Strong enough to be the first choice for shipping, corrugated cardboard was generally unprinted or minimally printed. In recent years, however, its role has changed: from a simple means of transport and containment to a marketing and communication tool with endless aesthetic and application potential. The expansion of online sales services has certainly helped to accelerate this change, making it necessary to transform the old, faithful brown cardboard box into something special, capable of engaging users and giving them a memorable shopping experience. Although the majority of corrugated graphics are still produced using analogue printing techniques, more and more converters have begun to add inkjet printing solutions to their traditional press fleets. The need to produce "just-in-time" packaging, displays, fixtures and materials for the point of sale, with customised versions that are also robust and sustainable, has made it necessary to reduce print runs without increasing production costs. In this sense, digital is the ideal solution, especially for companies that sell directly to consumers or through e-commerce sites, that need to optimise stock levels, reduce obsolescence of products and packaging, and stay "impressed" by developing a relationship with the customer, even at a distance. With this in mind, it's not surprising that Smithers' report, The Future of Digital Printing to 2032, suggests that corrugated printing will account for up to 82% of all incremental inkjet growth over the next decade.

In short, there is no doubt that the manufacturers of inkjet printing solutions are responding to these changes with a renewed focus on optimising their systems in terms of speed, ability to handle longer runs (bridging the technological gap with offset), automation of repetitive operations, print quality and cost reduction (especially of inks). In particular, single-pass systems, which came onto the market about ten years ago, have had a significant impact, exploiting one of the peculiarities of inkjet technology, namely the availability of multiple print heads in line, which allow different colours to be printed precisely in a "single pass" on the material transported underneath them, ensuring productivity and significant savings in processing time.