Color Driving Paper Trends

As digital color printing increases, in-plants are demanding heavier sheets. Find out what other changes are coming to your paper.

By Vincent De Franco

Color documents are finding their way into people's hands more than ever before thanks to the tremendous rise in digital color printers and copiers. Not surprisingly, this digital phenomenon has greatly affected the demand for paper; suppliers have not only changed their offerings, they have altered the way they bring these products to market.

"More than ever, technology is the main driver of trends in paper," remarks Vince Phelan, director of product management and marketing communications for Boise Paper Solutions' Office Papers business

As a result of this increased fascination with, and usage of color, paper suppliers have had to increase the thickness and basis weights of many of their popular papers in order to properly hold larger volumes of ink and toner.

"Before, the standard was a 20-lb. sheet, but now with color and heavy saturation, some extra weight is needed," explains Phelan. "Sometimes toner overpowers a 20-lb. sheet and there isn't enough opacity, so now 24-lb. to 32-lb. sheets are much more common."

Also driving this increase is the ability of today's copiers and production color printers to run a wider range of substrates. According to Laura Shore, Mohawk Paper Mills' vice president of marketing communications, earlier-generation copiers had a pretty narrow range of basis weights.

"Because of this, everything you used to do on a copier looked like it was done on an office copier, in contrast to commercially printed jobs," she says. Today, on the upper end of the copier market, machines that can run up to 100-lb. cover are not out of the ordinary.

"Even on the commercial printing side, the demand for heavier weights has risen, and weights as high as 20-point double-sided cover are now being used for pocket folders, presentation folders and other such products," says Shore.

"In-plants are using more color, whether it's using color ink on a smooth, high-quality white sheet or printing on colored paper," remarks Charlie Peth, vice president of sales and marketing for Wausau Papers. "Cost-conscious customers are leaning toward using a colored sheet of paper in order to maximize their budgets, as they are able to turn a one- or two-color job into a two- or three-color job. In-plants are also becoming more savvy in working with color."

Over the last five or six years the industry has seen a major trend towards blue-white and generally brighter papers, mainly because it makes four-color process printing look brighter to the eye, believes Shore. Mohawk has launched new blue whites available in cut size and color copy gloss. The advantage of the blue-whiteness, she says, is that printers using it are able to get a commercial printed look from a color copier.

Phelan agrees that today's paper offerings lean more toward the blue-white end of spectrum for toner applications. In the offset world, he adds, people want creamy shades to better reproduce flesh tones. Phelan is noticing what he believes may be the onset of a trend in papers with more of a reddish tint, a phenomenon he is starting to see emerge from some European mills.

From Offset To Digital Grades

Companies like International Paper are expanding their product lines with new weights, cover grades and products for digital imaging as paper customers move products from traditional print to digital printing. According to Ned Spangler, brand manager, Imaging Papers for International Paper, customers—especially in-plants—are looking for an expanded offering of papers more than ever before.

"They want to be able to use the same types of paper they were using in the past for offset printing," he says. International Paper has responded with a host of digital grades in various weights and finishes to accommodate this demand. Most other paper suppliers are doing the same.

Spangler points out that switching products over to digital is not as easy as simply trimming to new format sizes. Much effort has to go into changing the moisture levels and the electrostatic properties of the paper, as well as other engineered changes to the surface required by new printing techniques.

Of course, sheet sizes are getting smaller to accommodate use on copiers and digital presses. Offset printers typically purchase folio sheets and cut them down to required sizes for their jobs, but digital grades are more predominant now. Although most of the demand is still in the 8-1⁄2x11˝, 8-1⁄2x14˝, and 11x17˝ sheets, demand for sizes like 12x18˝ are on the rise.

Recycled Paper

Requests for paper with recycled content have certainly quieted since the environmental frenzy of the late 80s. In today's business world, particularly on the tail end of a widespread economic downturn, many corporations' paper-purchasing decisions were dictated more by fiscal than environmental responsibility.

Numerous grades containing 10 to 30 percent post-consumer waste exist, but demand for these products has been relatively flat, either due to the price premium or the lack of end-user demand.

"It's interesting," Shore explains. "Most regular designers and print buyers think, 'Isn't everything we print on recycled?' "

Although many of these buyers are rather indifferent to recycled products, Shore estimates that "about 20 percent of print buyers are absolutely fanatical about it, and that's all they want to buy."

Although the general population is not clamoring for recycled paper the way it has in the past, many major corporations have embraced recycling and sustainability in a big way. In-plants of large corporations with an environmental mandate are large users of recycled stocks, while those that are not may soon see pressure to switch from a familiar sheet to a recycled alternative.

Still, Shore believes that more corporations will adopt environmental standards and mandates in the coming years. To support this, Mohawk recently launched two 100-percent post-consumer uncoated grades: Mohawk Options 100% PC and Mohawk Color Copy 100% Recycled. Sales of these products have been phenomenal, according to Shore, particularly for the printing of annual reports due to their high visibility and because they reflect a company's culture and values. The sheet is already being used by corporations like BP and Coca Cola for their annual reports.

According to Shore, there is no environmental premium for these papers, and they are also made with wind power and are FSC certified, meaning the pulp comes from trees in forests that have met sustainability standards set by the Forest Stewardship Council, an international non-profit forest-protection organization.

Delivery Systems

Paper suppliers are not only innovating their paper offerings, but also the delivery mechanisms and packages holding the sheets. Boise's recently launched Splox delivery system, for example, was designed to give in-plant production personnel an easier way to lift, move and load paper. The 2,500-sheet paper carton gives operators four-way access to the sheets within, eliminating the need for reams that clutter up workspace. Other innovations Boise incorporated into Splox include moisture protection and a wide-grip ergonomic handle for better lifting.

Phelan explains that the system is getting positive reviews by existing users, as it frees up operators for more customer-critical tasks like quality checks, allowing for increased productivity.

"We understood what the operators go through every day and are trying to give them a better mouse trap," he contends.

In-plant Flexibility

As in-plants refine their digital expertise and look more closely at insourcing, they are becoming more nimble, competitive and flexible. As a result, in-plants are picking up a lot of business that was once the domain of the steadily shrinking base of mid-size commercial printers.

According to Wausau's Charlie Peth, "Looking at the recent revenue numbers from some of the largest in-plants, you can see that companies are taking advantage of them as a revenue-generating machine. What that means for the paper industry is not only that in-plants are becoming more interested in our high-quality specialty papers, but also that the paper industry has to be more proactive in educating in-plant managers about what we have available and providing tips for getting the best results with our products."

Vincent De Franco is a Toronto-based writer and marketing consultant specializing in the printing and graphic arts industries. He can be reached at

vdefranco@sympatico.ca

.

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