Listening to the rhythm of a changing pressroom

I have spent enough years in the label world to recognise the quiet signs of change. They rarely show up through loud statements. They appear in subtler ways. A converter mentions shorter runs becoming the new routine. A brand wants variation without delay. An operator wonders how to manage more frequent art changes without slowing the line. These moments tell me where the market is heading long before the machines do. When I walked through the show floor in Barcelona, I sensed that same shift again, steady and undeniable.

Digital work still feels like a half-step for many plants. They see the potential and they see the hesitation in equal measure. I understand that feeling. Legacy workflows stay rooted in place. Long run thinking tries to hold on. Uncertainty around cost keeps the handbrake engaged. Yet the market keeps moving. Shorter runs rise. Designs change shape every week. New businesses enter the market with a pace that older workflows cannot match. The entire supply chain nudges converters toward flexibility and agility.

Across the past few years, I have felt the pull of this change through four quiet forces. Economics have reshaped run lengths. Brands expect more personalisation and a more responsive supply chain. New age businesses operate with a fresh mindset. And shop floors demand automation to stay stable. Each of these forces has changed how converters think about equipment, planning and future readiness. These forces are easy to overlook when seen separately, but together they form the undercurrent of the industry.

Understanding what converters really want

My own relationship with digital began through the early Gallus platforms that pushed us into new territory. When I watched the two new Gallus systems running in Barcelona, I felt the arc of everything we had learned. One system brought digital print and conventional finishing into one connected line. The other offered a pure digital path for converters who want consistency, clarity and an easier way to run short and mid-length jobs. These machines carry insights drawn from years of studying the pressure points within a plant.

Converters want a blend of speed, predictability and control. They want to reduce the time lost between jobs. They want workflows that behave with rhythm. They want to move from brief to print without unnecessary stops. They want to strengthen the bridge between design intent and print reality. These needs are not driven by technology alone. They are driven by how converters are reshaping their own businesses to match changing customer expectations.

Cost discussions inevitably surface in every meeting and I always steer the conversation toward the bigger picture. Ink behaviour cannot be judged in isolation. It changes with every design, colour load and image density. What matters is how the machine performs across an entire working day. Uptime. Waste. Stability. Predictability. These are the quiet markers of value. When converters see how tiny, controlled drops land cleanly at high clarity, they understand the link between precision and total cost.

Hybrid lines bring this thinking to life. They form a bridge between what converters already know and what they now need. Digital brings agility for varied work. Flexo stations add finishing in a continuous run. The shop floor gains steadiness. Ink usage evens out. The pressroom feels less strained. A plant can move from job to job with far fewer disruptions. This integration helps converters build confidence as they navigate the shift.

Finding balance on a hybrid path

Modularity carries this journey further. Volumes rise and fall without warning. SKUs expand and shrink. The market no longer behaves with predictability. A rigid press cannot move with this rhythm. Modular thinking gives converters the freedom to grow without reinvesting each time. Upgrades become simpler. Choices feel grounded rather than risky. It prepares the pressroom to adjust as demand changes course.

The Gallus digital journey stretches back many years. It began with a foundational platform that signalled a new direction. It moved forward through collaborations that sharpened our approach. It evolved through learnings from converters who took early steps into digital territory. It took form through systems that matured into stable production platforms. All of these steps led us to the current phase, where two connected paths can support converters with different needs. The effort behind this journey has always centred on one belief.

Technology should bend to the shape of a business, not the other way around.

This belief becomes clearer when I see how converters think today. They no longer ask only about speed or quality. They ask how a press will behave when jobs come in waves. They ask how changeovers will feel during a busy season. They ask how the line will hold up when a brand pushes for more variation. These questions reveal a shift in how printers define readiness.

Every pressroom finds its own rhythm

Through all these conversations, I keep returning to one thought. The future of labels will not be shaped by choosing a single path. It will be shaped by balance. Digital brings agility. Hybrid brings fluency. Conventional brings reliability. The strength lies in knowing when each is needed. Every converter finds this balance at a different pace. Every job becomes a small decision. Every press run becomes a reflection of those choices.

The transformation of a plant rarely begins with a bold leap. It begins with a single decision to run a short job differently. It begins with one operator noticing the ease of a new workflow. It begins with a single customer reacting faster to a new design.

I have seen how these small steps grow into confidence. Confidence grows into rhythm. Rhythm becomes momentum. And momentum becomes change.

When I stand by a running press and watch the clarity build line by line, I am reminded that the future does not arrive in a dramatic moment. It arrives through steady hands, clear thinking and the willingness to let each drop guide the next.

Narendra Kulkarni is product manager for Gallus Asia at Heidelberg India