Product decoration technologies: market overview

It is difficult to comprehend that until relatively recently there were only two choices when it came to applying a label to a pack, for example, licking a pre-gummed label or getting out the glue pot.

Today however, there are a wide variety of methods used to decorate a pack and it is very easy to make assumptions about the colorful livery that brand owners adopt to make their product attractive to the consumer.

A key aim of this series of articles is to explore most of the commonly used methods of pack decoration, explain why a particular method is used, examine the key characteristics, as well as the processes and technologies involved in producing the finished decorated pack.

DEFINITIONS/SCOPE

We will cover four key categories of product decoration (see Figure 1.1).

LABELING – A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Attaching a label or descriptive marker to a product is perhaps the earliest form of product decoration. Since their first appearance the role of the printed label has been transformed.

The use of labels today is more diverse and wide ranging than ever before, covering more label processes, technology solutions, materials and requirements than at any time in the previous history of labels.

Almost every week sees new label solutions and requirements and even the once paper-only label may now be found in metallic foils, metalized papers and films, in plastics of all kinds, in synthetic papers, metals, fabrics, on rubber, and much more.

From one or two basic mechanical printing processes label technology has advanced to the stage where virtually every printing process – from letterpress to offset, flexo and UV flexo to screen, gravure to hot stamping – can be found. Increasingly label manufacturers and users are producing labels with a variety of digital printing technologies.

We will uncover the story behind each labeling system including systems that integrate labels into plastic packing during its manufacturing process (known as in-mold labeling).

The function of the label is simply to say what is inside the pack and in some cases to visually enhance the pack.

The label has multiple functions.

It needs to provide the consumer or user with all the necessary regulatory information . name of the product, ingredients/contents, manufacturer/supplier contact details, weight/volume, health or safety information, usage instructions, etc., and provide a means to market the product. The information provided on almost all labels today is governed by comprehensive national or international legislative requirements.

It is easy to speculate on when the earliest paper labels may have been used … a piece of papyrus stuck on an earthenware pot 3,000 years ago or a hand-written label on handmade paper made by the Chinese 2,000 years ago. In the fifteenth century paper had become more available, allowing the label to be widely used.

The earliest known 'printed' labels were used during the sixteenth century for bales of cloth. By 1700 printed medicine labels were in use, and possibly wine labels in Italy.

Paper-makers were probably the first to use wrappers with a printed design in the center.

It may be these designs were cut out and used as labels.

Until the end of the eighteenth century labels were printed by hand on wooden presses, using handmade paper.

In 1798 two inventions led to the proliferation of labels: the paper-making machine, invented in France by Nicolas-Louis Robert; and the principle of lithography, discovered by Alois Senefelder in Bavaria.

By the 1830s labels were used on all forms of packaging material and on a wide range of products. The next revolution was to be color printing (Figure 1.3).

DIRECT DECORATION

Direct decoration involves the application of unsupported liquid ink directly onto the pack or product.

Direct printing using both analogue and increasingly digital methods, is being used for a wide variety of applications and it has evolved for use on high throughput production lines.

With conventional direct printing, ink can be applied to the pack or packaging material using a variety of printing techniques, but in most cases the ink carrier comes into direct contact with the pack or product and the image is transferred under pressure.

Direct digital printing which is especially suitable for drop on demand inkjet printing is a significant growth area and will be dealt with in Chapter 3.

This non-contact process allows ink to be transferred directly onto the product with no contact being made with the pack surface.

DECORATIVE LABEL TECHNOLOGIES

Unlike the direct printing methods, labeling involves the application of an identifying or descriptive marker that is attached to a product or pack usually via an adhesive.

The three main labels systems that will be discussed are pressure sensitive labels, where the adhesive is already coated onto the label, glue-applied labeling where the adhesive has to be applied during the application process and in mold-labels where a label is inserted and attached to the pack whilst it is being manufactured (see Figure 1.2).

Each labeling and decoration technology, their role and relevance to different packaging formats will be covered in depth in this book.

The 4 main sleeving formats used today will be covered in detail here.

These formats are:

• Pre-welded shrink sleeves

• Stretch sleeving

• Reel-fed wrapround sleeving

• Roll-on shrink-on sleeving (ROSO).

FLEXIBLE PACKAGING

The use of pre-printed flexible materials in the primary decoration of products, offers a convenient way of integrating packaging and marketing requirement into a single system (with no need for any additional labeling).

The use of printed filmic, paper or foil materials formed into wrappers, packs, pouches, lids, bags or sacks etc to cover or contain a product has many distinct advantages over other decorative packaging.

In effect the wrapper itself acts as both the packaging and the label and therefore requires no further decorative input. It is therefore low cost, light and disposable and is an extremely attractive option for brand owners.

Flexible materials can be difficult to convert and there are some issues to consider where the packaging material is in direct contact with say a food product.

We will explore a number of flexible packaging systems in use and their roll as a carrier of product decoration and branding in a variety of market sectors.

MARKET STRUCTURE & TRENDS

Traditional wet-glue applied and pressure-sensitive (self-adhesive) labels make up approx 76% of all labels used globally, but while the growing usage of plastics in packaging has stimulated the rise of filmic pressure-sensitive labels, it has also opened markets for the newer labeling technologies.

Sleeving technologies (shrink, stretch, wraparound and roll on shrink on) are increasing with a share of 17 percent, in-mold with a 2 percent share, with other labeling technologies making up the balance of the market at 5 percent (see Figure 1.5).