The more things change, the more they stay the same—Or do they? One year ago, FLEXO Magazine published the findings of its first Flash Poll focused on the hybrid phenomenon (under that exact headline), polling FTA printer membership to gauge their adoption, motivations, use cases and the like.
Does Your Plant Run a Hybrid or Combination Press?
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But as quickly as flexography continues to advance and improve, hybrid printing is doing so even faster. And so, one year later, FLEXO once again reached out to that pool of printers to see how their responses compared to popular opinion in 2017.
Hard Data on Hybrid Presses
The most obvious question was asked first in 2018 and 2017 alike: “Does your plant run a hybrid or combination press?” Last year, just under 20 percent of respondents said they do. A year later, just over 20 percent—20.97 percent, to be precise—answered in the affirmative.
When asked how their hybrid press is configured, half of respondents said they have a flexo machine with one or more screen decks. That is a sharp rise from last year, when only one in eight said their hybrid press was set up in such a fashion. Perhaps the combination presumed to be most prevalent—flexography and digital—commanded an overwhelming lead in 2017’s Flash Poll, but drops to second place this year with one-third.
What are printers doing with their hybrid presses? Labels were the most common use case one year ago; they not only remain as such in 2018 but have increased their usage from just over 50 percent to just over 85 percent.
Why Did You Adopt Hybrid Technology?
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Moving in tandem with labels is flexible packaging. A theme of the February 2018 issue of FLEXO was the trend of label printers adding flexible packaging to their arsenal of offerings. That inclination is supported by the growth of flexible packaging being produced on hybrid presses: More than half of respondents said they are printing it currently, versus less than 40 percent one year ago.