Labelling Blog

A trusted partner can be the difference for ever-evolving industries in these rapidly progressing times. Forged on a foundation of communication, such relationships can yield mutually beneficial results for both business firm and client. Take packaging professionals: Aligning with the right coding and marking supplier can help navigate the crucial ink-selection process. And the best ink suppliers study the evolution of packaging materials, understand the range of manufacturing environments, and proactively apply rigorous ink development processes to help ensure code performance and integrity. Bausch+Ströbel (B+S), a leading international manufacturer of primary packaging production lines for pharmaceutical products such as ampoules, bottles, vials, single-use-syringes and cartridges, approached, global coding and marking specialists, Videojet to select the right ink for their applications . B+S’s highly precise material-handling solutions, including vacuum starwheels, provided the

Correct product coding and marking is vital to manufacturers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). Not only does it help improve supply chain efficiency and visibility, it also provides customers with vital information about the products they buy. In today’s world getting codes right isn’t just important – it’s crucial. This article explores the fundamental considerations that manufacturers need to undertake in order to avoid packaging errors that impact their bottom line. Prevent Errors rather than Calculate the Damage A recent survey conducted by Videojet found that 50 to 70 percent of coding errors are caused by operator error, with the most common mistakes consisting of incorrect data entry and job selection. In response, many companies introduce more checks during the packaging operation. However, this does not address the root of the issue – which is why the wrong codes are being entered in the first place. It’s in the manufacturer’s self-interest to understand the scope and

FINAT, the international association for the self-adhesive label industry announces its 2015 labelling events. Learning and networking are key aspects of the industry and are of course greatly valued by the worldwide labelling community. In 2015, FINAT will again be organizing a number of important events, just like it did in 2014. These events will give current and future label community members the opportunity to meet with peers, clients, press and other industry related contacts, get informed and exchange information. A busy schedule in 2015 (in chronological order): FINAT Labelling Competition : this annual competition showcases the best of self-adhesive label and narrow web print. It recognizes and rewards achievement in terms of both end use/ marketing impact and print and converting quality. Awards are given – by a jury of leading industry experts - in the main segments where self-adhesive labels are used: alcoholic beverages, food, household, industrial, cosmetics,

Xeikon announces the presence and participation of the InfoTrends analyst for Color Digital Label and Packaging, Robert Leahey, at its upcoming edition of the Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations – www.xeikoncafe.com . Mr. Leahey, who brings many years of experience in the printing industry and who has also conducted custom research on numerous print technologies will be speaking at the Business Conference program. During the 3-day event, he will be engaging with label printers, converters and analysts on the latest market trends and the numerous innovative developments in digital production. “More and more of today’s packaging innovation depends on digital technologies,” Mr. Leahey comments. “I’ll give brand owner survey data to show why that’s so, and also insights about where color digital print for packaging is heading.” “We’re absolutely delighted to have Mr. Leahey speaking at our event,” adds Filip Weymans, Xeikon’s Director Segment Marketing Labels & Packaging. “With the

CHILI Publish ( www.chili-publish.com ), a leading developer of web-based publishing solutions, announces its Spicy Talks event to be held on February 12 th at the Crowne Plaza Bruges in Belgium. Spicy Talks will provide the company’s growing base of users with the ideal opportunity to maximize their CHILI Publisher potential during a day-long series of seminars. Attendees will also be able to interact with many of CHILI Publish’s growing network of partners. With several tracks available, attendees are able to build a personalized training day when they register for the event at www.chili-publish.com/spicytalks to ensure an extremely relevant experience. “Events such as Spicy Talks are gaining popularity as users seek focused venues that can deliver actionable ideas for improving business performance and increasing ROI on software and other investments,” says Bram Verniest, CMO of CHILI Publish. “As the number of CHILI Publish users has grown, it benefits the entire community to b

  One of the challenges all business owners have is to educate your customers about what you do. What makes your product and service better than your competitor’s similar products and services? Now, it does not matter if the claim you make about your products can also be made by your competitors. One of the better known business slogans is that of Woolworths. This company has used the slogan, “The Fresh Food People” since 1987. Think about that for a moment. Does that mean Woolworths is the only company selling fresh food? Of course not. In fact, if you are in the food business, then I would expect one of your goals would be to sell fresh food. Woolworths has an advantage here, not because it has the freshest food, but because it repeats its slogan over and over again. Fresh food is only one reason why your customers would buy food from your business. It is your responsibility to educate your customers via your food labels as to why the food you are selling is superior to

Michelman has acquired its long-time sales and service partner, Supack International P/L, making it an integral part of Michelman India.  Michelman India is dedicated to the development of the Indian market, with an immediate focus on the growing printing and packaging sector.  The company also has expansion plans to service other coatings and manufacturing industries that Michelman supports worldwide. Appointed as Co-directors of Michelman India are Mr. Pankaj Shah, Supack’s founder, and Mr. Steven Wong, Michelman’s VP/Managing Director, Asia Pacific.  With the Supack acquisition, the Mumbai, India based Michelman India hosts a business center, laboratory, and an experienced team of sales, technical service and business operations personnel.  By keeping the existing team intact, customers will experience a seamless continuation of business and technical services.  The facility’s laboratory has been equipped recently with several industry accepted product testing capabilities for pac

Avery Dennison has announced the appointment of Shelley Woods Whiting to the position of Vice President, Marketing of its Materials Group North America business. In this role, Whiting will lead the marketing teams for Label and Packaging Materials and Graphics Solutions divisions. “Shelley has a track record of creating value leveraging market insights, execution tools, customer intimacy and technology,” said Darrell Hughes, vice president and general manager of Avery Dennison Materials Group North America. “The commercial strategies she will develop and implement will foster growth opportunities for Avery Dennison, our customers and the rest of the value chain.” Whiting comes to Avery Dennison from Georgia-Pacific Chemicals where she served as Director of Marketing, Commercial Development & Sustainability since 2008. She also has held business management and marketing positions with DuPont and FMC. Whiting holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Tufts Univer

This year, P.E. LABELLERS shall, for the first time ever, participate in the ANUGA FOOD TEC 2015 trade fair, which will be held in Cologne from 24 to 27 March. The food industry is one of the three most important sectors for P.E. LABELLERS, which is provided with small labellers for the high-quality canning industry as well high-speed labellers for oil and milk multinational companies. Especially with regard to the sector in question, the P.E. LABELLERS range comprises machines for label applications with guaranteed seal reinforced with hot glue on polished caps for glassware or tamper-evident applications with Maya, the new sleeve applicator. Another section of reference for this sector is dedicated to Adhesleeve products, similar to solutions applied on Friesland-Campina cans or on drinkable Yogurt such as Yoplait. We complete the technology portfolio with the Bi-Pack applicator, a solution for food products to promote on the market with 2x1 promotional configurations. P

iSys Label, Canadian developer and manufacturer of short to mid run digital label printers, is pleased to announce they will be presenting free educational seminars on “short run digital label printing” at Graphics of the Americas (GOA) being held February 26-28, 2015 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, FL. Located in booth #160, iSys Label, along with their collaborators Avery Dennison, UniNet, Kompac Technologies and IntoPrint Technologies, will present on the various aspects of “Short Run Digital Label Printing.” These presentations will last for 20-30 minutes, in both English and Spanish, and cover all facets of the short run digital label market – from substrates and offline finishing to the upcoming trends in the digital label market space. Additionally, there will be live demonstrations of the different types of equipment and the opportunity to talk to the experts. Mark Hopkins, President of iSys Label, says “we’re excited for the opportunity to present at G

Leading label laser cutting machine manufacturer, Spartanics, has unveiled a new market changing technology for label converters looking to achieve optimal results with lower start up costs.  Spartanics proudly introduces the X-350 Laser Cutting Module, engineered to be integrated seamlessly into Smag Graphique’s E-Cut and Digital Galaxie Semi-rotary Converting Solutions. The X-350 is a modular laser station that can cut material up to 350 mm wide with an infinite length.  It is capable of reaching cutting speeds of up to 100m/minute, comes standard with Spartanics’ Fastline and Optimization Control Software and is available in either a 200 watt laser or 400 watt laser.    Since the X-350 is modular, it can be integrated into a SMAG converting solution from equipment inception or at a future date. “The X-350 module provides label converters a more flexible finishing solution that is equipped with all of the features our existing customers have come to expect from a market leadin

With plans to increase efficiency and customer satisfaction, Italian packaging prepress company Tadam has chosen to invest in a KODAK FLEXCEL NX Wide System and KODAK FLEXCEL NXC Plates to meet the demands of its broad customer base, including producers of high-end corrugated cartons. Designed to increase the visual appearance of corrugated flexo post-printing while opening the door for cost-saving opportunities such as the use of lower grade liners, the new additions to its pre-press product offerings will help Tadam, a long-time user of Kodak technology, achieve its strategic goals of expanding its business with existing customers and attracting new printers. The aim: the highest quality for corrugated cardboard Headquartered in Maltignano in the Ascoli Piceno province of Italy, Tadam is a prepress service provider operating mainly in the packaging sector. In particular, the company works with printers of corrugated cartons for the food, wine and footwear sectors, where top qua

2014 has proven a record year for sales of Sidel’s Predis™ dry preform decontamination technology. Worldwide sales for the year practically doubled, compared to the 2013 figures. In achieving this growth, Predis has helped produce beverages safely while reducing the costs and improving the environmental performance of the bottlers who have invested in it. More than 15 years ago, Sidel was the first company to recognise that it was simpler and safer to decontaminate the preform, being smaller and having a single straight surface, rather than the bottle. Sterilising the preform presents an easy method for producing sensitive products safely. When the dry preform decontamination solution was launched in 2006, the market was dominated by traditional solutions based on wet bottle decontamination. Predis was a breakthrough and inevitably soon became the accepted standard for the beverage industry. Since then, Sidel has enjoyed a leading position in beverage production technology and s

Xeikon, an innovator in digital color printing technology, is pleased to announce the first installation of its breakthrough Xeikon Cheetah digital label press, just months after the dedicated label printing solution was announced. UK-based Mercian Labels is the world’s first pilot site of the Xeikon Cheetah and has chosen this innovative, high-speed press to help it continue its double- digit growth path. Xeikon Cheetah, the most productive five-color digital label press in its class, will be installed early February at Mercian Labels’ new factory in Staffordshire, and run alongside their existing Xeikon 3000 Series digital press; as well as hotfoiling, flexo and inkjet technologies for an exceptionally Dr. Adrian Steele, Managing Director of Mercian Labels, comments: “We have chosen to adopt the latest generation of Xeikon digital label printing technology on the back of above-average growth in the digital part of our business, where we have run out of production capacity. Adding the

Labeling product provides greater UV blocking protection for the durable goods and transportation markets and offers a choice between gloss and matte FLEXcon , an innovator in adhesive coating and laminating, today announced the extension of its DPM ® product line with the launch of DPM® UVCM . The over-laminating film is a five-year exterior durable polyester film. It was designed with the tactile feel of a polycarbonate film, and provides the UV-resistance that polycarbonate does not to protect the graphics. The product was developed for compliance labels, nameplates, brand identity labels, warning and instructional markings, or any label that requires an extended life overlaminate. This complements FLEXcon’s existing DPM line of overlaminates which includes a gloss finish five-year UV-blocking overlaminate, DPM ® UVCG, as well as standard two-year options. “Creating this new product allows FLEXcon to meet the needs of our customers by providing a matte finished, exterior durab

The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) requires manufacturers, importers, downstream users and distributors of chemical substances and mixtures to adopt the standard by June 2015. NiceLabel has launched a free easy-to-use GHS Cloud solution that allows suppliers and users of secondary containers to print GHS compliant labels from any color label or The GHS regulation affects any organization (e.g. laboratories in hospitals, universities, schools, etc.) that supplies chemicals or uses chemicals within the workplace. It covers all hazardous chemicals and may be adopted to cover chemicals in the workplace, transport, consumer products, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. The GHS system provides a universal means of conveniently identifying substances that can pose serious risks to health and safety, helps keep people informed and safe, and prevents businesses from losing manpower and “In order to support organizations in their effort to comply wi

  Sidel has yet again succeeded in protecting its intellectual property (IP) in the US. This is the third time the company has enforced its IP rights on the same key innovation, which demonstrates Sidel’s commitment to developing and implementing innovative PET solutions and to protecting its rights to such innovations. The patent claims made by Sidel against the U.S. company Blow Mold Services (BMS) resulted in BMS being barred from selling new and rebuilt components featuring Sidel’s spindle chain technology and the validity of Sidel’s patent US 6,125,996 being reconfirmed. A critical part of the blow moulder, the spindle chain, transports the preforms within the oven for efficient heating prior to blowing. Sidel’s technology is precision engineered to withstand high oven temperatures for long time periods, delivering the preforms to the moulds in optimum condition for reliable blowing and overall performance. The settlement with BMS was reached in October 2014, and prior set

thanks to the cooperation of its certified distributor JF ALVES, the first GIDUE Combat MX2 has been sold to the Portuguese converter Codimarc . Founded in 1997 in Oliveira S. Mateus, Codimarc represents one of the biggest converters in the Portuguese overview. Lead by José Sampaio, Codimarc is specialized in the production of  labels, coding and labeling for several referent markets : Logistic and Transport, Agro-food Industry, Pharmaceutical & Chemical Industry. Company’s mission is all along focused on the supply of integrated solutions that combine the most advanced hardware, software and services that involve any type of coding and labeling solutions. “In Codimarc we work and invest a lot to give to the growing market demand the most transparent and credible labels. Our team of experts offers help in selecting solutions and technical assistance in order to give customers the most responsive, and effective financial stability.” commented Cristina Azevedo , Codimarc CFO .

Multi-Color Corporation (MCC) has announced the 100% acquisition of Multi Labels Ltd, effective, January 5, 2015. Multi Labels is based in Daventry, near London, England and specializes in premium alcoholic beverage labels, especially for spirits and imported wine with annual revenues of approximately £10m (USD15m). This acquisition completes MCC's plans for Wine and Spirit labels in the UK and Ireland, complementing our Glasgow and Dublin operations. Multi Labels' technology and supply base is common to our operations. Nick Monk and the management team will continue to run the business. "We welcome Nick and the team to our group and look forward to continuing to grow the Daventry based operation together." said Nigel Vinecombe, MCC President and CEO. Nick Monk, Multi Labels / Managing Director commented: "The Multi Labels team looks forward to an even brighter future as part of MCC, global leaders in Wine and Spirit labels.” Source: Multicolor Corporat

Fort Dearborn have announced the purchase of a new PCMC Aquaflex ELS-MAX press for its Elk Grove, IL facility adding significantly to the capabilities, efficiencies and capacity to support our continued shrink sleeve label business growth. The flexographic press is capable of printing water-base and UV inks in up to 10 colors. The press also features servo driven (gearless) and sleeve technologies for fast changeovers as well as the latest drying technology. “This press acquisition will ensure that we are able to meet the evolving needs of our shrink sleeve label customers”, commented Jeff Brezek, President and CEO, Fort Dearborn Company. “As part of our re-investment strategy, we remain committed to continued capital investments across our business to support our customers’ business objectives and Fort Dearborn’s continued growth”, added Jeff. The new press expands Fort Dearborn’s dedicated shrink sleeve production equipment that includes flexographic, rotogravure and digital

Ms. Ginger Cushing, Global Sales Manager – Packaging at Michelman has been appointed to the board of directors at the Association of International Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators (AIMCAL), by AIMCAL President, Mr. Dan Bemi.  Active with AIMCAL in the United States and Europe, she has written and delivered numerous technical papers for conferences, short courses and symposia around the world. Ms. Cushing joined Michelman in 2007, and is responsible for growing worldwide business for water based coatings for food packaging .  She began her career as a research chemist, and has held management positions in R&D, technical support and sales.  Ginger holds a Master of Science in polymer chemistry from NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT. Ms. Cushing is also active with TAPPI, where she has served as a division chair and was honored with the organization’s Division Leadersh

Colordyne Technologies has improved the already superior performance of the 3600 Series with a new Aspen Memjet engine upgrade. The upgrade allows the CDT 3600 Sprint, CDT 3600 Rotary Pro and CDT 3600 Laser Proconfigurations to run at speeds of up to 275 feet (84 meters) per minute with a resolution of 1600 x 1375 dpi at that speed. Actual speed will be dependent upon the print jobs' inks, drying, substrate, operating adjustments and specific job limitations, but no other inkjet system can meet this resolution and speed. Other benefits of the CDT 3600 Series include: Maximum material handling speed of 300 ft/min for future technology upgrades Enhanced print quality: send uncompressed files directly to the print engine More powerful RIP: faster data processing, RIP and print on-the-fly to eliminate time to first label Reliable user-friendly interface capable of running a wider range of applications In 2014, Colordyne Technologies introduced its 3600 Series,