Reporter Clips
- Published: September 01, 2002, By Edward Boyle, Contributing Editor
Narrow Web Converting Industry News
Coming Events
Oct. 15-16: Sweetpack 2002, Ahlstrom's LabelPack Div., Hilton Hotel, Prague, Czech Republic (+33 01-45 73 45 73; ahlstrom.com/lp).
Oct. 20-23: TLMI Annual Meeting, Tag & Label Mfrs. Inst., Hyatt Regency Lake Hotel, Las Vegas, NV (630/357-9222; tlmi.com).
Oct. 28-30: PISEC 02 World Product & Image Security Convention, Tarsus, Jury's Hotel Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland (+44 (0)20 8846 2700; pisec-europe.com).
Seal-It Label Helps Launch “Silk”
FARMINGDALE, NY, USA—Seal-It's shrink label is being used by White Wave for the launch of its single-serve soy milk product “Silk.” This new take-along bottle with vivid graphics in bright colors is printed by Seal-It's rotogravure press. Shrink labels were chosen to produce an eye-catching shelf presence that will enable White Wave to effectively market this popular product in its new container.
The 360-deg label is gravure-printed in ten colors on heat-shrink PVC with room for graphics, nutrition facts, bar code, and tag line. Graphic designs are in red, blue, and brown, indicating the three most popular flavors: plain, vanilla, and chocolate. The labels are put on by automatic equipment and shrunk in a heat tunnel conforming to the shape of the bottle and providing a dramatic look.
Tamper-Evident Label Protects Packagers, Informs Consumers
SCHAUMBURG, IL, USA—Label Express, an Impaxx company, developed the tamper-evident version of its Reveal Estate extended text label specifically for the upscale nutraceutical and biomedical markets. Reveal Estate TE combines expanded space for informational text with a self-destructing feature designed to thwart label-switching counterfeiters and thieves. The Reveal Estate TE label incorporates hidden crescent-shaped face slits that tear cleanly when there is an attempt to remove the label. The design is bi-directional, so the label destructs no matter what the direction of the attempted removal. This feature makes it almost impossible to move the label to another product's package.
Reveal Estate is a simple, one-piece pressure-sensitive label that incorporates both permanent and removable adhesives to create a liftable back panel. A tab is added to the die-cut along with a patterned adhesive, creating a convenient lift tab that then can be repositioned. The patent pending construction also creates a memory feature allowing the label to “spring back” into place, avoiding unsightly flagging on the retail shelf.
Necessary information is printed on the back of the label before the adhesive is patterned, leaving the outer label face free for full graphics, brand identification, bar codes, and initial product and performance information.
Reveal Estate converts formerly unusable space into a new informational panel that can be used for regulatory language, government warnings, multi-language content, and supplement panels. The one-piece design essentially is the same size and structure as users' current labels, and no special application equipment is required. Reveal Estate is used extensively in the nutraceutical and biomedical markets to overcome growing supplement panels and decrease inventories by incorporating multiple languages on a single product.
Four-Color Envelope Provides Proper Packaging of Bulky Items
SOUTH HOLLAND, IL, USA—Calumet Carton Co. has introduced the Expand-A-Mailer package designed for shipping spiral-bound reports, thick catalogs, technical manuals, books, and other wide items via carriers such as UPS, Fed-Ex, and the Postal Service.
Companies no longer need to force multi-page files, forms, and booklets into two-dimensional envelopes, as the Expand-A-Mailer widens up to 1 in. to avoid crumpling of pages and tearing of corners. Even unwieldy items such as audio and video cassettes, paperback books, Zip disks, textiles, and product samples can be accommodated because of the gussets of the Expand-A-Mailer.
Donated CAD System Makes the Grade
VANDALIA, OH, USA—A donation made last year by Barco Graphics to the Packaging Sciences Div. of the Rochester Inst. of Technology (RIT), Rochester, NY, is beginning to yield high dividends — a growing class of highly trained packaging professionals.
Barco's ArtiosCAD packaging software originally was presented to RIT as a means of streaming electronic die data to the school's cutter sample table. However, the school quickly saw the CAD/CAM system could be used to enhance one of the foundation courses of the Packaging Science curriculum.
“Our students need exposure to the types of electronic tools and equipment they will work with in the industry,” explains Karen Proctor, chairman of RIT's Packaging Sciences Div. “The donation of the ArtiosCAD system presented a perfect opportunity to infuse some new technology into the course load.”
Proctor says the new software prompted her to redesign course #341 — Packaging Computer Applications — which is required for Packaging Science majors, appearing early in the program and setting the foundation for everything else they'll learn. It covers a broad range of software and hardware and provides the students with a thorough overview of the entire packaging development process.
Mail-Well Unveils “Magic” for Direct Mail Advertisers
NEW YORK, NY, USA—Mail-Well Inc. has introduced an invisible, interactive direct mail technology that “magically” reveals hidden messages, images, or graphics on an envelope when activated by the recipient.
The Rub 'n Reveal technology is being marketed to the $47 billion direct mail industry with the specific goal of boosting customer response rates.
The Rub 'n Reveal technology can be applied to virtually any envelope. It allows advertisers to “hide” a message, image, or graphic on the outside of the envelope and challenge recipients to participate in finding the message to use in conjunction with material inside the envelope. This is significant because industry statistics show that response rates and sales dramatically increase when a recipient spends time interacting with a response device associated with a direct mail offer.
