor the operating status of equipment in real time and realize the digitization of the quality traceability system, thereby enhancing production efficiency and management level. 

We say that 2018 marked the beginning of the intelligence era for China's printing industry. However, at that time, most of our colleagues were confused about "intelligence". By 2024, we can confidently state that the digital capabilities of our equipment manufacturers have made significant progress, and the digitalization process of the printing industry has entered a period of rapid development. 

Traditional printing equipment is suitable for large-scale orders, but with the increasing number of small-batch orders, flexible production of the equipment becomes particularly important. Therefore, I also paid special attention to flexible printing and small-batch short-run equipment. I found that many equipment models have begun to be optimized for the medium and short-run demands of enterprises. The design of some leading brands' die-cutting machines and box-filling machines has become more compact, with added memory functions and automatic calibration capabilities. They can quickly respond to packaging short-run demands, improving production efficiency and flexibility. 

In the past two years, we have been planning to build a new factory based on intelligent standards. At that time, we will purchase some new equipment and combine the latest technologies to focus on solving the problem of flexible production. We will integrate it with the existing production equipment to form a combination of short-term and long-term production capabilities, in order to efficiently meet the demands of small-batch and short-delivery packaging orders.