LMAI: Extending membership to interiors of India!

On 9th of December 2017, Label Manufacturers Association of India (LMAI) conducted a “Technical workshop and networking session” at hotel The Lalit, Chandigarh. It was a very successful event attended by almost 100 delegates giving credibility to LMAI’s efforts to extend its membership to smaller towns that are now attracting investment in production of labels. The event besides delivering knowledge provided opportunity to printers to join the mainstream association with a platform to interact and network with their peers in the industry. The event was sponsored by Avery Dennison India Private Ltd., SMI Coated Products Pvt. Ltd., Flint Group, NBG Printographic Machinery Co. Pvt. Ltd., Provin Technos Pvt Ltd. and HP Inc. and offered an opportunity to them for making presentations to new entrants in nascent areas.

The evening’s first presentation was made by Ankur Joshi Product Manager of Provin Technos Pvt

. Ltd. He explained in detail about the Miyakoshi presses offered by them. This was followed by a very thought provoking session by Bhupinder Singh of Avery Dennison. He initially explained how Avery partnered with printers to offer the PS Label solutions engineered to their specific needs. He then spoke on ground realities and effects of competition in the label industry with emphasis on the imperative need to innovate and decorate their product adding value to the end product such that even if the margin in terms of percentage wise remains the same the quantum of profit gets bigger due to higher value of the end product. He also gave a comparison of PS labels to wet glue and suggested ways to motivate wet glue customers  to switch over to  PS labels. Shamim Alam of HP Indigo impressed upon the need for change in the label industry to achieve growth. He presented case studies in personalization with digital to achieve success and dwelled on possibilities by going digital. Harshal Mahajan of SMI Coated Products Pvt. Ltd. made a presentation to educate printers on the right selection of face paper, adhesive and liner. He also spoke on the effects of weather, ambient temperature, storage condition and service temperature on labels and label materials. Sailesh Sharma of Flint informed the gathering about upcoming trends in inks. He also explained the negative effects of migration and Flint’s support to customers for low migration printing and converting. He also spoke of Good Manufacturing Practices and benefits of LED UV inks offered by them. Finally Nitin Garg and Kishore of NBG Printographics presented details of the new indigenous full servo flexo press developed and offered by them.

LMAI President Kuldip Goel in his short speech impressed upon printers to invest in capabilities to innovate and create value in their products to attain continued growth. Harveer Sahni, on behalf of LMAI spoke on the path traversed by LMAI, benefits of its membership and the programs conducted by it. LMAI was established 15 years ago by a small group of printers and the association has thereafter grown to over 350 members. LMAI is recognized by global entities like Tarsus, FINAT and TLMI. It s also a part of L9, a global alliance of world’s leading nine label associations. LMAI organizes technical and networking sessions across various geographical zones of India. These include programs on cost restructuring, GST training and other important issues. Their annual conference has become a must attend event for the label industry. LMAI has partnered with Tarsus and extended their support to Labelexpo India. On the sidelines of next Labelexpo, LMAI will be hosting the LMAI label awards gala evening and the L9 meet where printer members from these global associations are expected to attend and network with Indian printers. LMAI also successfully publish their magazine, “Label Legacy”. The next LMAI Technical Workshop and networking meet is planned to be held early next year in Chennai.

In conclusion Rajesh Nema honorary secretary LMAI thanked the delegates for their presence and also acknowledged the hard work put in and support given by local printer members Aditya Kashyap and Vishal Vohra in organizing this successful event.  The evening ended with networking over cocktails and dinner.

Label Manufacturers Association of India

A-418, Mayuresh Trade Center,

Plot no: 04, sector-19, Vashi Turbhe Road,

Vashi, Navi mumbai: 400 703

Mob : 08097333995

Web: www.lmai.in 

Posted on behalf of LMAI by Harveer Sahni December 2017

Labels diversifying into different tangents

Label is primarily information appended to a product or its packaging giving the brand name, information on the product, its usage, safety instructions, manufacturer’s details, statutory information, prices and now bar codes that provide a system for track & trace, price information, inventory control and logistic support. How the label or the required information has been attached to the product has varied over the ages. The earliest form of labeling was done by etching, embossing or stamping brands and information directly on glass or metal containers. Labels have been in use for hundreds of years but labels as we know today have evolved largely after the 17^th century. Printing originated in China in the 11^th century and was further developed in Korea in the 12^th century but a wooden block printing press for mass printing was invented by a German Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century.  It was only in the earlier part of 18^th century that printed paper labels surfaced as a possibility but since adhesives to affix these labels were not available, their usage started later. By then lithography had developed, so directly metal printed containers started being used for packing and canning. Many products are still packed with modern canning processes using metal cans printed with the lithographic printing process. It was only in the 19^th century that printed paper based labels started being used for labeling and packaging using natural gum based adhesive to stick the paper labels to glass, metal or paper based containers and packaging. These labels in an evolving label scenario are now referred to as Wet Glue Labels.

With increasing levels of literacy, growing population and growth of packaged products, mass production in factories has become an imperative. New glass, paper, metal and plastic based packages are being developed to catch the eye of demanding consumers. The aesthetics are enhanced by affixing colourful and attractive labels. Faster labeling and packaging methods evolved as also the need to have highly decorated labels to service the need of consumers. Driven by this demand labels have evolved into different tangents. Diverse and technical labeling technologies have emerged. Listed below are some of the prominent technologies that labels have presently evolved into;

1. Pre printed labels on metal container
2. Wet Glue Labels
3. Self Adhesive Labels  
4. Self adhesive Liner less Labels 
5. Heat Transfer Labels
6. Direct on product screen printed labels 
7. Contact printing and stenciling
8. Laser  engraved labels 
9. Metal anodized labels 
10. Shrink Sleeves 
11. In Mould Label 
12. Digital: Direct on product Labels 
13. 3D Printed labels 

Pre printed labels on metal containers: Metal containers or cans are made from tin plate (steel

covered in a thin tin layer) or of Aluminum and steel coated with a lacquer. The labeling is done in any of the three different ways listed below;

• Metal tinplate sheets are printed by offset process and then converted into containers.

• Preformed round metal containers are printed using a curved surface printing machine. Each color of ink is placed on a different (plastic letterpress) plate, and then transferred to a single rubber blanket which re-transfers the inked image to a can allowing all colors to be printed at a time followed by ink curing and varnishing.
• Preprinted labels of paper, film or foil are laminated to preformed cans. These labels can be printed by, flexo, offset, gravure, or digital printing processes. These can be highly decorated on high end hybrid narrow web presses having advanced finishing capabilities. These labels can be applied as full wrap around labels or part labels with the balance surface left coated to show a metallic lustrous effect.

Wet Glue Labels: These labels are also referred to as glue applied labels. These formed the mainstay

of product labeling until well into the middle of last century. Labels initially printed on letter press machines and later on offset presses, were gummed manually and applied to the bottles or containers.  In 1880 De La Rue came up with a machine for gumming labels but this had a problem as paper labels would curl as soon as they would come out with gum applied on it making it difficult to handle.  From my personal experience I can cite example of how our company adapted to manual gumming of labels. Our parent company was established in 1939 to produce fountain pen inks and office adhesive that were packed in glass bottles. To achieve optimum level of production we devised an interesting method of applying glue and labeling. Those days the final packing was done in wooden cases, corrugated boxes came much later. We took a wooden crate and turned it upside down, spread a full roll of surgical cotton on it and then covered it with a thick cotton cloth that was tightly fixed by nailing it all around. This was then dipped into water overnight with its face downwards. In the morning we would squeeze out the water and our gumming pad was ready. A thin solution in water of natural gum (Gum Acacia) that grows on trees was applied on the pad and then labels spread on it. We would have the unlabelled bottles on one side of this pad and with a little gum on the finger, which made it a little tacky, lift the evenly gummed label off the pad and place it on the bottle without any curl and put on the other side for further packaging.  Subsequently with development of high solid faster drying Dextrin based adhesive automatic machines to apply gum and dispense labels to the bottles were developed. This made large scale production on automated production lines possible.

 

 Direct on product screen printed labels: Screen printing saw growth in the Indian label scenario in the middle of last century. A lot of consumer product that shifted from glass to plastic packaging also opted for screen printed containers. However this did not last for many years as self adhesive labels with the high end decoration they offered soon became the preferred option. However screen printing on container is still in use but has limited application.

Self Adhesive Labels: In 1935 “Ray Stanton Avery” developed the self adhesive label also referred

to as Sticker or Pressure Sensitive Label. This label revolutionized the way how the world branded and labeled their products. The label basically consists of a face stock which could be paper film or foil, coated with a tacky non drying adhesive and protected with a backing also referred to as release liner. The label after printing and die cutting just needs to be lifted off the release liner and placed on the product achieving instant bond on applying pressure, unlike the wet glue labels that need drying after application otherwise they would shift and look bad. The self adhesive label industry has over the years evolved to offer a diverse range of labels catering to various industries and applications that include fmcg products, lubricants, cosmetics, food, Pharmaceuticals,  variable information, logistics, brand protection, etc. In the initial years these labels were printed and die-cut on slow flat bed letterpress presses and with time they are now printed on high speed flexo rotary or combination label presses with capability to decorate and finish the labels in line in a single pass delivering finished labels at the end of the line. These labels are used on high speed label dispensing machines adding to production volumes for end user.

Self adhesive Liner less Labels: Self adhesive labels as described above have an issue as regards the

environment. The release liner and waste matrix after die cutting is not generally recyclable, though efforts are being made in this direction. This waste goes either to the landfills or is incinerated impacting the environment adversely in both cases. Moreover if the liner can be done away with while converting this type of label, it will amount to cost saving and become eco friendly. Considerable amount of work has been done in this direction and various options are now available. The simplest one being to make a tape like product printed, and siliconised on one side and adhesive coated on the reverse and self wound. However these labels that can be cut with sharp corners, cannot be die cut and dispensed in regular labeling equipment. Many European and US based food companies are already using such liner less labels. There is development being done to overcome the challenges of die-cutting complex shapes and dispensing cost effectively.

Heat Transfer Labels: PET film that is precoated with special release lacquer is reverse printed by flexo, offset or gravure to form labels in roll form. The image is transferred onto the container or product using heat and pressure. The labels are a composition of inks and lacquers selected so as to perform to customer’s specific needs. On transfer these labels are just the image and no substrate is transferred. Many years ago Mumbai headquartered Paper Products Limited (now Huhtamaki PPL) commissioned this technology known as “Therimage” with help of Avery Dennison. Later with self adhesive label emerging as  very decorative in presentation, this technology lost its popularity. In recent times it has resurfaced. It is extensively being used by the pen industry.It is now being extended to garments and other product segments.

Contact printing and stenciling: In present times even the corrugated shipper cartons bear self

adhesive labels needed for identification, inventory control and logistic requirements. In earlier days as I mentioned, wooden cases were used as shipper cartons. People would write on them using marker pens but when need for aesthetics became important stencils were made of tin plate. They were placed on the wooden cases and ink brushed over them to imprint the required information. Later when corrugated boxes started to be used for final packaging, roller contact printers with changeable rubber types and foam ink rolls were available to print the information that could be changed by changing the type faces as per need. Once corrugated cartons replaced the bulk of outer packaging, these cartons started to be printed and self adhesive labels applied, if needed. Stenciling is still used where wooden crates are required for final packaging.

Laser engraved labels: Steel or other metal auto components, like bearings need to be branded, they cannot be labeled with paper or film labels. Only the secondary packaging can be branded, this can amount to duplication and counterfeits. For this reason laser engraved branding is preferred. A laser beam which is a very small, focused point of laser power effectively superheats a tiny point of a surface and removes part of the surface, creating a permanent engraving. This beam of light is controlled and moved to create a brand name or permanent design.

Metal anodized labels: These labels are used in applications where permanent product identification

is critical such as equipment nameplates, signage, safety/warning plates, machine control panels, etc. Abrasion and corrosion resistance anodized aluminum labels are produced by chemical etching on photo sensitive anodized Aluminum. These are mostly riveted on to the equipment or panels as they are required to last most of the life time of the equipment.

Shrink Sleeves: Shrink sleeves offer 360 degrees space for decoration and product information. They are made of either of these materials; Polyester, PE, PVC or PP. Pre printed film is welded to form a tube, cut to desired size of the bottle or container and applied over it. It is then exposed to a heat gun or passed through a heated shrink tunnel for the tube to shrink and attain the form of the bottle or container providing all around decoration. Shrink sleeve labels originated in 1965 and invented by Fuji Carpentry shop that were later named as Fuji Seal. The actual large scale usage of these sleeve labels commenced in the mid 1980s. According to Suresh Gupta Chairman of Huhtamaki PPL, shrink sleeves were brought to the Indian market in 1991 when Paper Products Limited (now Huhtamaki PPL), set up the plant with help from Fuji Film to make these in India. This segment continues to register a steady growth rate. Global growth is 6-7% but in India it is slightly more, given the size of the market. In India these are largely printed on gravure printing presses. However in recent times, in an effort to cater to short run customers who maybe large customers doing special editions or small and medium enterprises, printing is also being done on flexo presses and in some cases on digital label presses.

In Mould Labels: Paper or film printed labels (mostly filmic) are placed inside the moulds during

the molding process. After placing the label, molten plastic is injected into the mould. On cooling the label is fused with the resin, takes the shape of the so molded container and becomes an integral part of it. The labels referred to as IML can be printed and decorated by any of the processes i.e. Offset, Flexo Gravure or digital. The end result is a highly decorated container. These IML applied containers are used for Ice cream, butter, paints, food packaging, etc. According to research firm MarketsandMarkets, the global in-mold label (IML) market is projected to grow from $2.58 Billion in 2015 to $3.23 Billion by 2020, at an estimated CAGR of 4.54%. It is the fastest growing segment amongst the various label segments.

Digital, direct on product Labels: Digital printing has made its presence in all variants of label

printing and converting. From wet glue to self adhesive and in mould labels, digital printing is making inroads everywhere. Some years ago when I was interviewing Helmut Schreiner, the former Chairman of Schreiner Group, I asked him, “What do you see as the biggest threat to self adhesive label industry?” He became pensive and after deep thinking said, “It will be digital printing direct on the product”! It makes a lot of sense as we see the market slowly evolving in that direction. This will open up a whole lot of opportunities for the brand owners. No paper, no silicone, no adhesive, no dies, no tooling and yet the option to indulge in personalization and creativity! According to AlexanderWatson Associates, “It may, indeed, be a disruptive technology”. Direct to digital has been around for some time printing on textiles and ceramics. It is commonplace to see digitally printed fabrics and ceramic tiles. It has started to make inroads into the consumer product market and we need to wait and watch where it leads to.

 

3D Printed labels: This is another technology which may see computer controlled 3D characters and images on products and labels. It will make the imagination go wild on what all can be created. It is a process in which layers of material are formed under computer control process to create an object that can be of almost any shape formed by deposits of binder material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads layer by layer.

The evolution of labels has created a whole bouquet of technologies which still keep coming up in new avatars. No one technology can become the predominant one for label production. With labels diversifying into different tangents, label printers need to select the way forward so as to stay innovative and ahead of time. It is surely time to emerge out of the crowd and create a separate visible entity.

Written Exclusively for Label and Narrow Web magazine USA by Harveer Sahni, Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi November 2017. The article may not be reproduced without the magazine's or the author's permission.

Spilker: German precision in tooling!

Story of  a family run enterprise Spilker GmbH, where three generations have technically indulged to grow their venture  from humble beginnings to attain success at global levels. They strive to upgrade and cater to customer needs maintaining quality standards assuring reliability in German precision!

Humble beginnings

In 1963, Herbert Spilker, trained as an engraving master, set up his startup venture in a small garage. Without any equipment and relying on his engraving skills, he started engraving metal brass plates for trophies with the barest minimum hand tools. With three children to support, a son Andreas the present Managing Director of Spilker GmbH born in 1961, another son and a daughter, he worked hard all by himself to grow his maiden engraving enterprise. In 1970s he felt it was time to move ahead. Self adhesive labels were evolving at a fast pace and the die cutting process was in the process of transforming from flat bed die cutting to rotary die cutting. Herbert Spilker wanted to produce flat bed dies but as luck would have it, prospective customers were already considering moves into faster converting process using rotary dies. They resisted his offer for flatbed dies and advised him to consider supplying rotary dies which at that time were being supplied by only two companies i.e. Kocher+Beck and Gerhardt (now merged into Rotometrics). The delivery time was very long, almost 2-3 months. Herbert was convinced that rotary dies was the business to be in. In 1978 he produced his first rotary die engraved by hand for a company Ritter Etiketten, now a part of the Rako Group since 2006. That was the beginning of an exciting journey to success in rotary tooling.

The first step towards expansion

Herbert Spilker

A year later in 1979 Herbert Spilker’s son Andreas, also trained as a master engraver joined the company as its 12th employee. The other son preferred to venture out as a printer but his daughter did join the business and now looks after the HR (Human Resource) department of the company. When Andreas joined the company they were still working without any machinery. They bought solid metal blanks and outsourced all other turning, machining and grinding processes. Finally the father son duo “master engravers”, would complete the die engraving by hand. In 1981 with experience of having produced 25-30 dies,they decided to invest in used turning and grinding machines. The turning machine at that time cost 1000 DM or 500 Euros. The grinding machine was more expensive at 2500 DM. The Spilker enterprise took it’s first big step of buying a CNC machine for engraving and then there was no looking back. In 1988 they moved to their present building in Leopoldshohe, it was a big step and time to expand!

In the late eighties the cost of rotary dies was making label printers consider using the cheaper but slower flatbed cutting options. The costlier solid rotary dies made it imperative to sell labels at a higher price making it difficult to compete. Flexible dies developed in America and  much cheaper than rotary dies, started being imported by others into Germany. These were instantly opted for by label printers to maintain their production speeds and consistent quality. Once in their new premises, in 1988, Spilker GmbH invested in equipment to produce both magnetic cylinders and flexible dies. Andreas Spilker proudly states, “No one taught us how to make these flexible dies and magnetic cylinders, we learnt it all ourselves” he further added, “It was the need of our existing customers, so the investment and development became an imperative”. The next decade was spent in consolidating, growing the new business, expanding and making renovations in whichever department it was needed. Herbert Spilker a farsighted man understood the need to transfer management to the generation next at an appropriate time. He mentored his son and transferred the power step by step until 1998 when he decided to retire and hand over the reigns of his growing business to his son Andreas Spilker, the present Managing Director. In 2003 Spilker installed their first machine for milling and sharpening rotary dies. Till then dies were sharpened by hand. They were the first manufacturer to offer rotary dies sharpened by machines. In 2004 the variabase anvil roll was developed for adjusting the cutting depth. In 2005 flexible dies in bigger format 860mm X 1050mm were developed. Spilker also has now capability to produce magnetic cylinders in very wide width up to 2800 mm. In 2006 they developed their first rotary die cutting machine. In 2008 they added another 3200 square meters to their production shop floor. In 2013 the MEP (Mechanical Ejector Pins) dies were developed. In 2015 another 300 square meters hall was added to develop custom built die cutting and laminating machine, such equipment was showcased at the Labelexpo Europe in September 2017.

The Family in business

Spilker continues to grow and attain global success. Andreas, a technocrat himself and a hands on

Andreas Spilker, Harveer Sahni, Henrik Spilker & Anika

technically indulgent business owner, attributes this success to the inertia set in by his father Herbert Spilker. Even the day when this interview was to take place, Andreas was busy on the shop floor managing a new development. He is technically involved in all technical aspects of his company. His wife Katja is a home maker. Two out of his three children are already in the company. His daughter Anika born in 1990 and son Henrik born in 1988, joined the business in 2006. Henrik trained in metal engineering as a milling machine operator. After a stint in the company left to join university in 2010 and graduate in engineering. He returned to the company in 2015 to pursue his passion for technical innovation in workplace. He now looks after development of new tools, machine development and automation. Anika who has been in the company since 2006 is a refreshing personality, an imposing leader and leading her team by delegation. However still, her authority is evident in her area of operation.  She takes care of sales of rotary tools and in recent times has been passionately indulgent to grow the machine building business. Her husband is a police officer. The youngest offspring of Andreas, Marie at 19 years is still studying and only time will tell if she too joins the family business. The entire Spilker family are technology driven, Andreas remarked that none of them are accountants or management experts. “We can hire professionals for that but I am happy that the family is involved in production so as to turn out excellent, technically advanced and precision engineered products.

Getting over difficult times

Flexible die in production

The economic slowdown of 2008 brought the most difficult time at Spilker. Ironically and with regret,at that time they had to give up loyal employees to stay afloat. The crisis came at a time when they had acquired an additional shop floor area from a neighbor to expand their production. They had to stall the production until things improved and they were back on their feet. Once out of recession they came out stronger and fit to carve out a path of permanent and fruitful growth. Spilker with 210 employees presently works out of shop floor area admeasuring 20,000 square meters or over 200,000 square feet. Sales at over 20 million Euros continue to grow steadily at 10% per annum. They try to find special solutions to customer’s problems and attend to them completely, offering combination of new processes and products. They endeavor to make perfect rotary dies helping customers to build required production systems to service their respective customers. Andreas says, “The more complicated is the problem, the better it is for us. We love challenges”.

custom converting machine

The present business is spread into three business segments;

·         Rotary tooling that include rotary dies and magnetic cylinders

·         Flexible dies

·         Custom built machines

The above segments cater to the following industries;

·         Labels and printing

·         Medical and Pharmaceuticals

·         Automotive supplies

·         Electronics.

Magnetic Cylinder in production

A walk through their factory shows perfect workflow, state of the art capital equipment and testing systems to turn out products of highest quality standards. New developments at Spilker include tools with nonstick coatings for clean cutting adhesive labels with aggressive adhesives, tools for adhesive tape and wound care products, MEP systems with ejector pins for medical plasters that have holes, Sonic dies for punching holes and suction of waste rounds, etc. As for expensive rotary dies they offer value to their customers by repeatedly sharpening the tools when they become blunt. 

Andreas is pensive in his thoughts about his future in the company. He asserts that now that his children are getting firmly involved in the running of Spilker, in 5 years he will like to leave the management to them and retire. His daughter Anika is optimistic on the future and asserts that the company will grow further in both label and non label segments. Both Henrik and Anika are making efforts to expand into machine building while maintaining the quality and growth of existing business. Indulgent youthful attributes guided by an experienced mentor parent is sure to take Spilker to another level of success.

Written exclusively for Narrow Web Tech, Germany by Harveer Sahni, Chairman, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi India May 2017 

The article maybe published with the permission of Narrow WebTech Germany giving credit to them and to the author

For advertising inquiries please email to; harveersahni@gmail.com