Label Industry Global Awards 2020

Usually celebrated during Labelexpo, this year’s Label Industry Global Awards was conducted remotely, but the quality of the entries – and the final winners – was undiminished. 
Label Industry Global Awards 2020

The winner of the R. Stanton Avery Global Achievement Award 2020, sponsored by Avery Dennison, had already been announced as Federico d’Annunzio (see interview on previous pages). The virtual awards ceremony gave him the opportunity to react to the prize, while the winners of four other categories were also announced. 

The judging panel for this 17th edition of the awards, chaired by Labels & Labeling and Label Academy founder Mike Fairley, also included Chris Ellison, president of Finat; Craig Moreland, past chairman of TLMI; Greg Hrinya, editor of Label & Narrow Web; Jean Poncet, editor-in-chief at MP Medias; and James Quirk, group managing editor of Labels & Labeling. The panel poured over the entries over a series of conference calls prior to the virtual ceremony to draw up the shortlists and decide the winners.

Award for Innovation (for companies with more than 300 employees)

Joint winners: 
Lenze SE – The use of data already available in a press servo drive to provide Smart Condition Monitoring instead of adding extra sensors was regarded by the judges as ‘a look into the future, providing enhanced information to improve the building, efficiency, maintenance and running of machines’.

Paper Machine Converting Company – Developed completely in-house, the PCMC Meridian Elite’s laser ablation technology for anilox cleaning completely eliminates the possibility of hotspots, provides higher performance and reliability, and allows customers to have complete documentation of the cleaning process for the life cycle of their anilox. 

Shortlisted: 
Avery Dennison – The development of a ground-breaking thermal transfer label that is the thinnest on the market, enables 33 percent more labels per roll, fewer changeovers, reduced freight costs, offers substantial environmental benefits – and all at a lower overall cost – was seen as particularly positive for the industry.

HP Indigo – The flawless integration of pre-press, VDP composition, color management, and RIP into a powerful DFE (Code name ‘Edison’) that meets the particularly demanding requirements of label and packaging applications impressed the judges. It was developed as a joint effort between HP Indigo, and industry leaders Global Graphics and Esko.

Award for Innovation (for companies with less than 300 employees)

Winner: 
GMG Color – The GMG ColorCard digital proofing system enables converters to achieve significant time and cost savings. Proofs are color-accurate first time, with very tight delta tolerances. Substrate changes can be quickly recalculated and printed, with ColorCards easily including the addition of tints, tolerances or barcodes. 

Shortlisted: 
GEW – The GEW next-generation LeoLED UV curing system was seen by the judges as fundamentally changing the economics of LED, offering converters an LED option at almost half the cost of earlier models. It uses the same power supply as mercury arc systems, delivers a 35 percent higher dose, and 40 percent higher intensity.

Tecnocut – The automatic calibration of die-cutting accuracies to below 0.4 micron is achieved using the Tecnocut electronic system, providing converters with greater control in the die-cutting of material. As materials and coat weights become increasingly thinner, the judges felt that enhanced die-cutting performance was worthy of recognition.

Environmental and Sustainability Award 

Winner:
Avery Dennison Brazil – The implementation of a Circular Program to connect converters, brand owners, recyclers and others, to direct waste that would have previously been discarded in landfills into the production of cellulose paper and, subsequently into paper towels, was recognized by the judges as a blueprint for the future development of the industry.

Shortlisted: 
Avery Dennison – The judges liked the new fully repulpable, and more sustainable to produce, all-temperature adhesive. It offers faster, cleaner converting by converters and less adhesive transfer, leading to high uptime for end users. 

Phoseon Technology – Energy savings of between 75 and 85 percent and the elimination of an air exhaust system have been achieved by customers through the implementation of Phoseon’s UV LED curing systems when compared to prior drying systems.

Rising Star Award 

Winner
Elizabeth Yerecic, Yerecic Label – The rising start award, sponsored by the Label Academy and Avery Dennison, went to Elizabeth Yerecic of Yerecic Label. Elizabeth joined Yerecic Label full-time in 2017. Immersing herself in the industry, she was quick to join the workforce development committee at TLMI and helped to co-chair two successful sessions, ‘Training for your future’ and ‘Strategies for hiring’, at the 2019 printThink meeting. Elizabeth is the team lead at Yerecic for the product development cross functional team, and successfully launched Yerecic Label’s SustainLabel! line. Elizabeth is also passionate about the environment and lobbied for Yerecic Label to join the Association of Plastics Recyclers. Upon joining, Elizabeth immediately joined the label working group. She has become a key figure in the growth of Yerecic Label.

Shortlisted: 
Andrew M Boyd, Blue Label Packaging Company 
Jesse Freitas, StickerGiant 
Lindsey Muchka, Tailored Label Products 
Vineeth Bhandari, Divya Impex

Mike Fairley, chair of the judges, said: ‘I, on behalf of the judging panel, would like to commend and congratulate all this year’s Label Industry Global Awards finalists and winners. The stand-out brilliance in their innovation, leadership and sustainability, and dedication to improving their businesses, is a fantastic inspiration to the label and package printing industry. 

‘This year, more than ever, it is vital that their achievements and contribution to moving our global industry ever forwards are recognized, particularly in the absence of a live awards ceremony, as we weather these unprecedented Covid times.’

James Quirk

James Quirk

  • Latin America Correspondent