COVID created a sudden shift in demand for labels and packaging. Demand in many verticals soared, while others declined. Only converters equipped with flexible digital production tools were able to shift from declining to growing verticals. Tightness in the global supply chain was an advantage for large vertically integrated suppliers. The growth of online services and the rise of startups is driving demand for "born-digital jobs."

Label production trends that are shifting volume from conventional to digital printing with HP Indigo have accelerated during the pandemic. Some notable trends are the rise of online operations through e-commerce and web-to-print. In addition, small brands continue to grow with more people rethinking their life goals in the wake of the COVID crisis. The increased emphasis on production flexibility and application versatility is precisely why label printers are embracing new digital production technology, which enables a wide variety of jobs to be done in the most efficient way. Digital printing is also making it possible for producers to streamline production, keeping traditional machinery dedicated to very long runs and diverting more production to digital printing.

Unfortunately, no brand is completely immune to counterfeiting. With the rise of e-commerce, the threat of counterfeit goods will continue to evolve and become more sophisticated. In response, brands, retailers and printers will continue to collaborate in the fight against counterfeit products, and each will have a crucial role to play.

It is a digital and changing world, especially with the strong entry of e-commerce. New threats will require continued vigilance and investment in new solutions, such as security inks, substrates, track & trace and origination software for those brands vulnerable to counterfeit products and packaging. Today, all major brands must think about how to deal with counterfeiting, both now and in the future. Connecting physical and digital protection measures with a multi-layered security shield can be a great solution.

Our vision for the label industry is a shift to an "Indigo-first" mentality, meaning that an incoming job will be printed digitally unless it is very long, simple or has other characteristics that make it more suitable for conventional tools. This is the opposite of the current "analog-first" mentality.

At HP, we drive this Indigo-first mentality through our Digital Label Factory. The Digital Label Factory is based on a complete end-to-end ecosystem that gives label converters the agility they need to operate in today's changing marketplace. It is based on a combination of presses that can handle all types of workbaskets and is a blueprint for customers to move from "next week" delivery to "next day" delivery, with less labor and higher overall equipment efficiency (OEE).

The next big leap in the adoption of digital printing on the PS label will take place with the introduction of the HP Indigo V12. A production plant combining the HP Indigo 6K, the backbone of digital label printing, and the HP Indigo V12, which runs at 120 meters/minute, will enable converters to move from an "analog first" to an "Indigo first" mentality, moving many medium and long run jobs from conventional printing to Indigo.