By Melissa Donovan
The future of flooring involves digital print, which provides design and material flexibility. In addition, digital print—whether single or multi pass—executes faster response times while minimizing material waste.
Manufacturers of flooring find digital’s flexibility, short changeover, and individualization advantageous. All of these features are attractive especially when compared to traditional manufacturing processes. In particular, wood flooring benefits from digital decoration.
Today, realistic wood visuals are created with high-resolution digital printing, whether printing directly on a substrate like plywood, particleboard, medium-density fiberboard (MDF), and high-density fiberboard (HDF) or to decorative paper that is then used for laminate flooring.
According to market research and consulting firm Lucintel’s Digital Printing on the Global Wood Market Report: Trends, Forecast and Competitive Analysis to 2030, digital printing in the global wood market is expected to reach an estimated $5.9B by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate of 3.1 percent from 2024 to 2030.
While the report includes information on end use industries like flooring, furniture, roofing, yachts, and recreational vehicles, it found that flooring will remain the largest segment over the forecast period.
Lucintel identified drivers of growth as designers and architects with a growing preference towards printed wood flooring, an increased usage of engineered wood, and rising residential real estate across the globe.
How It’s Made
Digital single- and multi-pass printers are used for decorative wood flooring.
As Mark Crawford, product and business development manager, Vanguard Digital Printing Systems, a Durst Group Company explains, “single-pass printers operate by passing the printhead over the substrate once per color layer. In contrast, multi-pass printers apply ink in multiple passes over the substrate. Each color is printed sequentially rather than simultaneously.”
Historically, multi-pass inkjet was preferred in design and proofing departments to develop new ideas. For actual production runs, Marc Graindourze, business manager industrial inks, Agfa, explains that gravure printing was favored.
Within the last decade, Graindourze says “there has been a shift towards using inkjet printing for production runs, employing both multi-pass production print systems and high-speed single-pass printing systems.”
Dr. Anke Pankoke, head of marketing/PR, Hymmen GmbH Maschinen- und Anlagenbau, agrees with this timeline. “Digital printing technology gains more importance in the production of decorative wood flooring. Even when digital printing for flooring was presented at the Ligna-fair in 2009 for the first time, only in the last decade the technology was pacing up in the market during the last ten years. This is certainly also due to the improved surface quality that the synchronous structure on the décor print causes.”
Single- and multi-pass digital printing provides benefits, but the best selection depends on the ultimate goal of the manufacturer. “The main advantage of single-pass printing is its speed. Since it prints all colors at once, it can produce large volumes of printed wood flooring quickly, making it ideal for high-demand production environments. Multi-pass printing excels in producing detailed images with depth and texture. By layering inks, these printers achieve effects that mimic natural wood grain more closely than some single-pass systems,” shares Crawford.
“As consumer preferences shift towards personalized home décor solutions, both printer types enable manufacturers to offer custom designs tailored to individual customer needs,” continues Crawford.
Remaining Nimble
Flexibility, in terms of design as well as materials used, is one advantage to digital print. This rings true in relation to decorative wood flooring.
Manufacturing companies meet market needs by being flexible, especially when producing décor in small batch sizes, explains Dr. Pankoke. “Décor is easily changed without loss and reproduced in any lot size any time after. Then digital printing is deployed on various surfaces. Starting with the classic decorative paper that is used for laminate flooring, followed by direct print to MDF or HDF boards. And nowadays modular multi-layer flooring is gaining more importance, such as luxury vinyl tile (LVT) and stone plastic composite (SPC) flooring.”
“Multi-pass printers handle a wider variety of substrates beyond just traditional hardwoods, including engineered woods and laminates, allowing manufacturers greater flexibility in their product offerings,” admits Crawford.
Quickened Pace
There is heightened demand for manufacturers to produce product quicker than ever before.
“Due to digital technology it is easy to reproduce any décor very quickly when the demand of the market is there. There is no time lost by the need to change press belts for the structure and also the color management of the décor does not need to be done a second time,” states Dr. Pankoke.
According to Graindourze, inkjet printing combines quick starts with limited waste. “This enables laminate panel makers to print short or medium runs in house or by a print provider. Gravure printers can switch from analog to digital production and meet the decoration market’s demand for just-in-time delivery and customized designs. At the same time, these digital solutions let them lower their stocks and thus working capital.”
Where more traditional methods, “such as offset technology, require the creation of plates and extensive calibration before any actual printing can begin, digital printers can start producing printed materials almost immediately after receiving a digital file. This capability allows manufacturers to respond swiftly to changing demands without the delays associated with traditional methods,” confesses Crawford.
“The changeover time between jobs is shorter for digital printing because the printing is done directly from the design file and this printing is based on a fixed color ink set. That means designs can get to market faster,” suggests Graindourze.
Designs not only reach market faster and manufacturers react to design trends quicker, but also shorter runs of flooring designs are more economically feasible. “Digital printing excels in producing short runs of products without incurring prohibitive costs. Traditional printing often becomes economically unfeasible for small quantities due to setup costs being spread over fewer units. Digital print allows manufacturers to produce smaller batches economically, enabling them to meet specific customer needs or test new products without committing to large quantities,” shares Crawford.
New Trends
What are new trends in decorative wood flooring in relation to print?
Embossing is gaining interest. “Now that the customers have realized that embossing in register is possible, they do not want to take flooring without it. At least not in the high-quality segment of flooring. Here, digital printing is the technology of choice,” explains Dr. Pankoke.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is trending all over, and decorative wood flooring is no exception. “One of the new trends is the use of AI generated design files, which when combined with the digital printing advantage of having no cylinder repeat length, allows a lot of freedom to designers,” explains Graindourze.
Decorative flooring is not exempt from the personalization trend. With consumer preference for personalized products at an all time high, digital printing is ideal. “The flexibility inherent in digital printing also facilitates customization and personalization at scale. Manufacturers can easily alter designs or specifications for individual orders without needing new plates or setups. This capability not only speeds up production but also caters to consumer preferences for personalized products, enhancing market competitiveness,” suggests Crawford.
High-End Wood Visuals
Despite growth in interest of LVT and SPC flooring, the wood flooring market is poised to benefit from digital printing. Both multi- and single-pass printers are useful tools to engage in the latest industry trends like personalization and limited runs.
Oct2024, Digital Output
