Nearly 70 interested parties
joined AWA Alexander Watson Associates to review and debate the
pressure-sensitive label industry’s achievements and actions agenda, and gain
an update into label release liner, on September 8thin Chicago, just before LabelexpoAmericas 2014 opened its
doors.
Over 50% of release liner
manufacturers’ output is consumed by the pressure-sensitive label industry, so
the annual AWA Label Release Liner Industry Seminar is of major relevance –
especially today. Corey Reardon, President and CEO
of AWA Alexander Watson Associates, opened proceedings by asking delegates to
complete and return questionnaires for a ‘real-time’ survey of the label
release liner market’s current profile – the results of which were published at
the end of the event.
The global release liner market
He went on to deliver an overview
of the total global release liner market, showing that the Asia Pacific region
has nudged ahead of North America and Europe as the largest market
overall; that film-based liner now commands
a 16% share of global usage; and that
global growth across all segments is running at just under 5%. ‘While labelstock remains the core,’ said Mr
Reardon, ‘it is the graphic arts, tapes, medical, and industrial segments that
are the major growth areas’.
Today’s changing labeling market
Mr Reardon went on to recordAWA’s
data findings on the overall labeling market – including technologies that do
not involve release liner -- in 2013.
‘Today’, he said, ‘a wide span of production identification technologies
are in use – including wraparound, glue-applied, and even direct print.’ Taking the last item out of the equation, he
showed that the Asia Pacific region once again takes the major market share,
and is continuing to grow at more than 6% per annum. ‘The majority of label applications are
still equally shared between the glue-applied (including patch glue and
wraparound) and pressure-sensitive technologies; but it is heat shrink sleeving that continues
to exhibit the highest growth’, he showed.
He pinpointed major trends in the industry, which in growth terms
remains closely tied to GDP. He
explored the evolution of products in order to drive out cost; M&A activity across the value chain; recycling, environmental, and sustainability
concerns; the flexibility of digital
print, which in some aspects represents a competing technology; and the growth in usage of alternative
packaging methods such as pouches.
Real competition to
pressure-sensitive labels
‘In-mold labels remain a niche
label format’, Mr Reardon observed, with a ±5% ongoing market share, ‘but’, he
adjured delegates, ‘we really need to keep an eye on the sleeving technologies
– these are real competition that are eroding the market shares and growth
potential of pressure-sensitive and glue applied labels!’
North America’s label market
The North American label market’s
profile – from M&A activity and industry ‘movers and shakers’, through
digital and conventional print applications, to release liner in all its
aspects -- was explored by Danielle Jerschefske, North America Editor of Labels
and Labeling International and PackPrint
World.She presented a colourfulportfolio of examples of the region’s creativity
in making labels that both deliver functionality and sell products. Personalization is proving a real opportunity
for label converters and brand owners alike to differentiate. Current examples include the global
Coca-Cola personalized (although still mass communication)bottle campaign and
‘team wines’,labeled specifically for major league baseball teams.
Ms Jerschefske highlighted ETI’s
success in creating a labelstock lamination and print continuum, commenting
that, for customers, ‘if something goes wrong on an ETI line, you only have one
call to make!’She also drew attention to the achievements of digital print,
saying that ‘the speed of these machines now can compete pretty well with
conventional print – and it’s now possible to even finish digitally-printed
labels in line.’
Looking forward
There are, she said, certainly
opportunities for label converters who want to expand their offering, and there
are real innovations around, both in the broader world of packaging print and
in pressure-sensitive labels; but,
MsJerschefske warned, ‘linerless labels are NOT becoming more mainstream,
because end users are reluctant to invest in even more new equipment.’ Release liner recycling remains a focus
across the label industry in North America – but it is the brand owners who
hold the trump hand in getting full-scale liner recycling moving.
Competitive technologies
Dan Muenzer, VP Marketing,
Constantia Flexibles, delved deeper into the competitive product identification
and decoration technologies that aim directly at pressure-sensitive labeling,
providing an industry’s expert’s opinion as well on the labeling market in the
near term and beyond, and the various end-use market segments. In the largest segment, food, he said that
‘the transition from box to flexible packaging is coming on strong, but it’s
still a niche market for beverage.’ He
pinpointed a peanut snack pack – a prizewinner in the 2014 Dupont Packaging
Awards -- which combined a ‘blown box
with a resealablepressure-sensitive label’.
MrMuenzer reiterated that,among
the many options which are attracting varied levels of brand owner
attention, shrink sleeves are
‘definitely here to stay – but they involve a secondary process – shrinking –
and 30% of their cost is in the seaming process. Roll-fed shrink does away with this process,
but it is still a coming thing.’
He went on to discuss more threats
and opportunities. ‘Cans are hip and
cool’ said MrMuenzer, ‘especially where the younger generation is
concerned. In the US, not only beers,
but also wines and spirits are going into cans now’. The resurgence of cans is just one example
of change across the whole span of packaging.
Opportunities through innovation
‘In the returnable bottles
sector, wash-off pressure-sensitive labels will definitely enjoy big growth
-- as will the recycling of PET bottles,
once the label adhesive problem is solved.’
High-speed digital print, and printed electronics (interactive labels,
exemplified by the ‘smart’ Heineken Ignite bottle, which reacts to its
surroundings, and the people around it) are examples of innovative pathways in the labeling field,
but, he warned: ‘Brand owners are not
going to be loyal to pressure-sensitive.
Whatever technology gives the best flexibility will win.’
Label release liner recycling
Cindy White, President and CEO,
Channeled Resources Group, and a member of the TLMI Liner Recycling
Subcommittee, part of the Environmental Committee, went on to provide an update
on label release liner recycling. ‘TLMI
is concerned with strategies for release liner from the beginning of life
(sustainability), through its mid-life (its carbon footprint), and to its end
of life (recycling and waste-to-energy’.
The Recycling Subcommittee’s mission is to educate both converters and
end users on available recycling programs as practical alternatives to
landfill, and to support that withdown-to-earth, helpful educational
material. Much activity in this arena
is already visible – including a straightforward, downloadable pdf – ‘How to
Recycle Release Liner’ -- providing step-by-step advice and listing no less
than nine providers of collection
services within the USA. Currently
involved in developing a pilot recycling program in the mid-west with targeted
label converters and their customers, the Recycling Subcommittee’s next step is
‘to meet with sales representatives at target accounts’, ended Ms White, ‘and
to keep looking for new ideas!’
Linerless label systems
In a small step change, Jackie
Marolda, VP and Senior Consultant, AWA Alexander Watson Associates, updated
delegates formally on the current status of ‘a pressure-sensitive, linerless
label -- a regenerated technology base
where new things are happening’, she began.
‘Today’s interest responds to a number of forces for change,’ she
said: ‘social, legislative, and economic
– particularly in terms of waste costs, and liner costs. The pressure-sensitive label converter
rewinds used liner – but only about 1% is recycled.’
Now with around 5% of the label
market, linerless labels, while they do not employ a liner, still require the silicone release
coat. Nevertheless, industry leaders
along the value chain are investing in the technology, although, echoing
MsJerschefske, Ms Marolda added, ‘the fact that there are a number of different
systems mitigates against linerless to a certain extent from the end user’s
point of view. VIP/logistics labels
fit linerless very well, and their printer and label dispenser systems can be
easily, affordably retrofitted. The
growth opportunities in VIP labels are high’.
This constitutes a real threat to lineredpressure-sensitive labels but,
for primary label applications,linerless is not significant. ‘Where it fits, it fits well’, Ms Marolda
said – but the areas where it doesfit are those where the business was ‘mostly
never pressure-sensitive’.
MsMarolda’s conclusion was that,
for the future, linerless labeling will grow – but, overall, it does not
represent a disruptive force for the release liner industry.
Thinner liners
‘Thin release liners are about
saving time – and being green’, said Kevin Hayes, Executive Vice President,
Outlook Group: a company which has been
recycling its labeling and packaging solutions waste for more than five years
now. He reminded delegates that the
annual yield on label purchases is only 91%, because 9% do not even reach
production, and therefore final product delivery. His company’s 100% recyclable PET
MICROLINER® label construction, Mr Hayes explained, ‘features a thinner label liner
and a reversed die-cutting process; delivers 75% less release liner waste, and
more labels per roll; saves time, saves space, saves transportation costs, and
the need to recycle – and it is compatible with your current label application
equipment.’
Inline coating, lamination, and
printing
Inline coating, laminating and
printing – including linerless technology – were the central topics addressed
by ETI Converting’s VP National Sales, Kevin Longueil. It is less than 15 years since the company’s
first ‘Cohesio’ integrated production options were exhibited at Labelexpo, and
since then they have proved their efficacy in ‘combining silicone, adhesive
coating, printing (using any process of choice) and diecutting in one process
to deliver less waste, time savings and energy efficiency, tight production
control, and improved profitability.’
Indeed, Mr Longueil added, ‘For pressure-sensitive constructions, this
can mean a pretty big saving for the converter!’
ETI’s linerless label option,
involving a PET liner, which can be
reused up to 20 times, and the company’s thin MiniLiner PET and paper liners
offer other cost- and waste-saving options.
A new green initiative in
glassine release base
More innovation solutions meeting
the market’s sustainability requirements were presented by UPM Label Papers’
Business Development Director, MikkoRissanen.
listed for the third successive year as the industry leader in the Dow
Jones European and World Sustainability Indices (DJSI) for 2014-2015, UPM’s
product range for the label industryis now enhanced with its new UPM Evolution
thin, biodegradable glassine release base, which, MrRissanen said, ‘offers more
labels per reel, less reel changes, more efficient energy consumption, and
uncompromised performance’.
The practical pathway to success
‘Why guess? Ask your release liner supplier’, adjured
Doug Goldstein, Market Manager for Adhesives Research, Inc. Through case studies and expert ‘best
practice’ recommendations, he underlined the importance of a real technical relationship
between a release liner supplier and his supplier of adhesives and coatings
substrates – although, he said, ‘typically, people don’t think this way!’
‘Shop for the best overall
solution, matching overall quality, customer and technical support andprice’
was his advice for all but real commodity applications. ‘Test, test, and retest over time’ on both
pilot and production lines before final specification, because a typical liner
qualification time is three to six months.
‘All adhesives and silicone liners have ranges’, and, once again,
interaction across the value chain is essential to achieve best
performance. Performance may be
compromised by adhesive shipping at an inappropriate temperature; by inappropriate storage temperature and
humidity; and by the consistency of the
liner substrate’s surface in terms of roughness, smoothness, shrinkage, and
surface energy.
Real-time industry survey
It was time for Corey Reardon to
review the outcome of the event’s real-time industry survey. 79% of respondents said that being a global supplier
– ie with sales/operations on three or more continents -- enhances their companies’ growth
opportunities and, ‘consistent with our
last survey’, saidMr Reardon, ‘68% of respondents consider their businesses to
be global already; 25% regional; and 7%
local. Indeed, 52% of delegates say
that the release liner industry is already truly globalized, with a further 22%
expecting the process to be complete within just five years.’
In the last 12 months, the survey
showed, costs – transportation, energy, labor, and materials -- have generally
increased, but the coming twelve months are expected to show greater
stability.Regionally, in 2014, respondents’ business in Asia is expected to
enjoy the highest growth. Mergers and
acquisitions are a continuing feature of the packaging and print market, and
74% of survey respondents expect their own companies to be affected during the
next five years, as M&A activity in the sector gathers speed.
The key to the future?
The final survey question was an
important one: ‘While the release liner
industry has experienced incremental improvements in products and services in
the past five years, but we are in real need of some true innovation’. Results clearly showed that the majority of
respondents agreed.
Closing the seminar on this
significant note, Corey Reardon thanked the event’s platinum sponsor, UPM, and
gold sponsors Dow Corning, ETI, Evonik, Labels & Labeling, and Mondi, for
their support, and welcomed delegates to cocktails at the end of a day that had
identified both opportunities and issues in the world of label release liner.
