Inland Showcases Digitally Printed Flexible Packaging

Inland earned first place in the Flexible Packaging: Digital category in the 2018 packagePRINTING Excellence Awards.

Two of the biggest trends in the packaging industry are the continued growth of digital printing and the increased share flexible packaging is enjoying in the food and beverage markets. Though only a small percentage of flexible packaging is digitally printed, as the technology develops and more digital flexible packaging presses hit the market, it shouldn't come as a surprise if more printers and converters transition some of their flexible packaging work to digital.

In the 32nd annual packagePRINTING Excellence Awards, Inland Packaging, a La Crosse, Wis.-based printer and converter of labels and flexible packaging, demonstrated how it's using digital printing to produce eye-catching flexible packaging and shrink sleeves. The company swept the Flexible Packaging: Digital category with three entries produced on an HP Indigo 20000 digital press, a technology Inland first installed in the spring of 2017.

First place was awarded to a pouch Inland produced for the balsamic and cracked pepper flavored roasted chickpeas from Three Farmers, a natural foods brand based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Second and third place were also awarded to Inland, and both prizes were presented to shrink sleeves produced for microbreweries. Second place was awarded to a sleeve printed for Boone, N.C.-based Booneshine Brewing Co.'s Tropicpale Ale, and third place went to a shrink sleeve for Rutland, Vt.-based Rutland Beer Works' Better Dayz IPA.

To see more winning entries from this year's packagePRINTING Excellence Awards, click here for the complete list.