Episode 363 - When Automation Meets Inkjet: The Norwalt Story
What happens when an automation company approaches digital printing as a manufacturing challenge?
In this episode of the FuturePrint Podcast, Marcus Timson speaks with Mike Seitel, owner and CEO of Norwalt, about bringing digital inkjet directly into production lines and helping manufacturers reduce their dependence on conventional labels.
Founded in 1971, Norwalt built its business around product handling and assembly automation for consumer goods, medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Its move into printing began with a straightforward customer request: find a way to eliminate labels. Seitel explains how approaching the challenge without established printing assumptions helped the team explore different solutions.
The conversation examines the pressures reshaping packaging production, from smaller batches and changing ingredients to sudden demand driven by social media. Seitel discusses how inline direct-to-shape printing could reduce label inventories and make manufacturers more responsive.
He also addresses the practical demands of industrial adoption. Speed, reliability, printhead maintenance and sustained performance all matter when printing becomes part of a working production line. Norwalt’s approach includes rigorous acceptance testing, flexible integration and the possibility of introducing digital printing alongside existing labelling equipment.
Looking ahead, Seitel explores opportunities in food, beverages and personal care, including ingredient information, traceability and 2D codes. He also shares his thinking on robotic changeovers, AI-assisted diagnostics and factories with far greater automation.
For manufacturers, OEMs and printing technology providers, the discussion offers a perspective on what happens when product handling, engineering and print are developed together, with the performance of the whole production line in mind.
