Schaumburg, IL – Since the beginning of the year, INX International has introduced several innovative ink solutions that impact the label and packaging markets. Those products and new equipment will greet attendees in booth 129 at the upcoming Labelexpo Americas 2022, September 13-15 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont.

Held a short distance from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, the venue is only minutes away from INX’s corporate headquarters in Schaumburg. Renee Schouten, Vice President of Marketing, believes this year’s event represents plenty of good opportunities for everyone.

“I’m hopeful that since this show was last held here four years ago, people will return like they have in the past,” she said while pointing out more than 16,000 people attended in 2018. “Printers looking for new products or equipment to increase their business or expand in the digital world will find what they need in our booth.”

The newest product development is INXFlex Contour™ a distinctive UV and LED dual cure flexographic ink system that produces shrink sleeve labels for brand owners. It addresses label and packaging industry issues of post-shrink adhesion loss and ink cracking, with superior flexibility that can’t be matched by any other product in the marketplace.

INXFlex Contour piggybacks off the success of Genesis™ washable label inks. A recycle-friendly ink system, it recently added a new flexo version and UV Curable primer that makes INXFlex Contour washable too. Schouten said these bright and colorful inks deliver high performance and can help brand owners meet their efficiency and sustainability goals.

“Our shrink sleeve inks are formulated so the labels stand out on store shelves and catch the attention of consumers,” she said. “INXFlex Contour offers customers faster lead times and lower applied costs with a dual cure version. It also provides flexibility to choose from common substrates and find the most cost-effective solution for their application. That’s especially important for tamper evident sleeve applications, a consideration most brand owners expect.”

In June, INX and VerifyMe, Inc. announced the development of VerifyInk, a covert ink technology to help provide brand protection of products in the marketplace. The newest addition to the security inks product line runs on direct-to-product continuous inkjet (CIJ) printers. When used in tandem with VerifyMe’s proprietary and patented reading devices, it can identify counterfeit products across all markets including consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, and food and beverage.

“The CIJ VerifyInk is a natural fit for our product line,” commented Schouten. “With VerifyMe, we are excited to provide a solution to the packaging market that combines high security and customer engagement, two drivers that are very important to brand owners.”

INXShield™ UV Flexo and GS Slip coatings represent the first in a new line of functional coatings for packaging applications. Formulated with BioCote® antimicrobial technology to protect the coating by inhibiting odor and staining microbes on the surface, INXShield is validated and quality control tested regularly by an independent testing facility using the ISO 22196:2011 test method.

“The BioCote brand is universally recognized as the true standard for quality, experience and credibility,” remarked Schouten. “Our UV Flexo coating is suitable for application over dry water-based and cured UV inks, with a uniform layer that provides excellent gloss, slip and general resistance properties. GS Slip is a solvent-based gravure coating for shrinkable film labels. The overprint varnish makes it a great choice for shrinkable printing such as OPS, PETG and PVC.”

The Triangle® brand of XJL UV Curable Inkjet inks follow in the tradition of exceptional alternative ink solutions. These advanced inks check off the boxes as a premium high performance formulation that produces remarkable consistency, unparalleled quality, and is cost efficient when used with Xeikon® Jetrion™ 4830, 4900 and 4950LX series digital label printers.

“Triangle inks are designed to match with nearly every OEM printer and print head type,” summed up Schouten. She indicated XJL’s test results of remarkable consistency and quality would be of interest to printers wanting to achieve GRACoL standards and G7 targets.

“XJL works in conjunction with the three Xeikon printers and provides high productivity when jetted with Xaar® 1001, 1002 and 1003 single-pass print heads. This series is also color and chemically compatible, and available at a 35% per liter cost savings compared to OEM inks.”

No booth visit is complete until attendees learn about INX’s hardware solutions. The NW350 is the newest addition to the narrow web series of UV Digital Label printers, and it’s fast.

Designed to combine printing and conversion to produce brilliant color printed labels at a maximum printing width of 350mm or 13.78 inches, the NW350 delivers single pass output up to 160 feet per minute on any label stock. This complete solution includes superior quality inks, making it ideal for printers looking to meet the demand for productive, short-run digital printing.

INX will have live in-booth demonstrations of the HMJ A200 small batch ink dispenser. It provides fully automated dispensing for up to 14 valve stations, providing a combination of speed and precision to deliver accurate ink flow. With a compact footprint and industrial grade controls, it makes single point dispensing easy for pals, jugs and any specialty containers with openings as small as one inch.

INX experts will be available to answer any questions in booth 129. If you are not attending the show but want more information about any of these products, contact your INX representative or visit the website.

About INX International Ink Co.
INX International Ink Co. is the third largest producer of inks in North America, with full-service subsidiaries in Europe and South America and is part of Sakata INX worldwide operations. We offer a complete line of ink and coating solutions technology for commercial, packaging and digital applications. As a leading global manufacturer of inkjet inks, we provide a full palette of digital ink systems, advanced technologies and integrated services.

To stay in touch with the latest developments, follow INX on Facebook and Twitter and visit www.inxinternational.com

Kennesaw, GA – At the end of June, Heidelberg USA – Gallus opened a new demonstration facility at its Ivyland, Pennsylvania office dedicated exclusively to its line of Gallus Screeny products. The first of its kind in North America, the Screeny Demo Room will enable customers to see the new Gallus Screeny 600 automated wash-out unit and the Phoenix UV LED direct imaging unit without needing to travel to the Screeny headquarters in Switzerland. Additionally, this facility has the capability to produce finished screens for narrow web customers who do not wish to invest in their own screen making equipment. 

High Quality Materials, State of the Art Machines 

For label manufacturers seeking to add embellishment details inline on their narrow web presses, Gallus has a full line of Screeny materials for both rotary and flat screen-printing processes. Gallus Screeny solutions ensure maximum print quality and consistency for extremely fine lines, solids, relief printing, glitter applications as well as metallic doming. While Screeny products are designed to be used inline on Gallus’s various narrow web presses, the company has designed new screen rings that also allow for the screens to be used on non-Gallus screen units.   

In addition to high-quality Screeny materials, Gallus has machines that automate the screen making process. The Phoenix direct imaging unit, which was introduced in 2017, images high-quality screens without the need for a film positive. Most recently, Gallus launched the Screeny 600, an automatic washing and drying unit for screen making. Previously a very manual process, the wash-out and drying stage is very important for high image quality, consistency, and repeatable results.  

By automating the process, the Screeny 600 cuts the total time for screen making from forty-five minutes down to thirty. For current Screeny 600 users, this has resulted in considerable savings and a quick ROI on labor costs. Because the machine replaces the need for human wash-out, prepress operators can focus on other tasks while the machine washes and dries the screen. In addition to less labor, there is also less screen handling – removing the potential for human error, which leads to material waste and additional time spent remaking screens.  

“For label manufacturers who do a lot of screen printing, I encourage them to take a look at these two machines,” said Tony Wojciechowski, Product Specialist for Screeny products. “They’ve really revolutionized the screen making process – saving you and your prepress operators a lot of time.”  

Both the Screeny 600 and Phoenix direct imaging unit are available now for demonstration at the Heidelberg facility in Ivyland. Customers who are interested in seeing the machines can send in their own files for imaging. Additionally, customers not looking to invest in their own screen making equipment can purchase pre-imaged screens directly from Heidelberg USA-Gallus products. In the future, Heidelberg anticipates training opportunities for customers on both machines.

For further information, please email Tony Wojciechowski at Anthony.Wojciechowski@heidelberg.com. 

Elk Grove Village, IL — SCREEN Americas announces the installation of the Truepress Jet L350UV SAI S to Quadriga USA Enterprises Inc. of Valencia, California. The label manufacturer, whose entire operation consists of inkjet technology from SCREEN and its coalition partner, Nilpeter, upgraded its Truepress Jet L350UV+ to the SAI S version in order to achieve faster speeds using white ink.

Founded in 2015, Quadriga USA Enterprises devotes its entire business to label production serving commercial printers whose customers are in need of state-of-the-art labels in a variety of shapes. Quadriga produces labels on a wide range of substrates including metallic and transparent materials which require white ink to ensure that the final image is opaque. The Truepress Jet L350UV SAI S offers CMYK plus white at a speed of 165 feet per minute. The press, which was installed in March 2022, has assumed 40 percent of the company’s workload and customers receive their labels within two to three business days.

Though 90 percent of Quadriga’s business is conducted directly through the company’s online ordering system, Quadriga expects to open additional facilities throughout the United States. “The return on investment from SCREEN’s technology will allow us to add additional facilities in other states,” said Ashot Mehrabyan, chief operating officer for Quadriga. “We will continue to invest in digital roll-fed inkjet because we believe in it.” 

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, 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

Mills River, NC – UPM Raflatac, a global supplier of innovative and sustainable labeling materials, announces their participation in Labelexpo 2022 in Chicago. They will exhibit their latest pressure-sensitive labeling innovations and immerse their booth visitors in a multi-sensory forest experience, featuring their sustainable labeling solutions.

“We are very excited to see the industry once again come together under one roof, where we can exchange ideas and continue to collaborate with our customers, suppliers and technology partners. We believe that with proactive communications and strong collaboration through the entire value chain, we can ensure the robustness of our industry’s supply chain and continued attractiveness and reliability for our end-use partners,” stated Tim Kirchen, Senior Vice President, UPM Raflatac, Americas.

Show attendees will have the opportunity to examine UPM Raflatac’s sustainable labeling materials as they learn how to help brands Make the Switch to more sustainable alternatives and Close the Loop for the circular economy.

As part of UPM Raflatac’s multi-sensory booth experience, attendees will be able to see and feel the following:

• The latest innovation, The Ocean Action Label, made from ocean bound plastic waste

• Sustainable films, including UPM Raflatac Forest Film™, PP PCR and PET PCR materials

• UPM Raflatac RAFNXT+, verified by the Carbon Trust to help mitigate climate change and selected products certified as CarbonNeutral®*

• Renewal® Hemp material made with FSC certified paper and recycled fibers

• All while surrounded by the sights and sounds of a sustainably managed forest.

In addition, UPM Raflatac will exhibit their OptiCut™ linerless materials, which are certified as CarbonNeutral®*, and their Print-on-demand and Digital Labeling Solutions for digital printing systems.

Attendees can also receive in-booth demonstrations of the MyRaflatac customer portal. UPM Raflatac will reveal the portal’s newest capabilities during the expo.
        
To support knowledge exchange in the industry, Bruce Ruppert, UPM Raflatac’s Product Development Manager, will present as part of Labelexpo’s Label Materials Master Class. Ruppert will speak on the topic of release liner substrates. His presentation takes place on Thursday, Sept. 15 at 9:50 a.m. in Room 4 of the conference center.

Labelexpo 2022 takes place at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, between 13-15 September.

To download UPM Raflatac brand/product images, please click here.

*UPM Raflatac RAFNXT+ is the world’s first label material verified by the Carbon Trust to help mitigate climate change. Compared to the company’s standard range, RAFNXT+ helps companies to reduce their carbon footprint and mitigate climate change. This calculation model is verified by the Carbon Trust and is in accordance to international greenhouse gas accounting standard PAS 2050. Selected RAFNXT+ label materials are also available as CarbonNeutral® certified by Climate Impact Partners in accordance with the CarbonNeutral Protocol.

UPM Raflatac
UPM Raflatac is leading in sustainable labeling through our innovative self-adhesive label materials and services. We offer high-quality paper and film label stock for branding and promotion, informational labels, and labels with functionality. We operate a global network of factories, distribution terminals and sales offices. Our company employs around 3,000 people and made sales of EUR 1.7 billion (USD 1.9 billion) in 2021. UPM Raflatac is part of UPM. Find out how we are labeling a smarter future beyond fossils at www.upmraflatac.com.

Follow UPM Raflatac on Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram

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