Opportunities beyond labels

Labelexpo Americas is no longer just about labels. It goes beyond labels and into packaging related areas, into new business solutions, and into closer working relationships with customers. MIKE FAIRLEY provides a first analysis of some of the new opportunity solutions to be found at the 2010 show (14-16 september 2010 Chicago)

Self-Adhesive Labels: Adding Value in the Sustainability Arena

Contributed article by FINAT

"There can be few industries in which the word 'sustainability' can be defined in such depth and detail as self-adhesive labelling," says Jules Lejeune, Managing Director of the self-adhesive label industry association FINAT. "The lengthy and complex value chain means that our members are challenged to interact at many levels and in many ways with the environmental agenda. The chain begins with raw materials such as paper, films, polymers, and chemicals. It continues through energy-efficient lamination and label converting and the recycling of processing waste; and concludes only with disposal with recycling-friendly consumer packaging."

FINAT celebrates 30th Label Awards Competition at its Annual Congress

FINAT, the world-wide association representing the interest of the self-adhesive labelling industry, announced the winners of its annual label awards competition.  In this 30^th edition, containing a great number of highly commended contributions, both ‘Best in Show’ and ‘Printing Processes Group Winner’ award went to Pilot Italia, Italy for its Barceló Rum labels.

Disturbed Supply Chain Puts Self-Adhesive Labelling Industry under Pressure

FINAT, the European association for the self-adhesive label industry has been alerted by growing concerns about the tight market conditions their members are facing. In the second half of 2009 and first quarter of 2010, the industry has seen strong signs of demand recovery. As a result, the market decline for the year as a whole in 2009 was restricted to 5.3% in comparison to a double digit decline in the first half of that year. In the first quarter of 2010, this upward trend continued and demand for label materials grew by 12.5% compared to the same quarter a year ago, when the global crisis reached its lowest point.

Intralogistics backs research and development

A summary of the current market situation in Germany was prepared in early spring by the Intralogistics Forum, which is supported by various VDMA associations and the Association of Storage and Associated Equipment Manufacturers – Verband für Lagertechnik und Betriebseinrichtungen. Compared with the record year 2008, the sales of German intralogistics suppliers with their approx. 100,000 employees dropped by 21 % to 17 billion EUR in 2009. Although the signs of an upturn are increasing, the long project lead times and the fewer orders received in 2009 mean the sector will have to cope with another decline of some 17 % this year. The forecast sales figure for 2010 of a good 14 billion EUR corresponds roughly to the level of 2005. Ways out of the crisis are shown by the trend study “The Future of Intralogistics 2020+”. This identifies three mega-trends that influence the sector: resource efficiency, globalization and innovations. Efficient resource management focuses all the resources in the manufacturing and utilization process that are relevant to intralogistics. One answer to the shift of the economic centres of gravitation is global service. Market shares in these growth markets are best achieved with innovations, which have always been the basis for success of the German intralogistics sector.

Innovation and New Business Opportunities to Industrial Printing

Atlantic Zeiser Group, a leading innovator and technology supplier for digital narrow format, packaging and direct product printing processes, today announced it will be demonstrating its innovative modular end-to-end system solutions portfolio DIGILINE at FESPA, in Hall A1, Stand 315.  On display will be the DIGILINE Web 280 with a GAMMA 70P UV print module, as well as DIGILINE Single Product 500, ideal for very short runs of direct product printing, also featuring the GAMMA 70P print module.

“Atlantic Zeiser is bringing an innovative set of solutions to FESPA that are ideal for industrial digital printing on labels, packages, booklet labels and transactional documents, as well as direct product printing for high-level and quality-oriented applications,” said Ralf Hipp, Vice President of Digital Systems. “These end-to-end system solutions demonstrate the flexibility of our modular printing approach and the versatile integration options with different modules. The DIGILINE series delivers increased productivity and flexibility, with low operating and consumption costs. This just-in-time production system reduces both production and inventory costs for high-quality four-color products.”

Product Details

The DIGILINE system solutions from Atlantic Zeiser bring one-stop shopping to narrow and single product printing operations. Its modular structure enables extreme versatility by allowing integration of various print modules to complete an end-to-end highly customized production process.  The DIGILINE series being demonstrated at FESPA includes:

DIGILINE Web with a GAMMA 70P UV printer is the perfect solution for a wide range of applications in the narrow printing market that supports users in increasing both margins and productivity.

This high-speed, single-pass four-color (CMYK plus white) UV solution combines an Atlantic Zeiser controller and data preparation software with Xaar 1001 grayscale print heads to produce stunning quality at a high-resolution of 360 dpi that visually appears to be as much as 1060 dpi. The system handles web widths of 30mm to 280mm and delivers speeds up to 180m/min.

DIGILINE Single Product 500 is a brand-new and highly versatile system designed to print on a range of different product form factors, including 3D. It supports product widths from 10mm to 500mm at speeds up to 90 m/min. Optional features include print verification, PDF/VTx, anti-counterfeiting and track & trace for a full end-to-end small batch single product marking system. DIGILINE Single Product 500 is designed to simplify the process of late-stage package customization for packages with high-quality print requirements. Increased demand for late-stage package customization is driven by a number of factors. These include the need to reduce costs by operating with smaller production quantities to minimize storage capacities, and just-in-time supply with short reaction times especially with packages marked with variable data such as barcodes and product ingredient indications in different languages.

The GAMMA 70P full-color UV print engines incorporated in the DIGILINE series use special UV inks manufactured by Atlantic Zeiser to optimize printing on a wide range of substrates. Incorporated in web printing systems, it brings offset class printing quality and speed to the narrow printing market. The variable drop capability of the industrial-strength Xaar 1001 printhead consistently produces smooth tone graphics, fine detail, sharp text and barcodes to generate great results quickly, cost-effectively and reliably. A choice of UV curing systems is also available to suit specific applications. These include Atlantic Zeiser's new eco-friendly SMARTCURE LED UV curing system for temperature sensitive products. LED UV curing is especially suited to thin materials that can be damaged by heat used in traditional label-based UV curing.

The GAMMA 70P printer integrated in these system solutions is a premium model well suited for both pinning and wet-on-wet for sharp texts, barcodes, pictures and fine details and logotypes.

3M Alliance for High Quality Substrates

Atlantic Zeiser’s alliance with leading substrate manufacturer 3M will also be featured at FESPA. This alliance adds a high quality label stock provider that complements the Atlantic Zeiser product range for UV inkjet label printing.  During FESPA, Atlantic Zeiser will showcase 3M’s new digital label stock designed specifically for UV inkjet printing.

“The new 3M digital label stock for UV inkjet printing complements our comprehensive high performance range of label materials that meet the needs of almost any label application,” said Vera Witte, German Product Manager for 3M Performance Labels.  “This new UV digital label product, 3M 92913, is a matte silver polyester combining superior printability for UV inkjet and excellent durability to abrasion and chemicals. Our cooperation with Atlantic Zeiser has helped us to develop products and solutions which meet customer needs for high performance label applications. UV inkjet printing combined with LED curing offers significant advantages to converters, and 3M is pleased to be contributing to this advancement in the narrow-web label printing industry.”

EFSA publishes the updated database of health claims

EFSA has published the updated database of general function claims under Article 13.1 of the Regulation on Nutrition and Health Claims. This database contains the 4.637 health claims submitted to EFSA for evaluation.

More informations here