Page 58 - FINAT Yearbook 2012

labels today. Film release liner, PET or PP, is increasingly a choice today. The combination of film facestock and film liner enables serious downgauging of label laminate, to deliver more labels per reel, fewer roll changes on press and on the labelling line, and therefore significant time and cost savings. Cost savings are additionally enhanced by recycling the film release liner: world shortages of PE granulate and high demand have made recycled liner a financially viable commodity.
FILM-BASED LABELS: WHERE DECORATION TECHNOLOGIES MEET IN NARROW WEBSPACE
Pago International, Switzerland, highly commended certificate winner FINAT Label Competition 2011
However, it is in the realms of film that self-adhesive labels today see their greatest competition. As stated, film- based shrink sleeve labels, stretch and wrap-around sleeves, and in-mould labels are today enjoying faster growth rates. However, these technologies are opportunities as well as threats, and self- adhesive label converters today are embracing the concept of ‘one-stop shopping’ – offering their customers not only the self-adhesive path, but also the non-adhesive technologies which can be profitably and ably printed on their narrow-web presses.
BROADENING THE AGENDA
Label converters today are, indeed, at the centre of an intermingling of technologies in the packaging chain,
offering both web-fed self-adhesive labels and sheet-fed wet glue labels, as well as flexible packaging and tube laminate. They are also experiencing, in the M&A arena, buyouts by flexible packaging copmpanies wishing to expand their offering, and also mainstream packaging companies purchasing self-adhesive label converters to develop their capability to provide perosnalised packaging.
DIGITAL: SHORTER RUNS,
HIGHER BREAK-EVEN POINT
The narrow-web presses that characterise self-adhesive label production have in recent years mostly employed the flexographic print process, most recently coupled with speedy UV curing. However, the fast-developing narrow-web digital colour print options – particularly the HP Indigo and Xeikon – are dramatically changing the face of label print today. As brand owners and retailers opt for shorter production runs of their products, delivered more often, as well as multi-versioning of products using the same basic packaging, so the speed, flexibility, and shorter-run capability of digital print is proving itself.
Tarsus report that there were 75 different digital label printing machines exhibited at Labelexpo Europe last year
– for ‘standalone’ use in the print room, or for use in combination, in-line, with ‘traditional’ label presses. They also expect to see 40% of the installed base in narrow-web printing presses to be in digital by 2020.
LINERLESS: A REVIVAL OF INTEREST FOR SPECIAL APPLICATIONS Linerless self-adhesive labels – which briefly enjoyed popularity in the 1980s – are enjoying a resurgence of interest; and technology advances have made them a real success currently for supermarket catchweigh food pre-packs in particular. Limitations on label shape have held this format back, but developments are ongoing and this is an area to watch.
TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES: ENHANCING THE BRAND EXPERIENCE
On-press trends include an ever-broader toolcase of special finishes for labels, such as photochromic and high-gloss metallic inks; time-temperature indicators; holograms; and tactile varnishes. Designed to enhance the consumer’s experience of a product’s packaging and create shelf ‘stand-out’, they partner highly-engineered permanent and removable adhesives to deliver the perfect performance for the brand owner’s needs.
CONNECTING THE GLOBAL
LABEL INDUSTRY NETWORK
In an increasingly-global label market, there is a real need for a ‘living’ network for the whole base of industry players, sharing information and knowledge, transcending the boundaries of countries and languages. Within less than three years, the L9 – the global collective of label industry associations, of which FINAT is a founder member – has made enormous strides in this direction, sharing knowledge and experience on sustainability and recycling; jointly promoting the label industry’s ‘best-in- class’ at the World Label Awards;
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Germark, Spain, Highly commended certificate winner FINAT Label competition 2011
FINAT YEARBOOK 2012 |