With demand for services such as personalised products on the rise, direct-to-object (DTO) printing allows print companies to deliver work to customers faster. So, what are some of the latest technologies in this market?
Responding to market trends and adding new services to your offering is critical for print service providers (PSPs) seeking to grow and succeed in the market. Standing still is no longer an option in what is a highly competitive market and being able to differentiate your business from the competition will support long-term growth.
One area that has seen significant expansion in recent years is personalisation, which has grown beyond the more traditional products to offer customers access to all manner of printed pieces. One of the driving forces behind this extended market is direct-to-object (DTO) printing, with this allowing PSPs to print directly onto almost anything the customer desires.
With this in mind, Print Monthly takes a closer look at DTO technology and speaks with several suppliers in this market about their latest offerings and how this machinery can support print companies with personalisation and other work.
Mutoh used this year’s edition of the FESPA Global Print Expo to showcase three of its DTO printers with the aim being to draw interest from print businesses from around the world. These three printers differ in size, opening up several options for companies in terms of what they can produce.
Starting with the larger model, the XpertJet XPJ-1462UF is a UV LED flatbed DTO printer that boasts a table size of 1,420mm x 700mm. Printing in six colours – CMYK plus white and varnish – the machine can print on items up to 150mm thick and handle material as heavy as 50kg/sq m. Other features include automated media height and obstacle detection and two new 101.6mm multi-segment UV LED curing lamps.
“The XPJ-1462UF will cater to a wide range of requirements, including 2.5D direct-to-object, industrial, packaging, awards, and sign and display printing, including ADA compliant braille,” Mutoh says, describing this as: “An attractive all-in-one solution for screen printers looking to add digital direct-to-object printing to their workflow and industrial printers wanting to add more versatility and colour to their services.”
Also from Mutoh and shown at FESPA 2024 was the XpertJet XPJ-661UF, an A2+ UV LED DTO printer that the manufacturer says is suitable for personalised one-off print products and small lot production. The smaller-format printer can handle a wide range of materials including three-dimensional objects up to 15cm thick, which Mutoh says means it can produce personalised items such as phone covers, photo products, pens, lighters, USB sticks, souvenirs, awards, small signs, and prototyping of packaging samples.
Stand-out attributes include a print area of 483mm x 594mm, six-colour printing (CMYK plus white and varnish), active nozzle blocks to allow for uninterrupted production, and an optional rotary printing unit for 360-degree printing on cylindrical objects.
Finally, the slightly smaller brother of the XpertJet XPJ-661UF is Mutoh’s XpertJet XPJ-461UF which, again, is suited to producing smaller-format work. The machine has a print area of 483mm x 329mm, with the same six-colour set-up as the larger model or a four-colour CMYK set-up, depending on the user’s preferences.
The XpertJet XPJ-461UF has many of the same attributes as its bigger brother, including the ability to print on material as thick as 15cm, an intuitive OLED touch display for control, and dedicated intelligent interweaving technology incorporated into the machine.
“The compact XPJ-461UF printer will fit into any regular office, home-based business, or small retail environment,” Mutoh says.
Another supplier of DTO print technology, and indeed another exhibitor Print Monthly caught up with at FESPA this year, is Mimaki. Marc Verbeem, supervisor of product management at Mimaki Europe, explains that the DTO market is constantly growing due to the demand for personalisation and its versatility and cost efficiency in doing so.
“By using UV LED technology when printing direct-to-object, the variety of substrates you can print on is expanded to even typically difficult-to-print on materials such as glass, plastic, wood, or metal,” Verbeem says, adding: “The demand for personalisation is not going away and I believe the market will go from strength to strength as a result.”
Verbeem goes on to say that one example of where Mimaki’s solutions have had significant success is the luxury packaging industry. He says high-end goods such as perfume or cosmetic goods are often packaged in irregularly shaped objects using impermeable surfaces such as glass and metals – and this is where DTO can come into play.
“This was an area we felt required innovation and our UJF series of UV-LED Inkjet printers have helped luxury packagers print direct to object on any shaped surface or substrate in any colour or effect,” Verbeem explains, continuing: “Of course, applications extend beyond just luxury packaging, DTO versatility means that printers can look for work in areas such as signage, cylindrical items, promotional items, as well as on rigid materials.
By using UV LED technology when printing direct-to-object, the variety of substrates you can print on is expanded to even typically difficult-to-print-on materials
“It is important to remember that trends and technologies are constantly evolving in the DTO space, and it is important to remain ahead of these changes to give your business a competitive edge. Regularly investing in the latest kit is a proactive way of adapting to the trends of the market, meaning that you have all the capabilities expected of you at any time.”
In terms of the solutions available from Mimaki, the manufacturer has several DTO options. Among these is the UJF-7151 plus II, which Verbeem says offers a high-end DTO solution in the wider UJF Series. To evolve this technology and its use, Mimaki recently worked with Italian manufacturer GTO’s pad printing machines to create a process to make foil finishes on luxury packaging with what Verbeem describes as “remarkable accuracy, speed, and high levels of customisability” when compared with more traditional lamination padding methods.
“The process involves digitally printing a primer layer in Mimaki’s UJF-7151 plus II printer, which acts as a bonding agent, due to its very high levels of adhesion when heated up,” Verbeem explains, adding: “The next step uses GTO’s specialist pad printing machines. Under the pressure of the hot pad, the machine migrates the foil - whether that’s reflective gold, silver, or any other colour or effect – directly onto the product, only leaving it where the UJF-7151 plus II has digitally printed the primer layer.”
Looking further into the Mimaki line-up, the manufacturer’s Kebab series offers additional solutions for the UJF series, allowing for printing directly onto cylindrical objects. Using rotary rollers, the Kebab option rotates the object, printing on the entire surface of the cylindrical item, adding yet more versatility to our DTO options.
“Innovation is a core principle of Mimaki and we are always looking to improve upon our DTO technology, with plans to release more technology for this space soon,” Verbeem adds.
With its showroom based in Crewe, Hybrid Services is the exclusive distributor for Mimaki in the UK and Ireland. The company has been exclusively distributing Mimaki technologies since 1996 and offers unique advantages such as first access to the latest Mimaki innovations, product knowledge, technical support, and genuine consumables.
Completing our mini round-up of DTO technology suppliers and, coincidentally, another FESPA 2024 exhibitor is Inkcups. Jessica Makrinos, marketing manager of Inkcups, says DTO is a “significant” growth area for inkjet printing, with new applications being developed all the time and an increasing number of print businesses recognising the opportunities in this segment.
“Demand for personalised and customised products is a key driver for this growth – with the right technology it is now possible to decorate items such as reusable drinkware, cosmetics, stationery, phone cases, tote bags, candles – you name it – with full-colour, vibrant images, whether it’s a single personalised product or a larger batch,” Makrinos says.
“The quality and speed that can now be achieved printing onto more complex shapes is very impressive. It’s easier than ever for print businesses to be exploring revenue opportunities in this booming area of the market.
The quality and speed that can now be achieved printing onto more complex shapes is very impressive
“DTO printing is also a viable method from a sustainability perspective. There is a shift towards DTO as a way of reducing waste and eliminating the need for shrink sleeves, so products are much more easily recyclable. On top of this, as well as being able to print onto a wider range of media including thicker and cylindrical objects, the UV printing process means lower VOC emissions. So, in an age of great concern around the sustainable credentials of our products, this is another reason why direct-to-object printing is on the rise.”
With this in mind, where specifically can DTO help? Makrinos says knowing DTO printing work to target entails knowledge and awareness of broad trends, with personalisation, as well as sustainability and the shift away from single-use plastics, being topics to keep an eye on.
“Certainly, driven largely by those trends, reusable drinkware is riding a wave of popularity in the promotional goods space at present,” Makrinos says, adding: “However, as with all opportunities in the print industry, the work that printers should be targeting will vary from business to business.
“It comes down to where you can add value, what areas they’re already skilled in, what their existing offerings are, who their customers are, and what they’re looking to achieve. The sweet spot often lies where you can complement your existing successful offering with new applications that increase margins earned from existing customers or enable you to bring in new ones.”
Offering an example, one of Inkcups’ customers is a B2C producer of personalised gifts that uses its Helix machines to print onto glassware and reusable drinkware. The client spotted an opportunity to take this further with personalised bottles and other items, and with help from Inkcups technology, has been able to capitalise on this observation and has since established a trade-focused arm serving businesses such as craft distilleries and boutique cosmetics manufacturers.
Expanding on this technology, the Helix digital cylinder printer is Inkcups’ flagship machine that remains popular with customers. The model offers a number of design techniques that Makrinos says companies love to take advantage of including lustre, mirror print, tone on tone, and embossed, with these features taking a standard CMYK image and turning each vessel into their “own work of art”.
“Our customers love the speed and flexibility of the technology, with its ability to print onto such a wide range of straight-walled and tapered cylindrical objects making it ideal for use in the drinkware, barware, candle, and industrial printing industries,” Makrinos says, adding: “On top of its versatile capabilities, the simple and fast setup times and tooling changeovers, ease-of-use for production and maintenance, and space efficiency on the shop floor explain why many of our customers opt to add many more Helix printers as their direct-to-object printing work takes off.”
Also from Inkcups is the Helix ONE benchtop digital cylinder printer, which, launched last year, allows printers to add cylindrical DTO capabilities to their business. It has all the power and productivity of our Helix cylindrical printing technology, but a more compact benchtop design, meaning it can be added to a portfolio without needing to find additional floorspace.
Another new Inkcups machine is the XJET Switch, a UV flatbed printing machine designed with bag decoration in mind. Makrinos says with growing consumer concerns about sustainability, reusable bags have become enormously popular in recent years and present an excellent promotional opportunity for brands. “
Factoid: Developed by Inkcups, the Helix ONE benchtop digital cylinder printer allows users to add cylindrical DTO capabilities to their business
This is why we developed a machine capable of printing high-quality, full-colour images onto a wide variety of bags, be that polyester, PVC, non-wovens, cotton, and more,” Makrinos says.
“Paired with the flexible XFLEXX UV Ink Series, the XJET Switch eliminates the risk of the printed image cracking or distorting as the bag is used over time, ensuring the longevity of its impact. As the first machine of its kind, the XJET Switch provides numerous benefits over traditional printing methods including adhesion capabilities, speed, and best of all, the removal of a drying process.”
Clearly, there are plenty of opportunities for PSPs when it comes to DTO print. Armed with the right sort of kit and new technology, some of which were showcased at FESPA 2024 in Amsterdam, print businesses can go in search of new work, customers, and markets.
