The wider market for narrow web printed packaging

The wider market for narrow web printed packaging

Group editor, Andy Thomas, looks at the challenges facing narrow web converters looking to move into flexible packaging and carton applications. This is a major opportunity for shorter run production as marketers look for new solutions
 
For many years, narrow and mid-web press manufacturers have either manufactured dedicated presses for packaging applications, or adapted their label machines to be able to handle these radically different substrates.
 
Comco, now a part of Mark Andy, developed its whole business model on building mid-web presses for carton and flexible packaging applications, while Arpeco and Aquaflex led the way in manufacturing dedicated carton press lines with, respectively, the Impressionist and Cartonmaster machines.
 
Folding cartons
In theory, inline carton production is an attractive proposition, with its ability to add decoration such as foiling, embossing and varnishing in one pass, instead of moving stacks of sheets between machines.
 
Lightweight folding carton stock – typically around 350gsm – can easily be converted on modern narrow web presses as part of a wider product mix. A good example of this is Tamar Labels, located in the South West of England, which has been producing cartons on an Edale press in its BRC/IOP accredited package printing hall. Another interesting example is Ukrainian converter Pechatny Dvor, now part of the Marzek group, which is producing ice cream cones from folding carton board on its Rotatek Perfect offset/gravure/flexo combination press. This author has also covered the installation of highly specified Omet Varyflex presses for the conversion of complex cigarette packs in China.
 
And this Labelexpo sees the return of dedicated carton production on narrow/mid-web packaging presses from the likes of MPS, Nilpeter, Omet and Gidue.
 
A separate category of inline carton press is manufactured by companies like Komori Chambon and BHS, now part of the Gallus group. These are dedicated, highly robust machines which incorporate both heavy duty full rotary and flatbed die stations. Established carton converters have invested in these machines as a complement to their sheet-fed offset capacity.
 
Flexible packaging
Flexible packaging presents its own challenges for narrow web converters. The materials are thinner and more sensitive to heat, requiring completely different tension control settings and heat management on the press. In the days of shaft/gear-driven presses, these proved difficult challenges to overcome, although companies like TW Parker in Liverpool, UK, successfully built businesses around narrow web offset production of sachets.
 
The vast majority of flexible packaging work is produced on Common Impression (CI) presses, because holding the film on the impression drum while printing makes it easier to maintain registration on even the thinnest films. Ink systems are overwhelmingly solvent or water-based, and fully compliant with food migration regulations.
 
The real breakthrough for narrow web converters came with the widespread introduction of servo motors, making it possible to compensate for film elongation. By reading registration marks on the film, each station can slow down or speed up to ensure register is maintained. Programmable servo tension control systems, where settings can be recalled for repeat jobs, are another important enabling factor.
 
To manage heat on the press, ‘cool’ running UV curing systems were developed by companies like IST and GEW, using a mix of chilled water circulation through the impression roll and heat dissipating technologies inside the lamp head. These technologies continue to develop to new levels of sophistication, including closed loop water cooled UV lamps.
 
The issue of migration of UV inks is a subject in itself – and is covered in more detail elsewhere in this magazine – but migration is not an issue if the films are laminated. We have therefore seen the launch, by companies like ABG, of dedicated film lamination systems for narrow web film converters, while companies that traditionally served wider web markets – Comexi for example – have developed lamination machines ideal for mid-web press widths. Gidue has also announced that it will launch its own inline laminator at Labelexpo Europe in Brussels this September.
 
Along with these systems, specialist film inspection rewinders have been developed by all the leading narrow web finishing machine manufacturers to handle the tension and width requirements of packaging films.
 
With a skilled press crew, typical flexible packaging materials gauges of 18 microns can be handled on these machines. Indeed, the Marzek operation in Ukraine is printing films down to 12-microns – way below what the press manufacturer said was possible.
 
Italian converter ACM, a specialist in narrow web UV flexo flexible packaging converting, also prints regularly down to 12 microns on its 7-color 530mm wide OMET VaryFlex F1.
 
US converter, Ross Print, converts pouches, sleeves and shrink film in runs down to 10,000 pieces, and in anything up to one million. Machinery used in this market includes a servo driven Mark Andy 2200 press with a 17 inch web width servo, and a high speed slitter rewinder from CEI, along with BST Shark inspection system.
 
Market opportunities
There is clearly a major opportunity for shorter run production of flexible packaging substrates, as marketers look for opportunities to target specific demographics or events. These trends are also persuading wider web flexible packaging converters to investigate narrow web technology as an answer to these shorter run requirements. Some retail groups are now looking to eliminate labels altogether on fresh food products that have a known weight, opening up significant new opportunities.
 
‘They want to wrap fresh produce and print the weight on the film rather than adding price-weigh labels,’ explains Hoessein Hadaoui at leading Dutch label converter Telrol. ‘This is already being done by some major UK retailers – for example flow packs of tomatoes at Asda, where all the nutritional and weight information is printed on the film,’ he adds.
 
Some of Telrol’s biggest customers have promised to support the converter in making this transition over the next two years, and the company is considering adding a web offset capability to handle films as well as carton sleeves.
 
‘Our label business will always exist, but in the future we want to supply our customers with the whole package, whatever the format or print process required,’ says Ton Jacobs. ‘We will have a lot to learn about printing on materials like gas barrier films, including issues of ink migration and how these films stretch on the press. But, with our customers’ support we see great opportunities in these areas.’
 
Telrol’s MPS UV flexo presses have been specified with chill rolls and heat management packages. ‘We already use the MPS presses for film, and the quality is fantastic, especially on reverse side printing,’ concludes Jacobs.