THE DATA FRONT

Labels&Labeling |69
Mexico city: the view across
Reforma Avenue and Torre Mayor
80 percent of our sales will come from
outside the hair cosmetic company,’
Villar says.
To gain more market share, Villar’s
focus is on finding customers that want
specialty labels and packaging. ‘Each
of our current customers has a different
application, so we are completing
distinct work each time we print a label.
This type of work is where we will find
our opportunities for growth,’ he says.
He notes that the pharmaceutical
industry is a key growth segment in
Mexico.
Alejandro Hernandez, general
manager for 20 year old Todo en
Etiquetas, competes mostly in the food
and beverage market using a variety
of Mark Andy and Nilpeter equipment.
Traditionally a pressure sensitive house,
Etiquetas moved into the shrink sleeve
business four years ago.
‘We have since grown our shrink
label business to a third of our total
sales,’ Hernandez says. All of its shrink
sleeves are produced on a Nilpeter FB
3300. ‘We are already near capacity on
this press, so in order to expand into
new markets, like tequila, we must add
another one. And with the addition, we
will also invest in another seamer, cutter
and rewinder to avoid bottlenecking in
our manufacturing process.’
Nueva Latina, a long-standing,
predominantly offset printer, has
made a significant investment in flexo
technology in recent years. Nueva
Latina has experienced more and more
customers asking for shrink sleeve
labels. Juan Antonio Alduncin, chief
director, says: ‘We have expanded into
the shrink market with flexo. The quality
of UV flexo has improved substantially
in recent years and we can produce
shrink at a reasonable cost with this
technology. There are lucrative benefits
in UV versus offset for this market.’
Security and authenticity
Another avenue of diversification that
Mexican printers are taking advantage
of is in security and authenticity. The
battle against counterfeit goods has
only intensified in recent years, creating
new opportunities for converters
around the world to help brand owners
distinguish their products from bogus
ones in the marketplace.
The flow of counterfeit goods into
Mexico is valued at some USD 43
billion, putting it in the black market top
ten. Research also shows that around
30 percent of name brand spirits sold
in Mexico are diluted with counterfeit
liquor.
Guillermo Ramirez Boyer is the
managing director at Formflex, a mostly
ticket, tag and pouch producer for the
pharma, liquor and food industries.
Formflex specializes in premium
labels, more specifically offering value
added security and authentication
solutions to its customers. ‘Our clients
have asked for help with verification
of their products,’ he says. ‘Using a
combination of printing processes,
like reverse printing for example, with
advanced inks and substrates, we
provide our customers with a genuine
solution.
‘In this region of Mexico, counterfeit
tequila has become a real problem,’
continues Guillermo Ramirez Boyer.
‘So for one of our tequila customers
we used a UV ink only visible with
dark light to print a security logo and
corresponding code on their 100
percent Agave tequila labels. This
Nilpeter flexo press at Litoplast
Servo drives and sleeves
allow fast changeovers
may 2009 | L&L