Labelling Solutions
New opportunities in labelling Y
by Jonathan Sexton, marketing manager, Energy Curing Products, Sun Chemical
ou might be surprised about how often you interact with a label, for instance looking for the best by date,
checking calorie and nutritional information, or instantly diverting your attention to the branding that appeals to you or that you are familiar with. Labels play a critical role in the marketing of a product. Recently there has been huge growth in technology for labels within the market, due to economic, social, demographic and lifestyle changes. According to the Smithers Pira report, The
Future of Labels and Release Liners to 2021, this growth is the result of a number of factors, including consumer demand for convenience food, the growing presence of large retail chains, the relatively low cost with which labels can be replaced or changed, as well as the continuing need for barcodes and other secondary packaging applications that support food safety and pharmaceutical compliance issues. These demands are paving the way for new technologies and in turn influencing our own ink developments.
INK DEVELOPMENTS Several factors are impacting the label market today. These include demand for shorter runs, faster production times, quicker or even instant drying, minimal waste and energy usage, while also the need to be sustainable and meet regulatory requirements. We are constantly re-aligning our R&D efforts to develop inks to meet these market trends. There are a number of new ink technologies in the market today, from UV-LED to Electron Beam (EB) curing, which have advanced in recent years to meet the needs of converters, retailers, brands and ultimately, consumers.
NEW POSSIBILITIES UV-LED and EB curing offer significant benefits to converters by opening up newer opportunities. Although they use different drying processes both inks have minimal thermal impact on the substrate, which means they can be printed on unsupported films, expanding the range of applications possible beyond self-adhesive labels. This will enable converters to diversify into new markets such as wrap around, shrink sleeves and flexible packaging. Where previously converters made new
investments in the same print process as their existing press to optimise production work flows, today they want to expand their capabilities with new types of print capacity to address specific business opportunities, each with their own specific advantages. These include new curing processes such as UV-LED and EB as well as alternative processes, such as offset and digital printing. To help customers diversify we always strive to improve the versatility of our products, which gives our customers the ability to use
inks on a wider range of substrates and to a better standard than previously done.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Improving print quality is a big factor in our R&D. By enabling printers and converters to produce better quality print, they are better able to differentiate themselves from competitors. This also allows for conversion from other technologies; for instance, if we can get UV flexo printing to the same quality as gravure, it will enable converters to reduce run lengths and move to UV flexo. This is particularly important in expanded gamut printing where orange, green and violet or blue are added to the normal four colour process set to produce up to 90 per cent of the Pantone colour range gamut, so replacing spot colours and dramatically improving make ready times in short runs. One area that has advanced labels and
curing technologies is the transition from wet-glue to self-adhesive labels. While wet- glue labels are still an important part of the market, in recent years self-adhesive labels have become more popular with brand owners exploiting shelf impact for clear ‘no look’ labels and special effect printing.
SUSTAINABILITY There is growing interest for sustainable packaging and labelling due to an increasing focus from brand owners on carbon footprint and life cycle impact analysis. This trend for sustainability is further creating pressure to reduce waste from release liners in self-adhesive labelling. One potential solution is linerless labelling systems, which are gaining in popularity, because they eliminate the need for release liners. The absence of backing material also means that reel changes are quicker and easier. There is also a need to consider the end-of-life scenarios for printed labels and packaging and the impact of inks on composting and recycling. All these factors will increasingly drive future R&D efforts. For the ink industry this means increasing our sustainability focus in a number of ways. First we’re measuring our own key performance indicators and publishing these in an annual sustainability report. We’re also formulating inks and coatings with fully or partially biosourced and recycled materials to improve their sustainable profile. As we have witnessed over the last five years, there are various factors driving the development of ink technologies, which all present new labelling opportunities for converters. Technology will continue to advance to meet market demands and, in turn, help to grow the opportunities within the industry.
Labels play a critical role in the marketing of a product
www.sunchemical.com/ brighterideasforlabels
16 July/August 2018
www.convertermag.co.uk
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