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LabelExpo Europe 2025 in Barcelona was buzzing with one theme above all: productivity. For years, press manufacturers have leaned on a simple mantra of, “If your press isn’t running, you’re not making money.” That mindset—rooted in the old duty cycle model of commercial printing—assumes nonstop operation equals profitability. But converters today see things differently. They aren’t asking how many theoretical impressions or square meters a press can churn out if it runs 24/7 without stopping. They’re asking a harder, more practical question: “How much of that output is usable, shippable, and billable?” In other words, “What is my true press capacity?”
This subtle but important shift from chasing the illusion of nonstop operation in the commercial print world to measuring real, chargeable output and manufacturing in the converter space is now shaping how digital press manufacturers talk about performance and value. At the show, this shift was on full display as vendors pitched not just productivity, but new ways to maximize true capacity, with HP Indigo leading the conversation through its Nonstop Digital Printing initiative. But packaging converters don’t run like commercial print shops. Their challenges lie in uptime that translates to shippable labels and packaging, not theoretical impressions.
A Changing Landscape
Walking the show floor, you could feel that the concept of “productivity” dominated the conversation. Artificial intelligence (AI) scheduling solutions, automated workflow tools, and smarter operator interfaces were positioned as the next big leap. And yes, these tools will make plants leaner and reduce idle time. Some may harken it to how converters use overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) or lean manufacturing in their current operations.
But here’s the reality: Higher productivity does not equal higher press capacity. You may feed more jobs to your digital press, but the engine’s true output ceiling doesn’t change. What these tools really do is compress overhead, helping converters consume excess press capacity more effectively. That’s a win—but it’s not the same as adding usable, billable volume.
Take inkjet, for example. In commercial print applications, almost every run begins with calibration: nozzle alignment, uniformity targets, color checks. None of that output ever ships. And, during the run, additional calibration cycles and alignment checks are required. The press might be “productive” the entire time, but only a percentage of those impressions are billable. How does that technology translate into the label and packaging environment? Does it change with each digital press manufacturer? That’s why true capacity, not theoretical duty cycle or workflow efficiency, remains the defining metric for profitability.
True Capacity
True capacity is the only metric that matters; the share of your press output that is shippable and billable. Digital presses are often pitched as “no plates, no makeready, no changeovers—just print.” But converters know the reality is more nuanced. Every technology has its own hidden losses that eat into usable output.
Again, taking inkjet as an example, some head manufacturers require uniformity checks and nozzle calibration, while others perform those checks automatically throughout the run. Both approaches create waste or nonprint time, but in very different ways—meaning true capacity can vary widely even between two inkjet devices.
And inkjet is only one case. Dry toner, liquid toner, and hybrid systems each bring their own nuances: warm-up cycles, color stabilization, substrate handling, or cleaning intervals that pull impressions away from billable volume. What happens when the press is in-line with other equipment or offline? Two presses may have identical duty cycles on paper, but deliver vastly different true capacities in that environment.
A New Reality for Digital Press Manufacturers
The notion of “nonstop printing” has fundamentally changed. In the past, nonstop was about running a press around the clock. Today, converters are asking a tougher question: How much of that nonstop output is billable product and how productive is my manufacturing line?
At LabelExpo, many OEMs touched on this idea, but one announcement stood out. HP Indigo stood out as one of the few OEMs openly reframing nonstop printing from runtime to sellable output, acknowledging what converters have long known—that profitability isn’t defined by a duty cycle spec, but by usable, shippable output. It marked a clear departure from the traditional commercial print mindset, where nonstop duty cycles once dominated, toward a converter-centric reality where excess capacity must be managed intelligently.
HP’s move is significant because it signals a broader shift. By building nonstop printing around intelligent automation, AI-driven process control, and scale-on-demand, they’re pointing the industry toward a model where nonstop means profitable output and not just hours of runtime. It ultimately comes down to supply chain agility, profitable growth, fast time to market, as well as speed and flexibility. Other manufacturers will need to follow suit because converters are no longer buying into theoretical numbers or unrealistic productivity claims. They’re demanding proof of true capacity and nonstop printing productivity.
Keypoint Intelligence Opinion
True nonstop digital printing is more than a feature; it’s a turning point in how converters evaluate profitability and growth on their own terms and not from a commercial print view. By reframing nonstop from “just keep it running” to “keep it producing billable output,” the industry is setting a new standard for what digital presses must deliver.
For converters, this means clearer decision-making. Investments will no longer hinge on inflated duty cycle specs, but on measured true capacity and productivity. This shift provides a more reliable foundation for scaling operations—knowing precisely when it’s time to add a second or third shift, or when an additional press is justified.
For OEMs, the message is just as clear: The era of selling theoretical uptime is over. Converters demand proof that a device can not only run efficiently in their manufacturing line, but also minimize unbillable cycles, waste, and downtime. Those who can demonstrate measurable gains in true press capacity and manufacturing productivity will shape the future competitive landscape.
Nonstop digital printing will reshape the economics of label and packaging production. It aligns profitability and innovation with reality, ensuring that the focus is not on how long a press runs, but on how much sellable product it can reliably deliver. This is the new lens through which converters, and increasingly the manufacturers who serve them, must view the future of digital print.
Stay tuned for our second piece around Labelexpo Europe 2025 focusing on how digital OEMs must rethink their strategies to align with the converter reality.
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