FuturePrint Podcast

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Personalised products used to mean slow setups, expensive screens, and a hard choice between speed and flexibility. Now we’re watching digital UV LED printing turn product decoration into something far more agile, especially for brands that want short runs, rapid turnaround, and designs that change from one item to the next. I’m joined by Vaughn Pollman, President of Innovative Digital Systems (IDS), to unpack what’s driving that shift and where the technology is heading next. 

We dig into rotary UV printing and why “direct to object” matters: the product spins under the printheads, ink is jetted with precision, and UV LED curing locks it in place fast. That approach shines for cylindrical and conical items, which explains the surge in drinkware customisation across promotional products. We talk about why tumblers and cups keep climbing the demand charts, how personalisation sells, and how digital supports low MOQ, high mix production without the constant reset of analogue processes. 

From there, we zoom out to the real-world buying decision: rotary vs flatbed UV printers vs single pass printing. Vaughn shares how IDS acts as a print process consultant, looking at facility conditions, target volumes, automation needs, and the limits each system introduces. We also tackle the wider market context, including US onshoring, supply chain pressure, ink regulation, and the latest printhead advances enabling “high throw, high gap” printing that opens up new substrates and shapes. 

Finally, we look ahead: automation, robotics, and AI design tools that reduce the learning curve and help creators bring new products to market faster than ever. Subscribe for more conversations on print technology, share this with a colleague in product decoration, and leave a review with your biggest question about digital printing’s next leap.
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What is FuturePrint?
FuturePrint is a digital and in person platform and community dedicated to future print technology. Over 20,000 people per month read our articles, listen to our podcasts, view our TV features, click on our e-newsletters and attend our in-person and virtual events. 
We hope to see you at one of our future in-person events:
FuturePrint Packaging, Labels & DTS Summit, 29-30 September '26, Valencia, Spain
FuturePrint Industrial Print Show, 11-12 May '27, Munich, Germany

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A printer that behaves like a production cell, not a flatbed. Frazer Chesterman sits down with Clayton Sampson, CEO of Cyan Tec, to unpack Robojet: a standard six axis robotic inkjet printer built for direct to shape printing on real industrial parts, not just flat materials.

We talk through what Robojet is doing at Printing United for its first US showing, and why printing onto curved, awkward and high mix products is the point. You’ll hear practical examples from the demo line, including hard hats, corrugated plastic parts, and even guitar bodies to prove the robot can follow complex edges. Clayton explains what makes the platform feel like a one stop mini factory: load station, optional plasma or other pre treatment, CMYK modules with white ink, then high power UV LED curing and an unload station ready for stock, shipping, assembly, or wear.

We also dig into what matters beyond the spectacle: late stage differentiation for promo and sports branding, fast changeovers aided by offline programming and a digital twin, and the option to expand handling with jigs, a universal gripper, or a tool changer. On the industrial side, we look at applications that replace spray coating steps, cutting masking and overspray and, in some cases, reducing fluid use and VOC emissions dramatically. Clayton shares footprint and ROI realities, plus how partnerships with ABB, Siemens, and industrial printhead suppliers support deployment worldwide, with US distribution in place.

If you’re tracking industrial inkjet, robotics, automation, and sustainable manufacturing, this conversation is a clear snapshot of where direct to object printing is heading. Subscribe, share the episode with a colleague, and leave a review so more people can find the Future Print Podcast.
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What is FuturePrint?
FuturePrint is a digital and in person platform and community dedicated to future print technology. Over 20,000 people per month read our articles, listen to our podcasts, view our TV features, click on our e-newsletters and attend our in-person and virtual events. 
We hope to see you at one of our future in-person events:
FuturePrint Packaging, Labels & DTS Summit, 29-30 September '26, Valencia, Spain
FuturePrint Industrial Print Show, 11-12 May '27, Munich, Germany

Send us Fan Mail
Seiko is known for precision, but the surprise is where that precision ends up: inside industrial inkjet printheads that can survive dust, heat and heavy-particle inks. We sit down with returning guest Ali Eranpurwala to map Seiko’s 25-year journey into printing, starting with a story from Olympic timekeeping where handwritten results created avoidable errors and a simple question changed the trajectory: why not print the data directly?

From the early days of the 510BN printhead in 2001 through the 508GS series, Ali explains the engineering choices that matter in production, including isolated channel technology to reduce crosstalk and open the door to faster, more stable printing. We then get into the moment ceramics became the proving ground. With the RC1536 and recirculation, Seiko targets the realities of ceramic tile printing: higher print gaps, higher throughput, viscosity fluctuations, and the need to run at genuine industrial speeds. The payoff is not only performance, but simpler machines too, thanks to a wider 108 mm print width that can reduce head count, electronics and ink systems.

We also talk ink collaboration and lifetime testing, plus what Seiko plans to demonstrate at Tecna (booth number D1401): waveform work aimed at jetting higher viscosity inks around 45 cP on standard technology, and progress on water-based “glue” printing that supports lower emissions and more sustainable ceramics production. We close with a look ahead to the next 25 years, including a 600 dpi push and where Seiko sees opportunities across corrugated packaging, textiles, décor and embellishments.

Subscribe for more, share this with a colleague in industrial printing, and leave us a review. What application do you think will drive the next big leap in inkjet?
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What is FuturePrint?
FuturePrint is a digital and in person platform and community dedicated to future print technology. Over 20,000 people per month read our articles, listen to our podcasts, view our TV features, click on our e-newsletters and attend our in-person and virtual events. 
We hope to see you at one of our future in-person events:
FuturePrint Packaging, Labels & DTS Summit, 29-30 September '26, Valencia, Spain
FuturePrint Industrial Print Show, 11-12 May '27, Munich, Germany

Send us Fan Mail
What happens when an innovator refuses to accept that digital printing with HP Indigo technology on metal packaging is impossible?
In this episode of the FuturePrint Podcast, Marcus Timson speaks with Augusto França of Vislo and Amir Raziel of HP about the development of InnoCan: an indirect digital-printing process designed to bring the quality, flexibility and responsiveness of HP Indigo technology to three-piece metal packaging.
Augusto traces his journey from growing up around Brazil’s printing industry to confronting the limitations of conventional can decoration. Working with canmaker Brasilata, he recognised that lengthy offset set-ups, ageing machinery, large production batches and costly inventories created a compelling need for digital production.
The conversation explains how InnoCan prints onto a transparent film using HP Indigo ElectroInk before transferring the image to metal. A specialist coating developed with ACTEGA creates the required bond, producing a durable, high-quality result that can pass through established can-forming processes.
Amir discusses why the project attracted HP’s attention and why customer-led innovation is so powerful. Because the concept emerged from a genuine production environment, it addressed the complete application—including forming, slitting, coating, economics and market requirements—rather than focusing only on whether an image could be printed.
The guests also examine how digital production can reduce waste, inventory and working capital while allowing conventional offset equipment to focus on longer runs. Most revealingly, they explain why the greatest barrier was not the technology but the willingness of people and factories to change.
It is a story of curiosity, persistence and complementary expertise, and a compelling example of how collaboration can unlock entirely new industrial applications for digital print.
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What is FuturePrint?
FuturePrint is a digital and in person platform and community dedicated to future print technology. Over 20,000 people per month read our articles, listen to our podcasts, view our TV features, click on our e-newsletters and attend our in-person and virtual events. 
We hope to see you at one of our future in-person events:
FuturePrint Packaging, Labels & DTS Summit, 29-30 September '26, Valencia, Spain
FuturePrint Industrial Print Show, 11-12 May '27, Munich, Germany

Send us Fan Mail
Elena Knight spoke to Jorge Ania of Studio DC, a surface designer who has spent his career teaching industrial printers to imitate stone, marble and wood. He told us why he disliked digital printing at first, how it went on to transform ceramic tiles, why in his opinion wood décor has lagged behind - and why, in his view, the machine is only ever half the story. 
Listen on:

Apple Podcast
Google Podcast
Spotify

What is FuturePrint?
FuturePrint is a digital and in person platform and community dedicated to future print technology. Over 20,000 people per month read our articles, listen to our podcasts, view our TV features, click on our e-newsletters and attend our in-person and virtual events. 
We hope to see you at one of our future in-person events:
FuturePrint Packaging, Labels & DTS Summit, 29-30 September '26, Valencia, Spain
FuturePrint Industrial Print Show, 11-12 May '27, Munich, Germany