Flexographic Printers Tell All in Latest Flash Poll

Market Metrics

Verifying that many traditional label shops have diversified into flexible packaging, sample audience members again confirmed that their experiences generally fall in line with market watchers’ assumptions.

For example, 31 percent pinpointed pressure-sensitive label market share at 50 percent or greater. An identical 31 percent of respondents set the range at 40 percent to 50 percent. Thirty-eight percent said it was less than 40 percent.

Similarly, 58 percent of flexographers participating in the survey set glue-applied label market share at less than 30 percent. Thirty percent indicated it stood at 30 percent and 12 percent reported it exceeded 30 percent.

According to FLEXO’s poll, in-mold labeling (IML) is far from common in member plants. Ninety-one percent do not practice the craft; 9 percent said it is a minimal part of the business, responsible for less than 2.5 percent of revenues.

Shrink sleeves tell a different story. Pundits estimate typical market share at 11 percent to 13 percent of business at plants specializing in the application and 54 percent of flexographers report the claim matches their results. Seventeen percent of the population see shrink sleeves as generating an even greater share of the business. The remaining 29 percent peg it at less than 11 percent.

Results like that validate the overarching assessment that package printing, while intensely competitive, is an industry responsive to demand and set upon remaining healthy, dynamic and thriving.