Labelling Blog

Comexi Group has appointed Tom Cusack as the new president of Comexi North America, replacing John Ferreira. The new chief executive has ten years experience in the field of chemical and flexible packaging, along with a multidisciplinary and global experience in innovation and product development, market analysis and sales management. Holding a Degree in Physics from the University of Hendrix (Conway, Arkansas) and MBA from the University of Chicago, Tom Cusack takes office to lead the company strategy in the U.S. and Canada. He previously served as Operations Manager at Flower City Group, as Sales and Marketing Director at Accredo, as Marketing and Sales Director for Bobst in North America and the Asia-Pacific Region and has also held various positions of responsibility at Rohm & Haas. Recently, Comexi Group has strengthened the business area of Comexi North America with the appointment of George Czechowski as Sales Manager in the Midwest. Source: Comexi Group

Earlier this year, Wal-Mart’s produce suppliers were notified about the upcoming mandatory compliance for produce traceability labeling. Starting January 1st 2014, any items arriving without the correct labeling will be rejected. All fresh produce delivered to a Wal-Mart (or Sam’s Club) distribution center has to be labeled with a case label that meets the PTI standard. NiceLabel has developed a free, easy to use online PTI label printing application for produce suppliers. As the most wide-reaching industry initiative in the produce sector, the PTI (Produce Traceability Initiative) is designed to help the industry achieve supply chain-wide adoption of electronic traceability for every case of produce. Wal-Mart has been the first big player to make the move on suppliers, while NiceLabel is the only labeling software developer offering a free online application to meet the Wal-Mart PTI mandate. “In order to support produce suppliers in their effort to meet the case label requirement

Global packaging sales are projected to rise by 3% in real terms to $797 billion in 2013 and grow at an annual rate of 4% to 2018, according to a new market report by Smithers Pira. The Future of Global Packaging to 2018 provides a detailed five year forecast of the global packaging market. Based on expert research and analysis, this report contains more than 500 tables and figures revealing essential industry trends and information. According to this report, sales of packaging are concentrated in Asia, which accounted for 36% of the total in value terms in 2012. North America and Western Europe totaled shares of 23% and 22% respectively. In 2012, Eastern Europe was the fourth largest consumer of packaging with a global share of 6%, closely followed by South and Central America with 5%. The Middle East represents 3% of the global demand for packaging, while Africa and Australasia each have a 2% share. According to the study, this segmentation of the market is expected to change s

As more and more publishers have turned to digital printing to reduce inventories and manage supply chains, Webcrafters has seen digital page volumes rise significantly. The company installed a KODAK PROSPER 5000XL Press three years ago, and it is now preparing for the installation of an additional KODAK PROSPER 5000XLi Press in early 2014 to handle continued growth. Webcrafters, based in Madison, Wisconsin, has been serving the educational and trade book market for more than 100 years and knows the importance of dependability and redundancy when the rush hits. With almost 400 employees, Webcrafters operates three shifts a day, five days a week most of the time, but ramps up to 24/7 when needed during seasonal high volumes in the spring and summer.   Webcrafters has seen steady growth in page volumes for digital printing across all the segments it serves, from educational and trade books to B2B catalogs and publications. The new press will give the company more flexibility f

Edale Asia Pacific continues to grow in strength with the appointment of four new representatives to cover sales across Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and China. Edale Asia Pacific, based in Lamlukka, Thailand, was launched in September 2013 and have already begun implementing growth strategies, recruiting Ben Lo as technical Sales based in Taiwan, Suwapit Khongjraroen as Service Technician based in Thailand and Richard Kong as Sales manager based in Malaysia. They join Tony Law, General Manager, and Pasin Sritong, Sales Manager, also based in Thailand. James Boughton of Edale UK alongside the Edale Asia Pacific staff at Labelexpo Shanghai Tony Law, alongside Edale’s Managing Director James Boughton, recently attended the Labelexpo Shanghai exhibition where they worked with newly signed Sales Manager Kinson Yan who will be representing Edale Asia Pacific in China. James Boughton states “I am confident our new representatives, with their wealth of industry knowledge, will be invaluabl

Since upgrading its printing equipment and inks, the leading plastic pipe manufacturer Uponor has seen its operators spending less time cleaning and preparing the printers. “We originally planned to dedicate two internal positions to service the printers and prepare them to be placed on the lines,” pointed out Bryan Baxter, Process Engineer for Uponor. “The printers, however, are pretty self-sufficient and don’t require much maintenance... so now those employees can work elsewhere on the lines. With the implementation of next generation ink jet printers, the reduction in maintenance caused by outdated coding solutions allowed Uponor to get a return on our investment in only a few months. More Information: http://buzz.mw/b5f1c_l

Ali Alhashemi Trading Est has been appointed as the new certified GIDUE distributor for the Middle East area. The Arabian company has been established in 1950 by the President & Founder Mr. Ali Alhashemi and today it represents the largest supplier of equipment for the Labels&Packaging industry in the Middle East Gulf; they are specialised in graphic arts equipment's trading & consumables. The company is based in Dubai and provides full turnkey solutions for the Graphic Arts Industry,  specialized in machineries, materials and consumables that serve the paper and packaging industry. From its headquarter the company will follow Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain areas. In November 2013 Mohammad Alhashemi, President of the company, has shared with Maurizio Trecate, GIDUE VP Sales, and Cristina Toffolo, GIDUE VP Marketing,  a very aggressive action plan to introduce and launch in the Middle East market the main technical advantages of GIDUE solutions

The Digicon Series 2 specification includes delaminating/laminating in semi rotary web motion, multi-head semi-rotary flexo, flat bed foil stamping, in register over laminating, plus web splitting, multi-layer coupon device. Mike Burton, Managing Director commented: “Bearing in mind we have around 750 Digicon installations worldwide, this is probably the most sophisticated label converting specification we have built,”  . “The design and configuration of the machine was agreed over some time with a large element of the final specification driven by the customer and the need to supply a highly complex range of labels to the market sectors ROMA serves.” The laser label cutting line is the first Digilase system sold by AB Graphic International in the Italian market and is comprised of a number of additional capabilities including semi rotary flexo, over laminating and a high degree of automation that includes the Omega FAST (fully automatic slitting technology) where the knives are

An all-new Made in Sacmi production line has just become operative at Empresas Polar, the long-standing Venezuelan company that has been doing business in the beverage, food and packaging industries for over 70 years. The complete line, now successfully installed and started up at the Bodegas Pomar plant, is designed to produce some 6,900 bottles of Sangrìa Caroreña (PET bottles, 1.75 litres) an hour. The line includes the filler – and relative conveyor belts – manufactured by Sacmi Filling, the new labeller-sealer from Sacmi Verona and, lastly, the bundler and palletizer made by Sacmi Packaging. Sacmi Beverage – the Division that has, for some years now, brought together individual Group excellences to ensure uniformity of output and business logic – is, then, well on the way to achieving its goal of supplying customers with comprehensive ’turnkey’ plant engineering solutions. Thanks to this investment, Empresas Polar has doubled its output capacity on the bottling lines. Moreover

FLEXcon , an innovator in adhesive coating and laminating, today announced it has been selected by General Label, Inc. to provide materials for home security system keypad coverings. Utilizing one of FLEXcon’s FLEXmount® mounting adhesives, General Label can provide graphic overlays to allow homeowners to customize their security system keypads to match the décor of their home. Since many homeowners want their security system keypads to match or blend into the interior design of their home, General Label created graphic overlays that come in a variety of colors. Homeowners can select a decorative skin that best matches their home décor, which can be selectively applied around the touchscreen keypad to provide a decorative skin to the security box. The overlay is strong enough to withstand everyday use, but is easily removable without leaving residue, as customers may want to change the color over time. “We choose to work with FLEXcon because of their ability to develop custom sol

Change is a constant in the global beer market today, as a result of mergers and acquisitions, the rise of micro-breweries, legislation, and new trends in beer packaging and labelling. The third edition of AWA Alexander Watson Associates’ established Global Beer Label Market Study 2013 is newly published, bringing in-depth insights into the global market’s preferences by region, in terms of the technologies used for product identification and decoration on beer packaging. AWA estimate that, in the medium term, global beer production will grow in value terms at an annualized rate of 2.4% -- so this is a market which is of considerable interest to suppliers of labels using all the available technologies. Trends in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the rest of the world are all documented, with expert analysis of key demand influences and market drivers in each of the regions. Regional preferred container choices and labelling and decoration technologies are discussed

Digital is a culture…not a technology” this is where the future should be positioned. As consumers of the future we will not be looking at “a specific digital technology” but living within a “digital culture” which will provide a myriad of customised 1-2-1 experiences with the consumer and brand making product and brand engagement more personal and meaningful. Digital will be central to creating this culture. We are already starting to see the beginnings of what can be achieved. But the next decade will see an explosion of digital solutions. So why aren’t we able to access this right now? There are still a number of industry wide technology challenges and changes in mind-set that are required to deliver this future that will be presented at the conference in London. Packaging and the smartphone will seamlessly interact providing a wealth of product and consumer information of great value to both the customer and the brand to ensure that packaged products of the future will be tail

Flint Group has  announced the purchase of the remaining shares in Tintas Graficas Vencedor (TGV) from Corporacion Peruana de Productos Quimicos S.A. ('CPPQ').  TGV located in Lima, Peru, is a joint venture between Flint Group (49.95% Flint Group GmbH) and CPPQ. The main activity of TGV is the production and sales of Liquid Packaging inks (solvent and water based) as well as the resale of Narrow Web, Flexographic Plates and Sheetfed Inks. This acquisition to fully own TGV provides Flint Group with the ability to build market position in the liquid packaging film & foil and water-based ink market in Latin America’s Andean region. It also gives Flint Group the opportunity to further grow narrow web and plate sales in this region along with sheetfed inks. Antoine Fady, CEO Flint Group commented, "This latest acquisition continues in our strategy of developing a market leading position in Latin America where we aim to be the print consumer supplier of choice to the Pac

Diversified Label Images of Birmingham, AL has purchased the Gidue M5 430 (17”) with 8 color stations and die-cutting.  Traco Manufacturing, Inc. of Orem, UT has purchased the Gidue M5 630 (25”) with 9 color stations and die-cutting.  Both of these machines are multi-substrate capable and also feature the patented Gidue FlowerTM  print deck design.   Both presses were ordered with Gidue’s latest Digital FlexoTM technology which fully automates the printing and die-cutting processes, leaving the operator free to concentrate on organizing the work flow to achieve maximum efficiency.  <<This technology is new to North America and fits perfectly with our Lean Manufacturing culture here >> said Mat Jones, President of GIDUE USA, LLC.  <<It will take time, effort and education for the advantages of Digital FlexoTM to become well known here in the US, but the advantages are considerable and that is simply impossible to keep a secret” Jones went on to say.>> “We

Styers Equipment has developed a strategic partnership with Colordyne Technologies (CDT) to perform installations for the Digital Flexo-bility™ upgrade program in North America. As a well-respected and experienced company in the printing press installation industry, Styers is a prime candidate to handle CDT's retrofit installations. This digital conversion program allows you to turn your existing press into a state-of-the-art hybrid digital web press. The modular digital print station enables operators to use existing inventory of plate cylinders and dies precluding the necessity for an expensive off-line servo driven die-cutter/slitter re-winder.The CDT 1600-PC Retrofit digital label and tag printing platform offers an industry-leading combination of high print quality, fast job production, and low equipment cost. Powered by Memjet, the CDT digital print station runs at speeds up to 225 feet per minute at 1600 x 1375 dpi.   The Digital Flexo-bility upgrade is an ideal p

UPM Raflatac has added three new products to a range of thermally printable tags purpose-designed for netted produce. The new Fruit Tag Gloss, Fruit Tag Thermal Eco and Fruit Tag Thermal Top feature a special adhesive which gives dry edges to the tags while also increasing the tag stiffness. The combination of dryness and stiffness offers clean performance during printing and end-use as well as ease of handling.   UPM Raflatac net-tagging products are delivered quickly from stock through the FastWeb service. All options have the thickness and stiffness essential for manual and automatic net tagging, with reinforced constructions and good thermal print results ensuring extremely reliable performance. Minimum order quantities start from just 1000 m².

With its new SONORA Plate Green Leaf Award, Kodak is recognizing customers who have demonstrated outstanding efforts to reduce their environmental impact through a variety of initiatives and best practices. Four companies have been named as recipients of the inaugural award. SONORA Plate Green Leaf Award winners— Druckerei Aschenbrenner GmbH , GP Tryk , Alfa-Design and Gruppo Konig Print —are all users of KODAK SONORA Process Free Plates and all have robust environmental practices in place. These practices include monitoring of energy and water usage in an effort to continuously find ways to improve efficiency. “We congratulate each of the winners who have implemented environmental initiatives across the company to reduce their environmental impact and further their pursuit of sustainability,” said Rich Rindo, Kodak General Manager, WW Graphics Marketing and Vice President, GECF. “The caliber and quality of the submissions we received for the award demonstrate the impressive strid

Sturdy Labels have recently taken ownership of an Edale eight colour UV dual servo FL-3 machine at their factory in Skelmersdale, UK. The machine is 350mm wide and boasts an array of additional options including; turnbar, delam/relam, cold foil, lamination, variable length sheeting function and a delivery table. This high specification press is being used by the UK based label printing company to produce self adhesive labels primarily for the food and personal care sectors, but also the chemical, glass, electronic and paper markets. Sturdy Labels already have an Edale Beta 250mm wide press as well as a number of other presses’ by other manufacturers, and began searching for another press in 2011 when looking to venture further into film and flexible packaging applications (the FL-3 runs on a number of substrates from 12-450 micron). They first saw the FL-3 on the Edale stand at the Labelexpo Europe show in 2011 and later visited Edale’s showroom based in Hampshire where they were

Edale are pleased to announce the appointment of Mike Donovan to the position of Customer Service Manager at their UK Head Office, based on the South Coast. Mike comes to Edale with previous experience in the print industry having formerly worked at an ink manufacturer for over eight years. During this time, he worked as a Project Manager before moving across into a Customer Services Manager position for the latter five years of his career there. Edale’s Managing Director, James Boughton, says “Mike was the ideal candidate for the position within our Customer Services department. Mike was recommended to me by an industry friend and his knowledge of the industry, as well as some background on the Edale product range, meant he was a great fit and we are confident he will be able to hit the ground running”. Mike will head up the Customer Services department with responsibility to oversee the Spares & Service arm of the company, as well as incoming customer enquiries. Alongsi

As in every aspect of life, time has not stood still for the self-adhesive label industry. Since its beginnings in the 1930s, it has evolved continuously on every front – in terms of materials, print technologies, dispensing technologies, and, of course, people. Many of the entrepreneurs who, in the 1970s and 1980s, created the extraordinary web of small label printing businesses that formed the backbone of today’s massive global industry are today retirees. Their companies – which have claimed some 50% of the world’s label business – have been the subject of M&A activity, of cross-border partnerships. However, as in all family businesses, as time moves on, they are the subject of generation change. FINAT’s Young Managers Club – a lively part of the European self-adhesive labelling association’s infrastructure– is dedicated to making that process work. Great ideas with limited resources The FINAT Young Managers Club held its second Summit in Warsaw in November 2013. Its headlin

Labelexpo Asia 2013 reached new visitor heights as it celebrated its tenth anniversary edition. Held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) during 3 – 6 December, the four day exhibition was attended by a huge number of high quality visitors to see the largest ever floor plan of exhibitors. Welcoming 21,416 visitors, Labelexpo Asia 2013 achieved an increase of 18.8% over 2011’s show which attracted 18,019 attendees. Visitors came from 87 countries, up 11% from 74 countries in 2011. Covering 8,500sq/m of net space, with just under 300 exhibitors, the show was larger by 10% versus the last edition and also experienced its highest ever onsite level of space rebooking for 2015. Many leading international and Asian companies exhibited including: Avery Dennison, Epson, Gallus, Lintec (Suzhou) Tech Corporation, Omet, Nuova GIDUE, UPM Raflatac, Xeikon, Zhe Jiang Wei Gang Machinery Co and Zhongtian Machinery Works Co. There were more than 70 running machines being demonstrate

Global consumption of sleeve labels is forecast to grow at a calculated annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6% in the 2014-2019 period, according to a new market report by Smithers Pira. Sleeve label consumption is projected to reach 6,425 million m₂ in 2014, with a value of approximately $4.4 million. Sleeve labels are growing at a faster rate than the label market as a whole, and represent a projected 12.5% share of global label consumption by area in 2014. The Future of Stretch and Shrink Sleeves to 2019 examines the global market and technology trends from 2008 to 2019, and presents forecasts for the five-year period to 2019. Market forecasts are presented by sleeve label format, materials, end use sectors and geographic markets. The report also examines the sleeve label industry supply chain and key market drivers and trends. Sleeve labelling has been used predominantly for food and beverage product packaging. Combined, these areas account for a projected volume share of 85.3% i

Euro Plus, the developer of the world’s leading NiceLabel barcode and RFID labeling software solutions, has recently acquired its American distributor NiceWare International. Through its offices in USA, EU and Asia, NiceLabel International will be able to offer expanded service and support to multinational enterprises and the NiceLabel global partner network. As the creator of a new generation of centralized enterprise labeling solutions, NiceLabel software is the leading choice for SAP and Oracle environments. Having recently achieved Oracle validated integration, NiceLabel Americas will be the group’s global center of excellence for Oracle solutions. The world's largest organizations rely on NiceLabel to achieve label and brand consistency, secure centralized control and to meet regulatory requirements. "NiceLabel's corporate mission is to become the leading global provider of professional labeling software. The acquisition of Niceware brings us another step closer t

Ashbury Labelling, the leading provider of specification and labelling services to the food and drink industry, has appointed Klaudyna Terlicka as the new Regulatory Services Manager responsible for overseeing Eastern Europe. With ten years’ experience in the food and drink industry, Klaudyna joins the team from Leatherhead Food Research where she was a Principal Regulatory Advisor on legislation in the EU, UK, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and several other Eastern European countries. In her new role at Ashbury Labelling, Klaudyna is responsible for expanding the company’s services in Eastern Europe, which include product and ingredient specification, artwork verification and regulatory training to ensure customers’ labels comply with EU and local regulations. Klaudyna commented: “I am delighted to be joining the Ashbury Labelling team. Eastern Europe poses unique challenges for food and drink manufacturers and retailers as there are very specific interpretations of

Today, CHILI Publish ( www.chili-publish.com ) announces the release and commercial availability of CHILI Publisher 4.0, its next generation online editing solution. This release brings a ground-breaking new version of online editing technology to the market with new features and functionality that essentially redefine what is possible with an online editor. These new features, combined with the updated framework, make CHILI Publisher 4.0 a milestone release for CHILI Publish, giving partners and customers a fully customizable online editing tool they can use to edit any kind of document today, and in the future. “The market keeps moving at a fast pace. User’s demands, operating platforms, and the channels in which we communicate are just some of the factors that continue to impact the dynamics of the graphic arts industry. This release of CHILI Publisher not only keeps pace with those changes, it was built to be ready for whatever the future may bring," comments Bram Verniest

KODAK SONORA XP Process Free Plates, already in high demand among medium-size printers, are now more accessible for large commercial printers. With new larger plate sizes and a 0.40 mm gauge, SONORA XP Plates are allowing more printers to shift to process-free plate production, yielding environmental and economic benefits without sacrificing performance. KODAK SONORA XP Process Free Plates remove the chemistry, electricity, water and equipment used in plate processing, while delivering the quality, productivity and print capabilities of mainstream processed plates. SONORA XP Plates are now available in plate widths up to 1,495 mm, and Kodak is scaling up with even larger plate sizes over the next several months. Currently, SONORA XP Plates are the only true process-free plates commercially available in these formats. VLF plate sizes, a variety of gauges—including 0.40 mm—and fast imaging speeds make SONORA XP Plates ideal for a wide range of medium and large commercial printers. R