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 the brands creating and selling these products), are looking for more reliable and productive digital print systems.
Until now, providing cost-effective customized or short-to-medium-run length printing for personal care products has been a challenge. Historically, print production in this category has suffered poor start-up and uptime performance using traditional drop-on-demand systems. Unmet market needs and growth opportunities include:
- Profitable short- to-medium-run printing
- Customization
- Faster to market
- Versioning
- Print-on-demand
- Prototypes
- Market testing
- Seasonal promotions
With KODAK’s Inkjet Printing Solutions, printers and converters can expand their capabilities, improve efficiency, and reduce environmental impact in order to meet today’s market demands. This in turn gives brand managers and marketers the freedom to create versioned content, while no longer being restricted by quantity or quality concerns. And, brands can get new ideas to market quickly and cost effectively, with consistency across substrates and designs.
Why KODAK Inkjet?
KODAK’s Inkjet Printing Solutions now offer the same advantages as flexographic printing in terms of speed, quality and cost with both digital hybrid printing, utilizing PROSPER Imprinting Systems, or complete printing solutions with the UTECO Sapphire EVO Press.
KODAK PROSPER Personal Care Inks and fluids
At the heart of these solutions are KODAK water-based inks utilizing nanoparticulate pigments which provide a larger color gamut that meets or exceeds traditional printing methods. This equates to better image quality, consistency and more success matching brand colors with four-color inks. More importantly, Kodak’s water-based inks are eco-friendly and have been tested in the market for consumer safety.
Partner Solutions
Kodak partners with other manufacturers to expand cutting-edge inkjet solutions for the personal care market including UTECO who manufactures presses for printing on “breathable” flexible films, which are used in diaper backing, diaper tabs and other personal care products. Other partners are developing solutions for non-woven substrates and other personal care products that offer in-line integration with existing production equipment.
Kodak and Prosper are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company.
