Custom-built improvements
14 March 2007Labelling suppliers are combating a highly competitive market with customer-led innovations and improved service. Robert Meade reports
Labellers are turning to their customers to find a way forward in a highly competitive market that is widely predicted within the industry and in the latest business intelligence to get even tougher.
However, Ian Wright, managing director of the diversified label group Harlands, believes that while price is an important factor, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) programmes to deliver on quality, quantity and on time, and product innovation are also fundamental issues. “There has been a development toward plastics and films that give a different result, specialist inks with effects, such as holographic effects, RFID is an issue and will be more so over the next three to four years.”
He adds that a policy of following the work has been a strategic decision for Harlands and that the company's Polish operation would be increasingly important. “More and more UK manufacturers are moving to Eastern Europe, especially in toiletries and cosmetics, and we set up out there in 2005 to support that and that's something we will be focusing on for growth.”
A recent survey by BPIF McInnes Corporate of label companies in the £500 million UK market found that more than half of companies had begun strategic reviews, but for some in the industry that meant looking for some home-grown ways to meet increased customer demand on price, technical innovation and service.
Premier Labellers, the machinery and contract packaging company in Harwich, Essex, is typical of those that have expanded their products and services. Director Tracie White said: “We moved recently and I'm not sure we would still be here as a business if we had not. It was a move we had to make.”
The company left its 3,000ft2 premises on a farm site for a modern 17,000ft2 unit on an industrial estate to follow a two-prong strategy, which White says has so far paid the dividends they had hoped for. “The UK market had been pretty flat for us so we made a decision to expand our contract labelling and also go overseas to market our machines. In the last six months we have not had a week without work,” says White.
The big change was in the contract labelling business, which is now run with the machinery operation in a new factory with state of the art warehouse and logistic facilities, and gives the option of site trials and marketing runs. These vary from 10,000 to 20,000, but can typically reach 27,000.
According to White, at the previous site handling large volumes was problematical: “We would sometimes have 15 pallets turn up, which we could not manage. We were turning contract work away because of it. We had no choice, we had to invest. Now we can handle 40-foot trailers and the pallets we need, and the larger people are now using us.
“There are also other advantages. Customers come to us because they don't want to buy a machine until their volumes increase. They see ours in operation, buy one and take it home. We also do trials and for larger customers we handle marketing runs of a new product before the main production runs.”
Advanced Dynamics, the Bradford-based company formed out of the merger of WLT and Crusader Europe, is bringing a new machine into the UK, the Eurokett Mini labelling system, with the first installation at a UK own-brand bodycare products manufacturer. It is sold as a robust and speedy labelling system capable of front, back and wraparound labels. Managing director Malcolm Little says it can operate around the clock with minimum maintenance and is already in service in many manufacturers across Europe.
Other companies are looking to be at the top of their game. BBK Labelling & Coding Solutions recently completed a demanding project for an inkjet cartridge manufacturer. BBK, based in Marlow Bottom, Buckinghamshire, provides its own conveying and engineering systems produced in Germany with Zebra and Intermec printing units.
“Lots of companies turned it down or thought they could do it and couldn't, so they came to us,” says BBK managing director Derek Dix. “The key was the accuracy. There are four breathing holes for the ink to breath and which enables the ink to be taken out of the cartridge. We had to place a label between the four so that there was an overlap on all four, but none could be totally obscured. The tolerances were 0.2mm.
“We also did another system for a cosmetics company for lipstick and eyeliners. The job was to position a batch code and use-by date onto the base. It was quite complicated to get right, but basically it was the pitch of the rollers that controlled the process.”
Accuracy was also a key factor in Pago winning the sale of a second labelling system to speciality packager Essel Propack for its Arista Tubes subsidiary. Arista produces seamless tubes for toiletry and cosmetic companies and offers a tube labelling facility to apply self-adhesive labels for high quality decoration. The difficulty had been to achieve accurate orientation to the cap.
A Pagosystem 270 DT comprising two Pagomat 6/2 labelling units for wraparound labelling was recently shipped to the US to replace a 2270i system taken on loan. It has a rotary labelling unit with a separately driven drive and application roller, and an electro pneumatic lifting unit. The machine labels capped tubes prior to filling and heat sealing in diameters of 20-50mm and 50-200mm long at 140/min. Labels are a maximum width of 167mm.
Arista Tubes managing director Jeremy Paul says: “The machine is safe and reliable, with advantages over other systems in its accurate orientation to the cap. Labels are a customer choice and preference for use on tubes and the challenge for the printer is determined by the product and its usage, which affects the choice of material and adhesive.”
The US Tag and Label Manufacturers Association in its latest market study also comments that the market for labelling and product decoration will become even more complex and competitive. Conventional pressure-sensitive labels are becoming commodity products and the move is toward no-label look through film-based rather than paper-based materials. Customers are also demanding more technically innovative and sophisticated labels for specialist applications.
Unilever brand manager Cheryl Calverley, who specialises in on-pack promotions, chose the Denny Bros Fix-a-Form for a campaign to promote the new squeezy Marmite bottle. One million 12-page fold out labels tell buyers how they can collect on-pack tokens towards free gifts and also enter the Marmart art exhibition.
She says: “It simply shows the product barcode and then draws the buyer's attention to the Free Marmart Kit. All the persuasive marketing support text is listed inside the pages along with the terms and conditions and images of the prize. It's all perfectly presented in an innovative, user-friendly way that customers will warm to.”
Another innovative product is an affordable individual label for the cold supply chain of live vaccines and biopharmaceuticals developed by Timestrip. The iStrip is an inexpensive device with a liquid encapsulated in a label that records the presence of very low temperatures with an irreversible colour change, typically from red to colourless, at any freeze point that is required.
The company says current freeze indicators are too expensive for individual application and are mostly applied to whole cases, even though temperatures can vary greatly within a case. Timestrip business development director Tristan Allen says: “The scale of the problem increases as products move down the logistics chain where refrigerated transport is replaced by ice-packs or un-calibrated fridges.”
A further innovation in the temperature-critical sector is a range of security labels for the medical and laboratory industry developed by Computer Imprintable Label Systems. They ensure the integrity of sample or specimen items, such as forensic kits, from collection to analysis. CILS says the labels will withstand temperatures from -1960C to 1550C and can be pre-printed onto white, coloured or clear materials with variable data added by a bureau service or in-house.
Avery Dennison has developed a new hotmelt adhesive for its self adhesive labelstocks for cool-temperature air-blown label dispensing. The company says Fasson S2065 can be used on a variety of substrates, including apolar films, sausage casings, stretch PVC and PE and modified atmosphere films at temperatures as low as 1-100C.
The S2065 comes as standard with two facestocks - the machine coated paper Primecoat and the Thermal Top K8P for direct thermal variable information labels. The service temperature is -40C to 50C for use on frozen foods as well as retail food trays and other prepacks.
With the European Standard for Braille on pharmaceutical products due to come into force in October, Ditone Labels, part of Harlands, has expanded its specialist Braille products. It is in partnership with Clarity, a charity for the blind that produces a range of toiletries and household cleaning products, to produce a front label in Braille and a back label in Reel and Read with legally required information.
Meanwhile, Christian Salvesen Foods recently contacted Codeology to discuss its needs to apply outer case labels for a new product range being introduced. After an on-site demonstration, they opted for the Codeology P100 Print and Apply and iBar Ethernet control software for the application. The only problem was lead-time as the product was to be launched in only 4 weeks. However, Codeology rose to the challenge, and delivered, installed and commissioned a machine in less than 3 weeks
The project manager at Christian Salvesen commented: "We were impressed with the speed of delivery, and the simplicity of the installation and training. Within a few hours of Codeology arriving at the gate we were successfully labelling our first products. They even tailored their software for us to incorporate our sell-by codes."
A cross-web labeller that provides speed up to 20 cycles a minute, more than matching the speed of typical multi-lane host machines such as thermo-formers, has been announced by Atwell.
The Koch Matrix cross-web machine is specifically designed for food and other hose-down applications, with sealing to IP65, stainless steel construction, and perforated PTFE rollers that allow water to drain and avoid contamination, combined with a design that incorporates a minimum of flat surfaces that could retain water.
Speed is 33% higher than previous Koch machines, due in part to a new height adjustable fan box and tamp fins for supporting the labels immediately prior to application. In place of the traditional vacuum box used by the majority of cross-web machines, the Matrix generates its vacuum to hold the label through a series of patented honeycomb fins built into a newly designed height adjustable fan box.
This is said to provide closer control of the labels ¬ in particular helping to prevent small labels twisting ¬ and higher accuracy, while also allowing the tamp label application system to be set much closer to the product, reducing label time in flight and raising speed.
Atwell has also launched the Matrix Express IP65 pressure-sensitive labelling head, Developed from the Matrix Cross-web machines the Matrix Express label heads share many common parts including full stainless steel construction and perforated PTFE rollers.
For the security market Sessions of York has developed a high-speed labeller to apply a transparent self-adhesive label over high security printed areas providing tamper evident laminate. It is aimed at the financial, security and direct mail industries, where perhaps a password or pass code is included, and is designed at inhibiting the alteration of print and ensuring any attempt to remove the label would damage the document beyond use. Sessions says the SL380 operates at linear line speeds in excess of 100m/min or 40 labels/sec and is able to detect transparent labels with an ultra sonic label scanning system.
Despite the many advances that have been made in the search for greater production efficiency, there is still scope in the market to meet demand for improvements in speed and operating efficiencies. The ready prepared meals specialist Loxton Foods has switched from a manual desktop label printing operation to an automated print and apply system using the Markem Cimjet 342 corner wrap labeller. Previously operators were required to change the label information for 150 batches. The Markem system holds all the label designs in its memory and prints on to the labels by thermal transfer.
Contact details
Advanced Dynamics
T: +44 (0) 1274 220300
E: malcolm@advanceddynamics.co.uk
Atwell Labellers
T: +44 (0)1342 844146
E: sales@atwell-labellers.co.uk
Avery Dennison
T: +44 (0) 1670 714 361
www.europe.fasson.com
BBK Labellers
T: +44 (0) 1628 473670
www.bbk-labelling.co.uk
CILS International
T: +44 (0) 1903 219000
www.cils-international.com
Denny Bros
T: +44 (0) 1284 701381
www.dennybros.com
Ditone Labels
T: +44 (0) 1480 862622
www.ditone.co.uk
Codeology
T: +44 (0)1722 322244.
www.codeology.com/
