The market for personal care products is significant and growing. Today, it is a $188B industry, expected to grow to over $230B by 2022 (a 7% CAGR), according to Grand View Research (July 2018). Encompassing anything from diapers and adult care products to feminine care and hygiene, market growth in this segment is due in part to an increasing global population of individuals aged 60 and above. In the US alone, this group accounted for 15.2% of the country’s total population as of 2016. In order to satisfy increasing and changing consumer demands for more personalized products (age, weight, gender), while maintaining consumer safety requirements, brands are launching new product sub-brands with innovative, absorbent substrates. Evolving consumer demand and segment growth have birthed the need for more creative freedom and manufacturing flexibility in design, production and speed-to-market. As such, converters (who often fall under the same roof as t

At the upcoming IFRA World Publishing Expo, October 8 and 9, 2019, Berlin, Germany, Kodak will underline its continued commitment to the newspaper industry. Kodak professional experts will attend Stand D.10 in Hall 21 to communicate the latest on advanced technologies for newspaper platemaking, sustainable plates and leading inkjet technology for digital newspaper production. The highlight among newspaper printing plates will be the new KODAK SONORA X-N Process Free Plate, which provides significantly longer run lengths, better stability and faster imaging speeds compared to the predecessor generation. Process free plates are growing in popularity among newspaper and coldset printers because they combine excellent newspaper print quality with environmental and cost benefits. The SONORA X-N Plate completely eliminates processing equipment and chemistry, helping newspapers save water, energy and floorspace. The Kodak team will also be answering questions about

Hybrid printing is a hot topic in the printing and printed packaging industries, but its definition tends to change slightly depending on who you are talking to. Some printshops profess to offer hybrid printing since they have both digital and analog technologies under one roof. The technologies are not integrated but are leveraged independently or sequentially through the print workflow. Other printshops leverage hybrid presses which are designed as standalone solutions with no integration of existing analog equipment. However, there is a third option that is proving more and more popular with printers and converters adopting hybrid printing: integrating a digital solution that can match quality and printing speeds onto existing conventional equipment. This allows for a customized hybrid solution that are 100 percent tailored to the printing operation’s needs and breathes new life into their equipment without having to make a major financial investment.  Integrating