Mentor, OH – As brands and converters seek solutions to increase the circularity of plastic packaging, Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials has removed a key obstacle to plastic recycling with the introduction of next generation AD CleanFlake™ technology. Already a leader in enabling recycling for PET plastics, this breakthrough innovation now extends the benefits of CleanFlake™ technology to our core film portfolio, combining with our HDPE recycling compatibility. With the next generation AD CleanFlake™ Portfolio, Avery Dennison becomes the first label manufacturer to enable rigid plastic recycling across its film portfolio, providing brands and converters solutions that support recycling processes without compromising performance to meet sustainability goals.

AD CleanFlake™ technology is recognized by the Association of Plastic Recyclers, European PET Bottle Platform and Recyclass, for enabling recycling by working with the rigid plastic recycling processes to either remove cleanly (PET) or stay with the package (HDPE), resulting in good quality flakes, the conservation of virgin resources, and less landfill waste. The AD CleanFlake™ Portfolio delivers these benefits for both PET and HDPE plastics, creating the potential to divert over 200 billion rigid plastic bottles and containers from landfills.

“This is an important step forward in using innovation to advance the circular packaging economy without compromising performance,” said Pascale Wautelet, Vice President Global R&D, Avery Dennison Label and Graphic Materials. “Brands are actively seeking solutions to help them advance their sustainability initiatives and our AD CleanFlake™ Portfolio significantly expands the applications for this groundbreaking technology.”

The AD CleanFlake™ technology goes beyond enabling recycling by delivering outstanding performance on adhesion, clarity, and conversion. For converters, the adhesive features excellent water whitening and bleeding resistance. Brands benefit from striking print quality that supports bold designs and contributes to shelf appeal.

AD CleanFlake™ will be available in Europe in September and North America by the end of the year. For more information on the AD CleanFlake™ Portfolio, visit label.averydennison.com/adcleanflake.

About Avery Dennison
Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY) is a global materials science company specializing in the design and manufacture of a wide variety of labeling and functional materials. The company’s products and solutions, which are used in nearly every major industry, include pressure-sensitive materials for labels and graphic applications; tapes and other bonding solutions for industrial, medical, and retail applications; tags, labels and embellishments for apparel; and radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions serving retail apparel and other markets. The company employs approximately 36,000 employees in more than 50 countries. Reported sales in 2021 were $8.4 billion.

Learn more at www.averydennison.com.

Meyers, is a national leader in prime label, retail packaging, and point of purchase signage and display printing.  They have been helping clients and their brands stand out since 1949.

We caught up with Michael Dillon – Director of Marketing at Meyers – to learn more about their business, brand consistency, sustainable solutions they provide to their customers, and how their partnership with Domino helps them achieve that. Bespoke print consultant Noel Tocci, Owner and Founder of Tocci Made, ‘a print and production partner for the best minds in the creative industry where excellence is the only option’, also joined in the discussion and describes why he brought brand owner Bearsville Soap Company to Meyers for their printing & packaging needs. 

The interview was captured in this VIDEO: Meyers & Domino

“Delivering that Beautiful Customer Experience”

Michael Dillon begins, “The future of Meyers is staying at the forefront of technology, staying at the forefront of sustainability, and staying at the forefront of consumer experiences so that the brands and retailers we work with are getting what they really want and it’s delivering that beautiful customer experience. And doing it with great integrity. Integrity for our clients and integrity for our team.”

“Most of my time is spent helping make sure that we’re showing off the awesome work that our clients do here and showing off how that impacts their brand. Our headquarters is a 250,000 sq. ft. facility just outside Minneapolis, MN.  We’re serving clients from coast-to-coast.  One of the things that Meyers does better than anywhere else is brand consistency and color match.  When people come to us and they have things rolling off multiple product lines, they’re going to come out with a ridiculously meticulous level of brand consistency and color match. And we have a real competitive advantage here.”

Achieving Sustainability Goals & Brand Consistency

Noel Tocci is the liaison between the brands and the printing companies. “I use my 40 years of making mistakes in printing to help people make beautiful things.  Bearsville Soap is interesting. They have 19 different fragrances of soap. It’s rugged, looks like it was cut with a saw, rectangle bar of soap.  They were in a craft box, which the idea was sustainable, woods… but they wanted to upgrade their brand.  They wanted to go on a different substrate and use a different color for every fragrance. And I remembered Meyers…these guys can do this. I called, and the rest is history.”

Dillon says, “Sometimes as a brand, the challenge is you know you care a lot about sustainability, but can you get the transparency through your supply chain to know that you are truly delivering it.  And that’s a big thing that we’re helping a lot of our clients with…by getting them sustainably sourced materials with a chain of custody that gives them the proof and transparency, and it’s getting produced in a facility with third-party audits. It’s proving that you’re living up to those commitments that you’ve always really, deeply believed in.”

Dillon describes the importance of brand consistency. “One of the coolest things that we’ve started doing is the coordination across the product types.  So if you make a really beautiful high-end package, you need an equally beautiful high-end label.  And these presses here have been instrumental in that, in particular the pairing of the Domino inkjet system with the MPS flexo.  We can run folding cartons and labels on that same press.  And it’s an amazing thing for that brand consistency across those products.  And the cost efficiencies there mean that you can let your creativity run wild as a brand.  It’s a heck of a combo!”

“The Domino press was a serious part of why they (Bearsville Soap Company) came to us. What they used to have was brown craft paperboard (for their packaging). And when they came to us, they thought they had to choose between something that was sustainable, and something that communicated the flavors, if you will, of their soaps.  And what we showed them was that by using the MPS – Domino hybrid press, because we could use the Domino inkjet system, we were not going to have a bunch of waste during make-ready. So we actually met all of their sustainability goals while giving them a level of brand communication that they didn’t think they could get while being sustainable…we have no other way to deliver that except on this press.”

“The Best of the Best.  It’s Been a Wonderful Experience”

Tocci says, “Really good work lives at the intersection of really great materials, great design, and really thoughtfully well curated execution.  So that tells me something.  The way they (Meyers) pick their equipment.  They way they think it through.  So I look at that and I go ‘if they have Domino, then that must be it’.  And that plays to the partnership.  They’re doing their homework, and they’re getting everything in here that is the best of the best.  And that’s what they are trying to do.  And it’s been a wonderful experience.” 

Dillon concludes, “With this hybrid press and the Domino inkjet system on it, we’re able to allow our customers to get really creative with the number of different types of products they’re running through there, and still have it come out with perfect brand consistency.  At the end of that we’re pairing it up with processes that we’ve specially built here, software that we’ve specially built here, and allowing us to get it all packed up and shipped out to thousands of retail locations beautifully produced the first time, every time.  That’s a pretty fun, exciting thing!   

Domino is a leading manufacturer and distributor of digital printing and product identification solutions.  Celebrating its 44th year in business, Domino is a global organization with world headquarters in the UK, and North America headquarters in Gurnee, IL.  Domino has 25 subsidiaries, representation in over 120 countries, and over 3,000 employees worldwide. 

For more information on Domino digital printing, please visit dominodigitalprinting.com

Middleton, WI – NAStar Inc. announced the addition of Kennedy Ludwig to the Marketing Department to provide additional customer and product management support.

In her role as Marketing Coordinator for the manufacturer of pressure sensitive materials, Kennedy will provide first line customer support for NAStar’s roll label clients and assist in the implementation of marketing strategies for key market segments. Promotional support to the converter market for NAStar’s patented TwoFer® Linerless Solutions, NAStar’s Print’N Stick Linerless, and new additions to the Temporary Adhesive product lines will be a focus of her activities.

Ludwig joins NAStar Inc. after recently graduating from The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she received a Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree. “During my schooling, internship experience at a retail brand headquarters and digital marketing company both helped prepare me for this role. Being a part of the team here at NAStar allows me to apply my skills in marketing outreach and build connections through customer support,” said Ludwig.  “The unique opportunity to work on marketing the TwoFer® shelf tags has potential for great success within the industry.”

www.nastar-inc.com

Shorewood, IL – IST America is pleased to announce the expansion of its leadership team by welcoming Errol Moebius as Vice President. Moebius will be responsible for managing and expanding IST America’s OEM partnerships in addition to developing new business strategies to widen the company’s reach to printers, converters, and UV users across multiple segments in the U.S. and Canadian markets.

Moebius comes to IST with a wealth of technical knowledge and market experience. His three decades-long career at Heidelberg began in Germany as a print instructor in their main demonstration center in addition to Heidelberg’s client sites around the globe. In the year 2000 he arrived at Heidelberg USA, starting in the engineering and product support department, then progressing to Sheetfed Product Manager and ultimately to the Director of the company’s North American Print Media Center. In that role, Moebius was responsible for Heidelberg’s sheetfed, finishing, prepress systems, and Gallus product lines. Most recently, Moebius was the Vice President of Manufacturing and Operations at a prominent printing company located in Atlanta, GA.

Bill Bonallo, IST America President and CEO comments, “I have worked with and known Errol for over 20 years and have the utmost respect for his abilities. Errol’s 30 plus years of expertise gleaned from both the OEM press side of the industry as well as the print production and converting side falls directly in line with our belief that there is no substitute for experience. He has vast UV application expertise and is already extremely knowledgeable about IST’s full range of equipment and capabilities. The fact he knows the majority of our sheetfed customers is just an added bonus. Over the past year I have put a great deal of thought into how we can more effectively partner with OEM’s and increase our visibility and presence given how quickly the industry is changing. I’m confident that Errol will be a solid asset for the company and will help us in continuing to maintain, and to grow, our prominent position in the marketplace and am extremely pleased to have him as part of our team.”

www.ist-uv.com/en-us

Third Epson Digital Label Press Provides A-Flex Label with Flexibility and Increased Efficiency

Los Alamitos, CA – Epson today announced A-Flex Label Corporation has installed the Epson SurePress® L-6534VW UV digital label press in its Willowbrook, Ill. facility. A-Flex Label, owned and operated by The Labeltape Group in Caledonia, Mich., is using the SurePress UV press for producing labels for larger volume industrial, medical and cosmetic/personal care markets.

“We’ve continued to see rapid growth in digital printing as it supports and complements traditional flexography,” said Tom Carroll, president, A-Flex Label. “We needed to invest in technology that was able to run at higher speeds and deliver higher capabilities. Based on our extensive work and trust in Epson’s SurePress water-based resin ink digital label presses, we decided the SurePress L-6534VW UV press was the right choice for us, and we haven’t been disappointed.”

The SurePress L-6534VW is designed to be reliable and easy to use, enabling high-speed printing ideal for producing labels and packaging with outstanding durability. The compact design integrates all the functions required for label production, including a Corona Treater, White ink, Digital Varnish, and an additional UV curing unit.

“We are using the Epson UV press for a higher volume of labels that have a lot of versioning to them – runs that we would have traditionally run on flexo because of the higher volume, but now can run digitally with the L-6534VW and not require printing plates. This has allowed us to modify copy on the fly,” continued Carroll.

Carroll notes they trust the quality and reliability they’ve come to expect from Epson. “The print quality is pretty amazing,” said Carroll. “The SurePress has taken quality to an even higher level. It looks and feels almost like offset, lithography print quality.”

“The SurePress L-6534VW was designed for shops like A-Flex that are looking to move work away from flexo machines and onto digital presses, which can provide more flexibility with the ability to print high-quality labels in one pass without the use of plates,” said Mike Pruitt, senior product manager, Epson America, Inc.

As a small/mid-size printer, A-Flex relies on comprehensive service and support. This was critical to their decision since Epson is able support them on-site. “Epson has done an excellent job for many years servicing our SurePress digital label presses. As we evaluated other UV technologies, we ultimately went with Epson because they have both the technology solutions we need and the service and support we know we can rely on,” said Carroll.

“Overall, we’re so impressed with how well thought out this machine is,” concluded Carroll. “It’s an incredibly sophisticated piece of equipment that prevents mistakes from being made and it is a great addition to augment production capabilities.”

The SurePress L-6534VW is available with Digital Varnish or Orange Ink. The print heads, inks, LED pinning and curing lamp units, media feeding, and control system are all developed, serviced and manufactured by Epson. For additional information, visit www.epson.com/surepress. For inquiries in North America, contact:

–        Western Region: Mark Elsbernd, 818-620-2730 or mark.elsbernd@ea.epson.com

–        Central Region: Bob Ochalla, 630-710-6005 or bob.ochalla@ea.epson.com

–        Eastern Region and Canada: Frank Connelly, 615-585-9058 or frank.connelly@ea.epson.com

About Epson

Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to co-creating sustainability and enriching communities by leveraging its efficient, compact, and precision technologies and digital technologies to connect people, things, and information. The company is focused on solving societal issues through innovations in home and office printing, commercial and industrial printing, manufacturing, visual and lifestyle. Epson’s goal is to become carbon negative and eliminate use of exhaustible underground resources such as oil and metal by 2050
Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of around JPY 1 trillion. global.epson.com/

Epson America, Inc., based in Los Alamitos, Calif., is Epson’s regional headquarters for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. To learn more about Epson, please visit: epson.com. You may also connect with Epson America on Facebook (facebook.com/Epson), Twitter (twitter.com/EpsonAmerica), YouTube (youtube.com/epsonamerica), and Instagram (instagram.com/EpsonAmerica).

# # #

EPSON and SurePress are registered trademarks and EPSON Exceed Your Vision is a registered logomark of Seiko Epson Corporation. All other product and brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks. Copyright 2022 Epson America, Inc.

Elk Grove Villsge, IL—SCREEN Americas announces its participation in the Printing United User Experience event scheduled to take place immediately prior to the Printing United Expo convention which is scheduled for October 19–21, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The occasion, also referred to as Printing United UX, was created especially for OEMs, associations and other groups interested in further engaging printers in one-on-one conversations that focus on their specific challenges and needs. Registrants of Printing United UX will have access to the convention’s show floor before it officially opens its doors to regular attendees.

In conjunction with its participation in the event, SCREEN Americas also announces the formation of its Executive Customer Council, also known as the ECC, which is comprised of a representative selection of key customers across a variety of print markets. The ECC’s charter is to facilitate relationships among the growing population of SCREEN’s customers, as well as to collaborate with SCREEN GP’s R&D and manufacturing teams in Kyoto, Japan, and to serve as the organizing board for SCREEN Americas’ new User’s Group.

“Our customers have an amazing range of experience in how to effectively integrate SCREEN’s technology within their business operations,” said Mark Schlimme, vice president of marketing for SCREEN Americas. “They’ve ‘been there before’ and we believe that, as a group and in partnership with SCREEN, this community can be a tremendous resource for one another.”

The council’s first president is Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Dave Johannes of Moore DM Group of Lanham, Maryland. Johannes, along with other members of the ECC, will gather at SCREEN Americas’ headquarters in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, in August for its first in-person meeting.

To further garner as much feedback as possible from as many printers as possible, SCREEN Americas and the ECC plan to continually recruit customers for roles and participation within the council.

About SCREEN Americas
SCREEN Americas, a SCREEN Graphic Solutions group company established in 1967, is a leading provider of digital inkjet technology serving the commercial, publishing, direct mail, transactional, packaging, folding carton and label industries. In 2021, SCREEN Americas relocated its headquarters to Elk Grove Village, Illinois, with an upgrade that included a 14,000-plus square-foot Inkjet Innovation Center.

www.screenamericas.com

Toray Plastics (America) employees volunteered with the South County Habitat for Humanity to help build a home in South Kingstown for a Rhode Island family.

North Kingstown, RI — Twenty employees from Toray Plastics (America), Inc.,gathered on a beautiful Friday morning in late June to help build a South County Habitat for Humanity home for a South Kingstown, Rhode Island family. The Toray team and the new homeowner, who also worked on the construction of the home, raised and secured roof rafters and interior walls, applied house wrap, taped seams, installed blocking for kitchen cabinets, raised and secured roof trusses for a shed and installed exterior sheathing on that building. Everyone also ate a lot of pizza! The family hopes to move into its new home in October.

“South County Habitat for Humanity is doing terrific work in our backyard,” says Christopher Roy, President and COO, Toray Plastics (America). “When John Eustis, the Vice President of Procurement at Toray, brought this volunteer event to our attention we knew it was a perfect opportunity for the company to give back in a meaningful way to the community. The team had a lot of fun, deepened their bond with each other, and made a personal connection with a new neighbor. And all were amazed at how much was accomplished! I’m very proud of my colleagues,” says Roy.

Eustis notes that he was drawn to Habitat for Humanity’s mission to make the dream of homeownership a reality for people who may otherwise not be able to afford a home of their own. “The tangible, long-lasting impact that Habitat has on the community is admirable and I am happy to play a small part in it. I was so pleased that my coworkers were eager to help,” he says. Eustis and others who volunteered that day plan to volunteer again and do more work on the home.

About Toray Plastics (America), Inc.
Toray Plastics (America), Inc., is a leading manufacturer of polyester, polypropylene, and metallized films and polypropylene and polyethylene foams. The company is committed to environmental, social, and corporate governance and aims to contribute to society through the creation of new value with innovative ideas, technologies, and products that help address global issues. R&D is focused on the development of materials that are fossil fuel-free, compostable, biodegradable, and/or recyclable. The company’s sustainability initiative, launched in 2004, includes the operating of two solar farms and two cogeneration systems, energy and water conservation, recycling, and zero landfill.

Toray Plastics (America) is a subsidiary of the Toray Group, which believes that materials can change lives and provide real solutions to the challenges the world faces. The Toray Group is the world leader in synthetic fibers and textiles, carbon fibers, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and high-performance films and has annual sales exceeding US$18.4 billion. For more information about Toray Plastics (America)’s products, contact Brenda Ockun, Brand Manager, at brenda.ockun.w9@mail.toray or 315-916-3272. Toray Plastics (America), Inc., headquarters is located at 50 Belver Avenue, North Kingstown, RI 02852-7500; telephone 401-294-4511, fax 401-294-3410. Visit the Toray Plastics (America), Inc., website at www.toraytpa.com.

About South County Habitat for Humanity
South County Habitat for Humanity is dedicated to eliminating substandard housing locally and worldwide through constructing, rehabilitating, and preserving homes, by advocating for fair and just housing policies, and by providing training and access to resources to help families improve their shelter conditions. For more general information, call 401-213-6711, or visit www.southcountyhabitat.org.

Ahlstrom-Munksjö is investing in new technology and converting its existing boilers at its Mosinee and Rhinelander plants in Wisconsin, United States, to reduce its carbon emissions and landfill waste. 

These investments at the Mosinee production plant will enable a reduction in its carbon footprint by an estimated 20%, and a reduction of landfill waste by more than 10%. The project is estimated to be completed at the end of the second quarter in 2023.

In addition, the Rhinelander production plant is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by an estimated 14% and landfill waste by more than 50%. A new energy center and associated buildings at Rhinelander will consolidate and simplify energy operations, enabling the plant to house a future boiler and a heat recovery steam generator. The project will commence immediately and is estimated to be completed in the third quarter of 2023.   

“Being able to proceed with these key projects constitute an important milestone in further strengthening our operations in the US, making Mosinee and Rhinelander stronger platform to support for future growth with our customer base,” says Dan Adrianzon, EVP, Technical Materials.
 
“These investments will enable us to reduce carbon emissions and enhance our operational efficiency,” says Thomaz Gruber, Vice President of Operations for the Wisconsin U.S. plants. “We take our responsibility to protect our natural resources seriously and we have demonstrated this through our sustainable forestry practices as well as the contributions our plants have made to Wisconsin communities for more than 130 years.”

In 2022, Ahlstrom-Munksjö updated its sustainability targets and committed to The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which is a global body enabling businesses to set emissions reduction targets to be in line with new climate science.  SBTi unveiled a new strategy to encourage businesses to obtain a minimum target of 1.5°C.  

“Ahlstrom-Munksjö intends to reach that trajectory of 38% absolute reduction by 2030 and aspires to reach net zero emissions by 2050,” adds Robin Guillaud, EVP, Sustainability, Innovation & Marketing. “Reducing the emissions and the landfill waste at the Rhinelander and Mosinee plants will be a significant step towards achieving the company’s ambitious sustainability metrics and goals.”

For further information, please contact: 
Global: Johan Lunabba, Vice President, Sustainability & Public Affairs, johan.lunabba@ahlstrom-munksjo.com, tel. +358 50 4069555

Investors: Johan Lindh, Vice President, Group Investor Relations, johan.lindh@ahlstrom-munksjo.com, tel. +358 10 888 4994  

United States: Addie Teeters, Head of Marketing Communications & Public Affairs Food & Consumer Packaging, US, addie.teeters@ahlstrom-munksjo.com, tel. +1 920 202 4455 

Ahlstrom-Munksjö in brief
Ahlstrom-Munksjö is a global leader in combining fibers into sustainable and technical advanced specialty materials. Our purpose is to Purify and Protect, with Every Fiber, for a Sustainable World. Our vision is to be the Preferred Sustainable Specialty Materials Company for all our stakeholders. We serve five growing and distinctive end markets, which form the basis for our five divisions: Filtration, Food & Consumer Packaging, Healthcare, Building Materials, and Technical Materials. Our annual net sales 2021 amounted to EUR 3.1 billion and we employ some 8,000 people.

Read more at www.ahlstrom-munksjo.com