From technology and operations to leadership and market insight, these articles reflect where the plastics decorating industry focused its attention in 2025. Together, they highlight the topics, challenges and innovations that resonated most with our readers throughout the year. As we move forward with the first issue of 2026, we’re taking a moment to look back at the Plastics Decorating articles that captured the most interest in 2025 – offering a snapshot of the conversations and priorities that shaped the year and continue to influence the road ahead.

1. Automation for In-Mold Labeling and Secondary Processes in Plastics Decorating

Automation plays a crucial role in plastics decorating processes, enabling faster production speeds, automating quality inspections and freeing labor resources for higher-value production tasks. Plastics Decorating spoke with four experts to understand the types of automation utilized in plastics decoration processes, as well as the things to consider when adding automation systems.

2. Metallic Finishes in Plastic Decoration

Metallic-decorated plastics now span automotive, aerospace, medical and cosmetic packaging, demanding tight alignment of appearance, performance and sustainability targets. This article compares coatings, IMD/IML, hot stamping, PVD, electroplating and real-metal hybrids, highlighting design limits, durability, regulatory pressures and cost so engineers can specify robust metallic effects for demanding programs.

3. Common Issues in Pad Printing

Pad printing excels on complex geometries, but recurring defects often trace back to a handful of technical variables. Covering clichés, cups, pads, solvents and surface energy, this article distills expert guidance from consultant John Kaverman on diagnosing poor doctoring, ink adhesion failures and degraded print quality to help printers stabilize and optimize their process.

4. Ren-Flex Beats the Summer Heat with IML-Decorated Cooler Boxes

Ren-Flex Packaging (Ren-Flex), based in Johannesburg, South Africa, created visually striking cooler boxes that featured large, digitally printed in-mold labels, providing a branded keepsake that captivated the local communities and sports fans worldwide with customized designs.

5. Digital Inkjet Integration: The Importance of Ink Selection

There are many companies kicking off inkjet integration projects. This article details a few of the problems the author has encountered when trying an “off-the-shelf ink” in an industrial inkjet application, along with some common strategies to overcome those problems, which do not include ink development.