Can campaign

Direct-to-can digital printing is reshaping beverage marketing in Australia, opening new opportunities for creativity, sustainability, and speed to market. PKN Packaging News editor and Food & Drink Business publisher, Lindy Hughson, reports on three packaging leaders in the scene – Orora, Onpack, and East Coast Canning + Printing.

Aluminium cans have long been a popular packaging format for the beverage industry thanks to their light weight, infinite recyclability and strong protective qualities. What has traditionally been a relatively fixed medium for branding is now being redefined by advances in digital printing technology.

Direct-to-can (DTC) printing allows designs to be applied straight onto the can surface without the need for plates, shrink sleeves or pressure-sensitive labels. The result is faster turnaround, lower minimum order quantities, and a new level of creative freedom. For beverage marketers, the shift represents a powerful opportunity: packaging that functions not just as a container, but as a campaign platform.

Across Australia, three packaging innovators – Orora, Onpack, and East Coast Canning + Printing – are proving the potential of DTC to transform both brand engagement and sustainability outcomes.

Helio lights the way

At Orora’s can converting facility in Dandenong, Victoria, the first cans printed on the company’s new high-speed digital direct-to-can system, Helio, have rolled off the line. Built around Velox IDS-NC 500 technology, Helio is the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere, and the first globally to be fully integrated into a can manufacturing line.

Capable of printing up to 500 cans per minute, the system produces photorealistic, full-colour graphics directly on necked aluminium cans. High build varnish is an optional finish. According to Orora’s executive GM of Cans, Chris Smith, Helio delivers a step change in how brands can connect with consumers.

“Primary packaging plays an increasingly important role in influencing the purchase decision,” Smith said. “With Helio, we can offer customers greater freedom to express their brand personality through packaging, with fast turnarounds, no tooling costs, and high-end visual effects previously only possible on long runs.”

Helio’s capabilities include seamless 360° decoration, matte and gloss varnishes, high-build textures, and even printing on the chime and neck of the can – areas typically left undecorated. For Andrew Morwood, Orora’s Customer Enhancement and Graphics manager, this opens new creative territory.

“Having spent years explaining what couldn’t be done with conventional can decoration, it’s exciting to now be saying, ‘Yes, we can do that’,” Morwood said. “When it comes to can decoration, nothing’s off limits anymore.”

Sustainability is also a central driver. By removing the need for plastic shrink sleeves or labels, Helio supports a circular packaging solution and reduces waste from overproduction. Anoop Thakur, Orora’s GM of Procurement and Sustainability, highlighted that “aluminium is infinitely recyclable, and eliminating plastic-based decorations makes this a compelling option for environmentally conscious brands.”

Agility and speed

While Orora is bringing high-speed digital capability to large-scale canmaking, Melbourne-based Onpack is pioneering agility at the short-run end of the spectrum. Partnering with hydration brand Rippl, Onpack has built a direct-to-can business model designed for rapid turnaround and customisation.

Rippl, founded in 2023, offers mineral-rich still and sparkling water in slimline aluminium cans. Its selling point is the ability to deliver fully custom-branded cans for corporate events, activations and retailers. “From day one, we set out to disrupt the water industry by offering the most cost-effective way to put your brand directly into your customers’ hands,” said Rippl CEO Bade Hilton. “That required packaging that could carry a brand.”

Onpack’s Hinterkopf D240 press – the only one of its kind in Australia – allows Rippl to deliver unique designs in days. Since launch, the company has produced more than 300,000 cans, often running up to 70 SKUs per cycle.

Managing director Michael Nankervis explained: “Because our process is entirely digital, we can transform a blank can into a fully branded product within 24 to 48 hours. There are no plates, no setup costs, no waste – and that makes it viable even for one-off campaigns or limited editions.”

Behind the scenes, Onpack runs a highly automated workflow using Hybrid Cloudflow and CERM MIS, originally developed for pharmaceutical production. This allows for precise version control and real-time scheduling across multiple SKUs. The model has enabled Onpack to build a new direct-to-object printing division and achieve 200 per cent revenue growth over two years.

For beverage marketers, the Rippl collaboration highlights how digital printing can be more than decoration – it can underpin a business strategy built on speed, flexibility and sustainability.

BulletProof durability

In New South Wales, East Coast Canning + Printing has tackled one of the key barriers to wider adoption of digital can printing: durability. After three years of research and development, the company launched BulletProof, a digitally printed aluminium can engineered to withstand tunnel pasteurisation, endure ice-filled eskies, and arrive on shelf in pristine condition.

“Our focus with BulletProof has always been durability and innovation in the canning space, and sustainability has been a very welcome by-product,” said founder and director Chris Kelly. “We hope this added sustainability benefit will see more people move away from plastic-based labels.”

BulletProof cans feature premium matte and spot-gloss finishes, including tactile patterned gloss over matte, while remaining 100 per cent recyclable. East Coast estimates that its direct-to-can solutions have already prevented more than 50 million units of plastic labelling material from entering the market.

“Direct-to-can printing amplifies the efficacy of aluminium can recycling,” Kelly said. “Labelled and sleeved cans often end up in landfill – this solves that.”

Design is another advantage. The quality now achievable allows craft brewers and other producers to experiment with textures and finishes without sacrificing performance. Already adopted by Yulli’s Brews for its Ranch Water RTD, BulletProof is attracting interest from coffee and low-alcohol wine brands, particularly those requiring pasteurisation.

For small to mid-sized producers, Kelly believes BulletProof fills a critical gap. “These cans can finally behave like real cans. They can go in the back of a ute, through the bush, and still look good when the customer pops the top.”

A new marketing canvas

Together, Orora, Onpack and East Coast Canning + Printing showcase the breadth of possibilities opened by direct-to-can technology. From high-speed production for global brands, to agile short-run campaigns for disruptors, to durable options for craft brewers, the technology is creating a new marketing canvas.

For beverage marketers, the implications are clear. Packaging is no longer just a medium for static branding – it is a dynamic tool for engagement, promotion and storytelling.

Campaigns can be hyper-targeted, seasonal or event-specific, and executed with minimal lead time. Sustainability benefits add further appeal as brands look to meet consumer expectations and regulatory demands.

As Chris Smith from Orora sums it up: “This is print innovation with purpose. It’s about quality, speed, sustainability, and giving brands what they need to stand out – when and where it matters most.”

This article first appeared in the August/September 2025 edition of Food & Drink Business magazine.