Top world label honors for FINAT members

FINAT members have won top honors in the 2008 World Label Association’s competition, which was held in association with Labelexpo Americas in Chicago.
 
So good was the quality of the winning labels that the judges were unable to agree on which was the absolute best and declined to name any as the ‘World’s Best’.  Judges’ chairman Tony White said: ‘We could not reach a unanimous agreement but two labels from FINAT members were so good, each could be considered to be the best in the world.’
 
FINAT, the global trade association for the self-adhesive label industry,  holds its own label competition in conjunction with its annual congress, the winners of which go through these world finals which this year saw eight winners from FINAT members, eight from America’s TLMI label association and six from Japan’s  JFLP organization.
 
The quality of a tiny label, printed in Japanese, from Germany’s Schreiner Group GmbH for attaching to a pharmaceutical syringe and a large Esso oil label, pictured, printed by Turkey’s Detsan Baski San ve Tic Company caused the judges’ quandary. ‘Each was so wonderful that it was impossible to say which was the absolute best,’ said White.
 
Schreiner’s syringe label, silk screen printed on polypropylene substrate reproduced extremely sharp Japanese characters within a tiny space, won the Screen Line category. ‘Everything on the label, produced for Roche Diagnostics GmbH, was so clear and sharp with extremely small print and it is probably the best I have seen in a lifetime of label printing. It shows what can be achieved with the screen process and the label quality would be hard to beat at any level,’ White said.
 
Esso’s A4-sized label, for its Ultra, Ultron and Uniflow Oils for the Russian-speaking market in the Screen Color Process section, was also ‘an outstanding example of screen printing on a polyethylene substrate’ with a mixture of four color halftone images and a bright red banner with nice reversed-out lettering. ‘It was another hard to beat example of a relatively large label,’ White commented.
 
Other winners from FINAT’s membership included:
 
A label for the Basler creative hair style 150ml containers produced by schfer-etiketten GmbH, in the Screen Line & Screen group, was ‘a simple design with a couple of contrasting colors produced to a high level of screen printing on polyester film using UV inks…which showed what can be achieved on a production basis.’
 
In the Multi Process Line category Dow Industries’ label for Insatiable Caramel Kiss won honors for its ‘immediate eye appeal’. ‘Printed by UV flexo methods on a film substrate with matt and gloss varnish made extremely good use of foil stamping,’ said the judges.
 
A ‘neat tag with good clean die cut lines’ for Marchesi Frescobaldi Santa Maria won world honors for Arca Etichette S.p.A in the tags section. ‘The background tag and the booklet printed by offset were perfectly color matched,’ was the verdict.
 
Teollisuustarra Oy’s label for Farmos Powerclean, with its ‘contrasty’ printing on a very product-orientated brushed chrome foil was ‘a very serviceable label fit for use’ and won the Flexo Line Screen/Tone group.
 
In the Letterpress Color Process section, Kolibri Labels B.V.’s label for Greenland Body Wash, which won the Best in Show award at FINAT’s June competition, was the only letterpress label to break Japanese domination of these categories.  ‘Exceptionally well printed on a polypropylene based using UV technology – a very nice label deserving better!’ was the verdict.
 
Among Offset Wines and Spirits labels, Tapp Technologies Inc’s product for Lincourt Santa Ynez Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, was a ‘clean-looking labels using UV offset litho printed on a paper substrate…and was spot on.’
 
Skanem Introl SA’s label for Royal Velvet Cream was ‘a nice job…printed using UV flexo (and) an example of the startling effects which can be achieved with flexo.’
 
In the Innovation section, the Schreiner Group’s Black Panel Effect capacitive sensor – a step on from the normal printed circuit board – consisted of a black layer which showed symbols and a functional layer transmitting electronic pulses. It was ‘an achievement printed using UV screen printing onto a filmic substrate in seven passes when the degree of accuracy required is so high’ said the judges.
 
The Digital Printing section saw Tapp Technologies Inc’s Auto Moto 2006 California Chardonnay  ’evocative yet simple’ label win the honors. ‘This example shows what can be achieved with digital technology using a very fine screen ruling and four individual colors,’ was the judges’ verdict.
 
The international judging panel consisted of Mike Buystedt, of the USA, Prof Hanna, of Japan, Peter Petran, of Australia, with Tony White in the chair.

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