TECHNOLOGY | SURFACES
Thin film manufacturer
Leonhard Kurz is working with subsidiary PolyIC
and its partners Wittmann Battenfeld and Georg
Kaufmann Formenbau in the implementation of the decoration technology IMD Varioform with in-mould labelling
process. The containers, which have a wall thick- ness of 0.4 mm (including the label), are removed from the 4+4-cavity stack mould via high-speed, side-entry automation and stacked on a discharge conveyor following camera-based quality control. MCC Verstraete is also active in the HolyGrail 2.0
project, a global initiative that encourages manu- facturers to switch to packaging with digital watermarks, enabling simpler and more efficient recycling. The company is collaborating with Orkla, a leading supplier of branded consumer goods in Europe and India, in the project to meet sustain- ability goals. “We have ambitious sustainability targets by
2025, including sustainable packaging,” says Pavel Komurka, Packaging Innovation and Sustainability Coordinator at Orkla. “Now is the time for explora- tion, innovation and overhauling our methods of recycling. Not only do we need to reduce the amount of plastic used in packaging – without generating more food waste – we also need to ensure that plastic packaging is not just theoreti- cally recyclable, but actually being recycled. Bringing in Digimarc barcodes is a huge step towards achieving this goal.” The packaging targets Orkla is aiming to hit in
the next five years will see all packaging materials designed with sorting and recycling in mind. Plastic packaging will contain at least 50% recycled components, or components from renewable resources. It will also be designed to be easily identified by automatic sorting processes, ensuring as much material as possible is ultimately recycled. Orkla has worked with MCC Verstraete to
introduce Digimarc barcodes into the packaging of one of its most prominent products. The interactive IML labels of MCC Verstraete – labels printed with a Digimarc barcode – allow new and improved recycling streams. It makes plastics easy to scan, which means automatic sorting is much more accurate.
20 INJECTION WORLD | October 2021
The possible applications for Digimarc barcodes go beyond sorting. Scanning technology and augmented reality apps have the potential to provide information in an entertaining way. For Orkla, this is one of the most exciting aspects of this technology. “We are creating ways to actively engage with consumers,” adds Komurka. “With Digimarc, we can alter how people view waste. For example, when a bottle is empty, it becomes unwanted, something to be got rid of. Now imagine if, instead of just throwing this away, the consumer could scan the bottle with their smart- phone and be shown new possibilities. We could present ideas and provide examples, from reuse options to new products created at the end of a recycling stream. We could make this fun; not only amaze them with the technology and information, but provide a story that they, themselves, are a part of. With Digimarc, we are able to explore an exciting new world of opportunities.” Orkla adds that it is focused on contributing to
HolyGrail 2.0 with the implementation and further proliferation of Digimarc barcodes. The first step in this process is to introduce interactive IML across a wide range of packaging materials. Thin film manufacturer Leonhard Kurz is working with subsidiary PolyIC and its partners Wittmann Battenfeld and Georg Kaufmann Formenbau in the implementation of the decoration technology IMD Varioform with in-mould labelling. IMD Varioform in combination with IML makes it possi- ble for the first time to integrate 3D-deformed touch sensors into plastic components and to perform the four process steps – decoration, thermoforming, injection moulding and punching – in one single processing phase. The company says that compared to conventional processes, this saves manufacturers a great deal of cost while at the same time offering a high degree of freedom in terms of design and the materials selected. Both continuous designs and single-image designs can be imple- mented. This technology also enables the use of recycled plastic materials. IMD Varioform is a series-ready process that can be used in various industries, such as automotive, household appli- ances and consumer electronics. The process was conceived as a further develop-
ment of Kurz’s IMD technology in order to realise the production of plastic components with sophisti- cated 3D geometry. In the IMD Varioform process, a laminate film is transported via the specially developed foil feed device and heated via an infrared beam before it is drawn into the cavity of the tool through the vacuum system. A 3D-de- formed sensor is placed on the opposite side, and
www.injectionworld.com
IMAGE: KURZ
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
