Labelling Blog

In 1982, seven Chicago area residents lost their lives after ingesting Tylenol that had been laced with potassium cyanide. Nearly 27 years later in February 2009, a Florida woman was arrested after grocery store shoppers witnessed her injecting fluids into jars of baby food. In between these incidents, numerous instances of human and pet food recalls and stories in the media about the potential for terror attacks on food supplies have made the public ever more vigilant about food and drug safety and tampering.A new white paper from Axon, a division of Pro Mach, describes the evolution of various types of tamper evident packaging and then focuses on recent developments in tamper evident band technology. These include the all-in-one shrink label and tamper band solution; new, thinner materials for cost savings and greater sustainability; new applications, including clamshells and deli trays; and today's higher throughput machines that reduce labor costs. "Along with these devel

A new print-receptive top coat, delivering higher print speeds and improved ink anchorage and density, has been introduced to the Fasson range of self-adhesive film labelstock s in Europe by Avery Dennison.   Fasson 7007 -TC is formulated for the needs of all today's most popular narrow-web imaging processes — especially UV flexo.   Replacing the existing Fasson TC1000 top coat on most European Fasson film labelstocks, Fasson 7007-TC is emulsion-based, and uses non-hazardous polymers.   Improved print quality Fasson 7007-TC 's better print aesthetics and water and chemical resistance make it suitable for all the prime high-volume markets for film labelstocks, including personal and home care products, food s , beer, and other beverages. Improved on-press performance Extensively tested prior to commercialisation, Fasson 7007-TC can contribute to better print results and print speeds with UV flexo, rotary offset, letterpress and screen, solvent

A major recycling initiative in Europe for PET release liner is entering its pilot stage, courtesy of Avery Dennison, who will collect used liner from the premises of label converters' end-user customers. The scheme is part of the company's ongoing commitment to reduce waste throughout the self-adhesive industry's value chain. PET release liner from self-adhesive labelstock can be easily recycled via industrial processes, has excellent 'second market' possibilities, and can make a significant contribution to environmental sustainability. The label industry's favourite film liner Today, PET liner commands around 80% of total European demand for film release liner, and a fast-growing share of the total European release liner market. It delivers high performance in label dispensing, eliminating time- and cost-consuming web breaks. On press, it gives crisp diecutting. PET liner is the first choice for 'no label look' labels because of its smooth surface

In order to help our customers differentiate their brands , Printpack is introducing an ink that provides a mirror effect that will capture the consumer’s eye. This new ink offer s maximum shelf impact for shrink labels. The silver metallic ink printed on Printpack’s shrink label, “Go Figure” is designed to reveal an authentic brilliant metallic look. Go Figure is gravure printed in 6 colors on Pure Affinia™ PETG , a special film that will help to enhance the characteristics of the ink . Marketing potential for this technology is very exciting as it will open up a new way to reach consumers. The brilliance of this effect means that small amounts of ink are sufficient to generate a unique look. The ink can be used on flexo or gravure presses, on all substrates and in combinations with regular inks. Shrink and roll fed labels, tamper-evident bands and heat shrinkable sleeves for multipacks are printed in up to 10 colors using flexographic and rotogravur

Xeikon, a division of Punch Graphix, announces that Limpet Labels , Wrexham UK, has decided to expand into digital label production with the purchase of a new Xeikon 3000 digital label press. Established in 1992, the North Wales-based company specialises in the production of self-adhesive labels for the chemical, oil, hygiene industries and other markets where high label quality and durability are required. Commenting on the company’s latest investment in digital equipment, Lee Goode, Managing Director of Limpet Labels, said: “Digital label printing is playing an ever more important role in the market, and we need ensure that we are keeping up with the very latest technology in this area. We recognise that customer needs are changing with shorter run lengths, just-in-time production, and a larger number of product variants. We believe that by moving further into digital production we will be able to help our customers to reduce their stock levels of label products, and provide labels t

Marco Aengenvoort, Managing Director, today announced that Limo Labels has successfully run production on their recently purchased ROTOCONTROL RSD 430 dual die cutting slitter rewinder machine with RTR fully automatic turret, in the ROTOCONTROL booth 7M105 at Label E xpo. The ROTOCONTROL RSD series of die cutting/slitter rewinding machines are designed for fast, accurate die cutting, slitting and rewinding of all types of labels.  The ROTOCONTROL fully automatic turret is offered as an accessory to the RSD and RSI line of slitter/rewinder and die cutting machines.  Features include glueless core attach with shaft loading and unloading options ensuring the highest production speeds and efficiency. Jens H. Mortensen, Chairman of the Board of Limo Labels commented, “Although we urgently needed our RSD die cutting machine, we also wanted to help ROTOCONTROL exhibit the technology.  Running our rush job at the Label Expo was a good solution.” “Jens is an ideal custome

Climate protection is a major topic globally requiring sustainable corporate management. The Austrian packaging producer Greiner Packaging is meeting the challenge of this development with two approaches. Robert Obermayr, Product Group Director K1/K2, explains: “On the one hand, we are continuously optimising energy consumption and the production processes for processing classical plastic materials. On the other hand, we are pushing the use of alternative materials, in particular R-PET.” Kremsmünster, 17 September 2009. – The responsible handling of raw materials and resources characterises the sustainable actions taken by Greiner Packaging. Examples include saving energy through production equipment or reducing the weight of new packaging solutions. A particularly environmentally-friendly packaging technology is K3, the plastics-cardboard combination. It saves plastic material and can be separated well in terms of recycling. By using cardboard and recycled cardboard, we speak of ren

The In Mold Technology Seminar Europe 2010 is part of the IMLCON & IMDCON series of events organized by AWA Conferences & Events, and provides a focused look at the European in-mold labeling and decorating industry from a market and technology perspective. In Mold Technology Seminar 2010 is organized by AWA Conferences & Events specifically targeted towards the European market, and is the only seminar totally dedicated to in-mold labeling and decorating markets and technology. The 2010 Seminar is expected to be attended by delegates from across the value chain – from raw material suppliers to end users – involved with or interested in in-mold labeling, product decoration, and packaging. The In Mold series of Conferences and Events organized by AWACE are established meeting points and industry platforms, attended by all those that are associated with the growing and dynamic in-mold label industry. They are forums to update industry players, understand market tren

Juhayna , a leading manufacturer of juice and dairy products in Egypt, has opted for flexible filling technology from SIG Combibloc to most efficiently meet the future demands of the up-and-coming market in North Africa. Juhayna has built a new production plant at its manufacturing base in 6th October City, Egypt, where a total of five SIG Combibloc filling machines are now in operation. From now on, the company will be filling its 100 % juices, nectars and fruit drinks exclusively in carton packs from SIG Combibloc. As well as the properties of the aseptic carton pack itself, which keeps products safe and soundly protected, the flexibility and performance of the filling machines were the key factors in Juhayna’s decision to choose filling technology and carton packs from SIG Combibloc. In addition to the CFA 312 (combibloc Slimline ), CFA 112 (combibloc Mini ) and CFA 209 (combifit Premium ) filling machines, the company now also has two innovative CFA 124 high-speed filling machines

Glass Packaging Institute Announces 2009 Clear Choice Awards Winners Glass containers continue to provide a premium image in a ‘green’ package Alexandria, Virginia, September 22, 2009 - The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) named the winners of its 20th Annual Clear Choice Awards through a virtual event on the GPI website ( www.gpi.org ) featuring video of the winners and award-winning product designs (download photos at http://www.gpi.org/press/cca09/ , find video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIEnXVLA7_Q , and for more information, visit http://www.gpi.org/clear-choice-awards/ ). This year’s Awards recognized twelve consumer product goods (CPG) companies and their achievements in expanding the frontiers of glass packaging design. “Designing and packaging in glass ensures that your product has the competitive edge, as more and more consumers are demanding glass for its pure, recyclable, and premium characteristics,” says Joseph Cattaneo, president of the Glass Packaging Institut

Milco has been the market leader in the yoghurt category over the last 35 years until its shares started dropping over the past few years and is now the 2nd player in the market. To regain its leadership Milco has asked CB’a Memac to reintroduce the brand into the market with a new fresh visual identity based on its new positioning ‘eat good, feel good.’ CB’a Memac’s key challenges were to modernize the brand image while remaining loyal to category cues and to develop a transversal structure which will unify all Milco brands and product lines (ranging from yoghurt, to milk and cheese and anticipating future product launches & innovations). CB’a Memac developed several creative routes which express the healthy, modern, natural & high-quality features of the brand. Based on consumer research, the winning design was the ‘modern prairie’ route which was based on the latest Milco logo and depicted a green meadow with flowers, butterflies and fresh fruits. The new design was implemen

Leading soft drinks company Britvic has reduced the amount of glass in bottles of its much-loved juice drink J2O as part of its ongoing work to reduce packaging and energy use within its corporate responsibility programme. The new 275ml J2O bottle is 20 grams lighter, with each bottle reduced from 200 grams to just 180 grams, saving around 4000 tonnes of glass per annum (at current production levels), the equivalent to 20 million bottles of J2O a year. The new design has also led to improvements in filling line efficiencies, due to the bottle being lowered in height, as well as energy savings of around 10% as less glass is used during bottle blowing. Additionally the lighter bottles require less fuel to transport due to the reductions in weight. These latest savings are in addition to a reduction of 26 grams of glass, or 5000 tonnes per annum made to the J2O bottle in 2004. John Gibney, Britvic’s finance director and corporate responsibility programme sponsor said: “We are proud that J

BST International GmbH (hall 11, booth Q 100 / www.bst-international.com), leading manufacturer of quality assurance systems for the web processing industry, will be exhibiting at LabelExpo 2009 using a generous trade show concept. On our 100 sqm booth, we present, besides our well proven systems for web guiding and web inspection applications, the following new products: Video web inspection system POWERScope 4000 World premiere on LabelExpo! As the worldwide first manufacturer, BST International offers with POWERScope 4000 digital camera technology also for the entry-level of video web inspection. POWERScope 4000 features a completely digital system design, an intuitive operation concept, very good image quality and user oriented range of functions. An outstanding feature of the new concept of POWERScope 4000 is the extremely simple operation both via touch screen and by means of a rotatable and removable keyboard. This innovation guarantees an optimal adaption to the individual prod

Schober USA introduces the RSM-IML/MX, the third generation in the popular and successful RSM family of rotary die cutting machines. With many features of the highest capacity machines, this latest technology is ideal for the production of in mold labels in medium and small production runs. This new Schober model allows for the economical die-cutting of intricate labels with technology proven to last The RSM-IML/MX is available with working widths of 260mm (10 ¼ in), 330mm (13 in) and 410mm (16.14 in). Proven components from the larger machines include a heavy duty rotary die-cutting station, automated web guides, continuously monitored re-insertion, vacuum controlled product flow, static neutralizer and various delivery options (including m-stack). This innovative system unwinds label rolls, die-cuts labels, counts, stacks and delivers labels, re-winds waste matrix tension controlled, and is suitable for labels of any si

Following the successful launch of the RSI series modular slitter/rewinder inspection machines, Marco Aengenvoort, Managing Director, is pleased to announce the follow-on RSC series slitter/rewinder inspection machines which will be demonstrated at Labelexpo Brussels September 23-26, 2009 Stand 7M105. Targeted at converters who prefer a compact, small footprint design but demand rugged, robust stability and reliable quality for their long-term investment, the RSC 340 and 440 German designed and manufactured slitter/rewinder machines offer an impressive standard feature set. “The ROTOCONTROL RSC offers a full suite of standard features in an economical, compact, extremely robust machine designed to maximize operator efficiency resulting in more time producing labels and less time in set up” states Marco Aengenvoort. Standard features of the RSC 340 and 440 include: · 20mm thick aluminum main plate with all steel support cabinet · S-Drive servo web control and software ·

Rotoflex, a global leader in the label industry will display leading inspection and rewind technologies at Labelexpo Europe 2009. New finishing solutions to be introduced this year include the HSR and HLR product lines. A new Rotoflex offering for converters interested horizontal inspection, die-cut and rewind technology, these products demonstrate the durable, flexible design converters have come to expect from Rotoflex. Key features of the new HLR line include accommodating digital printing units, high-end inspection systems and custom die-cutting. Also on display at Labelexpo are the leading Rotoflex sellers, VLI and VSI. These products have been updated to feature advanced controller technology and streamlined configurations. The primary focus for Rotoflex over the past twelve months has been on renewing the brand and making further technological advancements to their already top-of-the-line equipment. "We are proud to be back at Labelexpo Europe with a stronger and more

NYSCAN now has a fully featured on press Photo-Spectrometer to add to its extensive list of features. This high specification unit sits alongside the 100% inspection system and provides color density readings to ISO 5-3/4. Some of the specific technical advantages among the scanners list are as follows: A measuring speed 3000 measurements per second A Spectral range from 400 nm to 700 nm Density standards DIN 16536, ISO / ANSI T, ISO/ANSI I, Dmax. Density Range of 0.0 – 2.5 D and a repeatability of +/- 0.01 D The scanner produces L* a* b*, and CMYK data simultaneously while the press is running at full speed, and is fully integrated into the NYSCAN Web:Inspector system. All colour values are recorded throughout the entire production and they are therefore displayed in the Roll Map and reported via the NYSCAN print report m

In April 2009, BERICAP Turkey has launched the production of HexaLite® 29/11 SFB 3T – the water closure suitable for light weight neck finish 29/25 for DANONE Turkey’s HAYAT brand. DANONE Turkey is the first location to start using the 29/25 neck finish and has modified most of their existing lines in Turkey from HEXACAP 30/17 3T to HexaLite® 29/11 SFB 3T. The still water market is the defined target for the BERICAP HexaLite® closures. The HexaLite® exists as HexaLite® 26 FB, suitable for light weighted 26 mm neck finish and the HexaLite® 29 FB, suitable for a light weighted 30 mm neck finish. All HexaLite® closures are equipped with a slit and folded safety band (flexband) for efficient TE performance, reliable and forgiving application on high-speed lines. The cost saving to convert from a 30/25 neck and closure to HexaLite® 29/25 will save more than 30% of resin in the neck and closure weight. A conversion of the existing 26,7 mm neck and corresponding closure, predominantl

IGH Solutions has introduced KROM™ drinkware – the first use of metalized in-mold labels on a promotional drinkware product line. The molded plastic cup, intended for licensed and collectable drinkware promotions, features full-color photographic quality printing over a bright metal substrate. “While other applications may use metallic inks, the unique metalized label provides a high gloss, metallic sheen that won’t fade with time or repeated dishwashing,” said Ed Dedman, IGH Solutions product manager for in-mold products. “The full-color photographic quality printing stands in sharp contrast with the shiny metallic background,” Dedman added, “producing graphics of unusual vividness – increasing the cup’s collectable value.” The metallic effect is available in a high gloss, polished metal finish; a brushed galvanized metal finish, and a holographic metallic finish which provides a prism-like, shimmering pattern. Custom patterns and finishes are also available. KROM™ drinkware is

The Nürnberg packaging exhibition trio FachPack+PrintPack+LogIntern opens its doors again on 29 September. Some 1,300 exhibitors meet a good 34,000 trade visitors during the three turbulent days until 1 October 2009. Hardly anyone would have forecast this development three decades ago, as the first “Verpackung”, the Regional Exhibition for Packaging Machinery, Packaging Supplies and Packaging Ancillaries, started in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg with just under 100 exhibitors. And probably none of these first exhibitors wrote an annual sustainability report at the end of the 1970s. Today, responsibility for environmental protection is certainly reflected positively in the results. “Sustainable Production and Packing” is therefore the theme of the FachPack special show in 2009. On a display area of some 1,350 m 2 in hall 4, a good more than 20 exhibitors from the packaging machinery, packaging supplies production and recycling segments show the new products with which they face the

Husky Injection Molding Systems today announced that at Drinktec 2009, it will be demonstrating the world’s first system specifically optimized for manufacturing preforms with high percentages of food-grade recycled PET flake. On display at the Husky booth (Hall B3, Booth 326), the new system will help to make PET packaging more sustainable by enabling significant increases to the amount of post-consumer, recycled PET flake. “Husky recognizes the importance of sustainability in PET packaging, which is why we have invested in putting post-consumer material back into the bottle,” said John Galt, Husky’s President and CEO. “Recycled flake used to be challenging to work with. Husky saw this as an opportunity to take a leadership role to simplify the manufacturing process and reduce the overall cost and environmental footprint of PET packaging. The recycling solution we will introduce at Drinktec is an important first step for us in building a portfolio of solutions aimed at improving the

COCA-COLA China decided already in Quarter 1 2008 to take advantage of reducing material usage by converting their aseptic PET beverage packages from PCO 1810 neck finish to PCO 1881. One of the closures they selected was the 1881 SuperShorty® closure.   After this successful introduction, COCA-COLA China introduced the PCO 1881 neck finish, for carbonated soft drinks PET packages in August 2008 and started using the 1881 SuperShorty® from BERICAP for Sparkling beverages in Q1 2009.   BERICAP China is one of the key closure suppliers to COCA-COLA bottlers in China and therefore was invited to perform a major role in the conversion process. Based on its long term experiences in converting production lines to SuperShorty®, BERICAP could contribute in a co-operative way to the successful conversion.   BERICAP China is a strong foothold in BERICAP’s conversion activities to 1881 SuperShorty® and accordingly BERICAP China will pass the production capacity beyond 1 bln 1881 SuperShorty® by e

Xeikon , a division of Punch Graphix, legendary for pioneering the first digital color presses, today announced that the company will be present at the upcoming 2009 Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI) Technical Conference, taking place in Chicago, September 8–10, 2009. The theme of this year’s conference is "Get Smart", focusing on the day-to-day issues narrow web printers and converters are facing in the current marketplace.   During the conference Michael V. Ring, VP of Sales & CMO of Xeikon’s North American operations and Filip Weymans, Xeikon’s Business Development Manager for Labels & Packaging segment, will be on hand to give attendees insight about the digital color production of labels and packaging applications. Xeikon will also showcase a variety of unique samples produced on the Xeikon 3300 digital label press during the conference .   “As we embark on the ninth TLMI Technical Conference, we are excited to discuss digital technology’s impact thr