Page 26 - FINAT Yearbook 2014

FINAT TECHNICAL SEMINAR
REDESIGNING THE LABEL AND MAPPING
THE ROUTE TO FUTURE SUCCESS
‘Redesigning the label’ was the challenging theme of the 2014 Technical Seminar – a subject that is a focus for the entirelabelindustryvaluechain. DelegatesconvenedinBarcelona,March5-72014,andtheformalprogramme began with a welcome from FINAT President, Kurt Walker, Bandfix (CH).
KEYNOTE: THE LABEL CONVERTER’S VIEWPOINT
Opening proceedings was the keynote speaker: Alan Hazlewood (UK) of label printing group Skanem.
Complexity, accuracy, and consistency are the key features of the label converter’s world, Mr Hazlewood showed -- driven by three supply chain requirements: contractual – the customer’s needs, which span quality, service, cost improvement, and innovation; regulatory – packaging waste, REACH, etc.; and corporate social responsibility. He emphasised that ‘our
customers are fighting for sales on the supermarket shelf, and they need both low prices and decorational impact.’
The self-adhesive label industry has, he said, been responding ‘with ‘cost-out’ initiatives, but that “barrel” is nearly empty. That means that we are looking for game-changing innovation’. Concluding his insightful review, he looked to a future where a complex end-use marketplace will offer limited flexibility for
the self-adhesive label industry, unless it is indeed able to ‘redesign the label’. Wishing delegates good luck, he said: ‘The future is in your hands.’
MAPPING THE MARKET
The state of the global label market was examined by Dr William Llewellyn (UK), AWA Alexander Watson Associates. Self-adhesive labels remain one of the top
technologies, but Dr Llewellyn adjured delegates to keep an eye on MD reel-fed shrink sleeving films which, he said, currently have the lowest share of the sleeve market, but the fastest growth rate, and on linerless labelling.
Regionally, Asia (particularly China, which
alone has 16% of the global market) continues to drive global label demand. The emerging South
American market is currently volatile. Europe is experiencing increasing competition between traditional and emerging technologies. In North America, the dominant self-adhesive market is returning to attractive levels of growth. Annual global
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FINAT YEARBOOK 2014 |