SCREEN has observed the packaging printing industry accelerating its move to digital inkjet. The company concluded its exhibition at interpack 2026, having presented digital inkjet printing solutions demonstrating the full commercial viability of inkjet technology across paper and plastic flexible packaging and label converting.
Conversations across the show floor, conference presentations, and SCREEN’s own live demonstrations pointed consistently towards a packaging printing sector under simultaneous pressure from multiple directions, with digital inkjet printing offering effective solutions.
The most significant theme at interpack 2026 was one many attendees had not anticipated: the impact of the Strait of Hormuz’s instability on the global plastics supply chain. The ongoing disruption has sharply reduced petrochemical availability, and the consequences in Europe are already measurable. Polyethylene spot prices have increased significantly with some even exceeding levels seen during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine crisis.
Industry analysts are clear that recovery will be slow. Shipping networks, production facilities, and operating rates will take time to reset, and the structural premium now attached to secure chemical supply is likely to keep plastics prices elevated well into the medium term. For converters already managing PPWR compliance deadlines and labour pressures, this volatility presents a compelling case to broaden their substrate options.
Against this backdrop, interest in paper-based flexible packaging at interpack shifted noticeably from sustainability aspiration to commercial urgency. At the centre of SCREEN’s stand, live demonstrations of the Truepress PAC 520P drew consistent interest from converters reassessing their material strategies.
Engineered for recyclable paper substrates with a range of sealing and barrier coatings, and printing at 80m/min with water-based food-safe inks and no plates or tooling, the PAC 520P enables paper packaging to be produced at the speed and economics converters need.
Juan Cano, Business Development Director for Flexible Packaging Printing at SCREEN Europe, presented Scaling Sustainable Paper Packaging: How Digital Inkjet Printing Enables Circularity at the interpack SPOTLIGHT Forum, addressing the market forces reshaping flexible packaging print and how converters can navigate them.
SCREEN also shared the stand with CGS ORIS GmbH, presenting advancements in colour management software. Their PRESS MATCHER suite enables accurate colour gamut profiling while reducing ink consumption, directly supporting efficient, consistent downstream packaging production.
The response from converters across food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and consumer goods segments, many with little prior experience of digital printing technology, reflected how inkjet integration is becoming an increasingly vital long-term strategic response to the market converters are operating in.
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