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LABELS&LABELING |17 HOT OFF THE PRESS A ROUND-UP OF THE LATEST GLOBAL LABEL STORIES SMALL PRESSES are shown in the extensive exhibition area of Label Forum Japan JAPAN LABEL FORUM 2012 JAPANESE label converters focus on export markets and ‘green’ products Label Forum Japan 2012 will be held 26-27 July at the Bellesalle Shiodome in Tokyo. With the theme ‘A new era for the label industry’, it includes two days of high level industry presentations and a major table top exhibition featuring leading industry suppliers from across the world. Conference sessions include presentations by major Japanese brand owners Kewpie corporation and Bridgestone, with expert commentaries on the Japanese market from Natsuki Uchida, editor of Japan’s leading label magazine, Label Shimbun, and AWA’s Cory Reardon. There will also be presentations on smart labels and Near Field Chips from NXP semi-conductor, the world’s leading developer, and from Akihiko Ohuchi, president and CEO, Lintec Corporation. Label Forum Japan is organized by Label Shimbun magazine and Labelexpo Global series and supported by the Japanese Federation of Label Printing Industries (JFLP). For more information, visit www.labelforum.jp/page/english, or email info@labelforum.jp. According to Uchida the disastrous earthquake and tsunami cut economic growth by one to two percent this year after a slight rise in 2011. ‘After the earthquake, until this summer, demand for PSA label stock was increased temporarily following a shortage of materials. But the market then rapidly declined. Many brand owners were damaged by the earthquake, and the market had stagnated.’ Uchida adds shutting down the Fukushima nuclear power plant caused electricity shortages which forced some production lines to stop, with production moving overseas. ‘In 2012, label demand is gradually recovering – we estimate the Japanese label market will have recovered by two percent in 2012 – but the market is still in a severe situation. But this disaster changed our minds about our use of energy and is making us pay more attention to ‘green’ products. Specifically, the Japanese label industry started to pay attention to linerless labels and LED-UV systems. Some label converters have already installed conventional label printing presses with full LED-UV systems, and are using this to increase their appeal to brand owners.’ NEW ‘<strong>SMART</strong>’ PACKAGING ASSOCIATION FOUNDED The Active and Intelligent Packaging Industry Association, AIPIA, based in The Netherlands, has already signed up over 40 ‘blue chip’ companies from the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and logistics industries, to drive the technologies out of the R&D phase and into commercial use. Director of the new association Eef de Ferrante commented, ‘We have been delighted by the reaction to the formation of AIPIA. It seems the industry agrees the time to look at the commercial applications for active and intelligent packaging is right.’ Companies joining Motorola, NXP and Avery Dennison RFID – and logistic companies such as UPS and retailers Marks & Spencer – in supporting AIPIA include Dow Performance Packaging, DSM and Bayer. AIPIA will be a ‘hands-on’ organization which is already well placed to bring together all parts of the supply chain to develop standards, implementation processes and communications platforms between production, packaging, logistics and the retailers. ‘Companies have spent many years developing RFID, Track & Trace, gas scavengers, sensors and antimicrobial products and materials. We now have the ability to bring these to a huge market, along with developments such as Nanotechnology, NFC and mobile commerce. Thanks to the advances in telecommunications and mobile technologies consumers can now use their mobile and smartphones to communicate with the products on supermarket shelves and this is achieved through the packaging,’ continued de Ferrante. TAMAR LABELS’ managing director Robert Lee TAMAR LABELS ACQUIRES IRELAND-BASED LABELIT Tamar Labels, a Devon, UK-based label manufacturer, has acquired the assets of Irish self-adhesive label converter Labelit, which serves the European food, beverage, pharmaceutical, automotive and pet care sectors. Tamar has enjoyed success in similar UK-based markets to Labelit, so the move will not only enable the company to expand its current service offering into Europe, but will open doors to new European markets such as the diverse pet care sector, as managing director Robert Lee explained: ‘North America is by far the largest retail market for pet care products. It is also the most mature market, with the average household expected to spend USD 225 per household on pet care products.’ He said, ‘In contrast, Eastern Europe and Latin America are relatively immature markets with average household expenditures of less than USD 50, less than a quarter of those in North America. However, household expenditure on pet care has risen tremendously over the past five years, and in Eastern Europe, household expenditure has grown by more than 60 percent over the past five years. Therefore the European pet care sector, which is an industry sector worth an estimated 127 billion euros, represents a substantial growth opportunity for Tamar labels as we move our business steadily forwards.’ Equipment included in the Labelit deal includes three 8-color Nilpeter UV flexo presses and a range of Omega finishing equipment and pre-press systems. These now sit alongside Tamar’s fleet of Edale narrow web flexo and HP Indigo digital label presses at the company’s British Retail Consortium/Institute of Packaging accredited production facility near Plymouth. The move sees the number of employees increase to 36, while creating five new jobs at the Gulworthy plant and annual turnover is expected to increase to a projected five million euros in 2013. JULY 2012 | L&L
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