DHL adopts InNo-Liner system

DHL has commissioned an InNo-Liner system for labels without liner material and without silicone coating at its Nohra site in Thuringia, Germany, developed jointly by cab and Herma.

'InNo-Liner allows us to cut waste by around 60 percent, and it's about 40 percent more cost-effective than conventional labeling systems,' said Aiste Slabokaite Heid, business unit director north-east at DHL Supply Chain Germany and Alps.

Because the material is silicone-free and initially non-adhesive, the InNo-Liner label web can be wound onto itself and printed in exactly the required length. The Nohra facility specializes in supplying more than 25,000 internal customers of Deutsche Post across Germany, with approximately 750,000 labeled shipping cartons leaving the logistics center each year.

'Because we use so many labels in logistics and warehousing, labeling is a major topic for us,' emphasized Slabokaite Heid. 'We have ambitious sustainability goals and rely on innovative logistics solutions to achieve them.'

The system consists of the InNo-Liner material from Herma and a further development of cab's Hermes Q print-and-apply system. 'For InNo-Liner labels, we only had to create a new module to activate the adhesive and apply the labels,' explained Clément Kleinclauss, managing director of cab France. 'Switching is therefore very easy.'

Alexander Bardutzky, CEO of cab, added: 'With the HERMES QL, a single system can handle three types of pressure-sensitive material: InNo-Liner, conventional linerless and traditional self-adhesive labels.'

Dr. Guido Spachtholz, managing director at Herma, highlighted the decisive difference: 'With InNo-Liner, the material does not stick when wound. Because it can be wound onto itself without silicone, it can also be freely printed.'

For InNo-Liner material, the Hermes Q is equipped with a special activation unit. 'It uses multi-nozzle technology that activates the adhesive during application with a fine water mist,' noted Sven Pleier, key account manager at Herma. 'This ensures immediate adhesion on absorbent surfaces and allows the label to reach its full bond strength within a very short time.'

Marco Sawall, head of the central post warehouse at DHL in Nohra, concluded: 'For me, there are four measurable benefits: zero grams of silicone liner waste, optimal use of each label down to the last centimeter, setup time below one minute and no waste at all. For the future, there is no better system than moving away from silicone liner bands.'