Episode 314 - - Industrial Inkjet: A decade of development: from potential to powerful ROI

In this FuturePrint Podcast episode of 2026, Marcus Timson is joined by Dr Simon Daplyn, Product and Marketing Manager at Sun Chemical, to take stock of where industrial inkjet is heading - and why the next phase is less about “print” and more about manufacturing outcomes.

Simon reflects on 2025 as a year where momentum began to translate into implementation, particularly in packaging, with renewed interest in hybrid approaches that combine digital inkjet with analogue techniques (especially flexo) to hit the metrics that matter: speed, reliability, and commercial viability. But the bigger story, he argues, is inkjet’s expanding footprint beyond familiar territory - from direct-to-shape and metal decoration to functional deposition in emerging industrial markets.

The conversation rewinds to the early InPrint years, when integrators and component specialists helped manufacturers explore what might be possible. Fast forward a decade and the shift is clear: the ecosystem - printheads, software, robotics, ink delivery, and materials science - has matured into tangible, production-ready solutions.

Simon also challenges a persistent mistake: trying to replicate analogue workflows with digital. Inkjet’s advantage is not simply cost-per-litre or a like-for-like replacement of gravure, flexo or screen. It is agility, reduced waste, inventory efficiency, faster time-to-market, and the ability to deposit expensive functional materials only where they are needed.

With FuturePrint Industrial Print in Munich as the backdrop, Simon outlines why 2026 could be a breakout year for direct-to-shape, metal, flexible packaging, and new industrial applications - powered by collaboration across a growing ecosystem of specialists.

FuturePrint Events:

FuturePrint TECH: Industrial Print: 21-22 January '26, Munich, Germany