Karlville opens shrink sleeve R&D test center

Karlville Development, a manufacturer of converting machines for Slitting and Shrink Sleeve Converting & Application, has opened the doors to its new research and development test center, in Miami, Florida.

Sales have doubled for Karlville over the past year, as more and more converters decide to exploit the opportunity from shrink. Located near the company’s headquarters in Miami, Florida, the center has slitting, seaming, inspecting and cutting equipment for the conversion of sleeves and a complete range of machinery for the application of shrink sleeves on containers. The center represents an end-to-end testing environment for both converters and their end user customers. 

Karlville has created different configurations of the line, which can be manipulated to test empty and full bottles, cups, glass containers, aerosols and even square-shaped containers. Karlville vice president Raul Matos believes that the center’s six-meter steam tunnel will be able to test over 80 per cent of the industry’s possible applications.
‘We believe that the converting part of shrink sleeves is only 20 per cent of the equation,’ he says. ‘This is a very complicated business with a lot of variables. The contents of the container, the inks and the material all react very differently. Nearly all products are custom-made.

‘All of our customers are free to use the facility and do tests for end users. It’s an opportunity for converters to offer even greater service to their customers. We want to help them to grow their business.’

The center is also open to materials and consumable suppliers that want to test new product combinations and end users that need to find a solution for new product launches. Matos explains that they have already had everyone from brewery beer masters, checking that the heat shrink process doesn’t affect taste, to fish product companies measuring the effect of temperature on their anchovies.

‘The shrink sleeve market is growing at between 15-20 per cent,’ says Matos, ‘and we think there is a huge potential for our flexo narrow web converters. Each converter already has a vast number of shrink sleeve prospects from their existing customer base. We are introducing a new smaller-sized applicator to the market that we are dedicating to narrow web converters, and they can profit from applying the sleeves to the container themselves. It’s very exciting.’

The test center promises to be an invaluable resource for converters that are both experienced and new to the shrink sleeve market. ‘It’s like having your very own testing lab right on your doorstep,’ says Matos.