SMART DESIGN

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 ‘SMART’ 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