At the Cutting Edge of Beverage Filling - Verpackungs-Rundschau

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LABELLING Marketing Label Papers by Manfred Marschner* Beyond performing a necessary and legally required role, labels today have gained tremendous importance in product marketing. They convey the value of a product, contribute to its image, are the major vehicle of a brand. Today’s label papers are the result of a continual development in quality standards which have to meet a wide number of challenges in the areas of print and finishing, labelling, ease of removal from bottles, and finally recycling of used labels. Technical Aspects of Label Papers Labels are made of one-side coated papers. A basic distinction is drawn between machine-coated and cast-coated papers and between wet strength and alkali-resistant papers on the one hand and non-wet strength papers on the other. Wet strength and alkali resistant papers are used to label refillable and one-way bottles In this area, base papers for metallisation represents a significant special category. Non wet strength papers are used for labelling and packaging under dry and warm conditions – mainly for labels and banderoles, but also for chocolate wrappers, cigarette soft packs, etc. and for lamination. Cast-coated papers are used in the labelling of high-class drinks, such as wine, champagne, etc., in addition to a variety of foodstuffs. Their extremely high-gloss finish bestows on the product a high sense of value, whilst the uncoated side is eminently suitable for the labelling process. Cast-coated papers are also used in the manufacture of self-adhesive labels. The European market for one-side coated papers is about 500000 t, approximately 2.5% of the total paper market. In recent years, the market for machinecoated label papers has seen only slight average growth of 2-3%, whilst sales of wet strength and alkali-resistant papers have grown only in line with the low growth in their application areas. The use of cast-coated papers in labelling has stagnated. *Managing Director of Stora Fine Paper Deutschland Composition of a Label Paper Label papers are made up of: base paper, surface coating and treatment of the reverse side. Base papers are predominantly high quality, wood-free papers. However, papers containing a small proportion of mechanical fibres are used in some areas (e.g. for labelling wine and soft drinks). The surface coating consists mainly of pigments and binding agents to achieve optimal printing characteristics. Further additives serve to adjust whiteness, water and alkali resistance, resistance of the printing inks to wet abrasion, alkali-bath ink retention etc. The main purpose of the reverse side treatment is to reduce as far as possible curling which results from coating one side of the paper and to ensure optimum flatness when the paper is exposed to varying ambient conditions, adhesive and moisture. It is also used to adjust water absorption and wetting properties and thus adhesive curing times. Finally, it can be specifically used to influence the diecutting properties of the paper. The main properties of label papers can be divided into the categories “Print and Finishing” and “Labelling”. Print and finishing: the optical qualities of whiteness, smoothness and gloss are critical to printing quality.Whiteness and gloss are important for brilliant colour reproduction,whilst smoothness is decisive for highly accurate reproduction and optimum resolution. Processing characteristics are mainly influenced by flatness, sheet separation and the stiffness of the paper. Label papers are largely offset printed, but the upper, coated side, must be suitable for offset and rotogravure printing. They must also be suitable for subsequent lacquering with water-based dispersion lacquers, solvent-based lacquers and ultraviolet lacquers. For wet strength and alkali-resistant label papers the printing ink must be well fixed to ensure good ink adhesion in alkali-bath bottle cleaning. Labelling: optimum flatness and good label separation are basic requirements. In the case of non wet strength label papers, good sizing is necessary to prevent glue bleed when adhesives are applied to the whole surface. Moreover, these papers must not contain substances which might produce corrosion when in contact with cans. The wet strength level required of a label paper depends on the speed of the labelling process and the filling conditions. Wet surfaces or condensation must not result in creasing and the original gloss of the label paper must be retained. In addition, a label must retain its good appearance, even when exposed to condensation or when immersed in ice-cold water. Especially the so-called wet opacity (intransparency) is crucial for the optical appearance of the label under such conditions. Another extremely important characteristic is the alkali-resistance of the paper. When exposed to the alkaline solutions used in bottle cleaning, the label must come off the bottle very quickly yet it must not disintegrate. Labelling Trends In the mid-80s, beer was mainly bottled at temperatures of between 3 and 4°C. This resulted in the formation of heavy condensation on the bottles and produced a need to use casein adhesives. To avoid labelling problems, especially creasing, the water absorbency of the reverse of the label had to be kept low. Labelling speed has brought about further changes. These days, bottling machines are no longer operated at maximum speed. Today,average bottling performance is in the order of 45000 bottles per hour. In recent years, bottling temperatures in many breweries have been raised to between 10 and 14°C due to the introduction of ‘flash pasteurisation’ to extend shelf-life and to the use of sealed crates, which make it necessary to minimise condensation on bottles. This development permitted the use of adhesives with reduced casein content, making it necessary to modify the water absorbency of the reverse side of label papers. The steadily increasing use of light,thin glass and light plastic bottles (especially PET) for soft drinks and mineral waters represents a further trend. Germany and other European countries are now seeing the introduction of returnable PET bottles.Paper labels are well suited for labelling this new form of packaging. ❐ VR Beverage Packaging 1997 29
BITS & PIECES More Than Just Bottles A whole range of stylish products comes from the Container Glass Division of French Conglomerate Saint-Gobain. Engraved glass, appealing shapes and use of colour enhance appeal of the contents. Amongst new designs, introduced in 1996, and proving to be very successful are a bottle for special culinary oils, a bottle for chilled soft drinks, the “long-necks” for wine and the 50cl wine bottle “to accommodate modern consumption trends”.❐ Not just for olive oil Refreshing Lasting impression High-tech Handling of Champagne Bottles ABB Flexible Automation AG, Zürich/CH, developed an industrial robot system for the handling of champagne/sparkling wine bottles at the end of the 1970s and has since continued to improve on the original system. One of the latest inno- Gentle handling of champagne bottles with ABB robots vations is the automatic chilling of the bottles, called “dégorgement”, whereby the bottlenecks are inserted into a chilling solution to remove residue yeast from the second fermentation.An ABB IRB 6000 robot places the neck of the bottle in the solution where it remains for eight minutes. A second robot then removes the bottle, turns it round and places it on a conveyor appliance so that the frozen residue can be removed. A total of 8 500 bottles can be handled every hour. These robots are also capable of packing 9 000 bottles per hour into wooden crates. Each crate holds 500 bottles, placed in 10 layers. The wooden crates are transported by the robot from the storage cellar to the packing station. The IRB 6000, equipped with a special vacuum grip, takes 25 bottles at a time, stands them upright on a conveyor which transports them to the packaging unit In addition to bottle handling, ABB robots are also used in automatic palletising.The IRB 6400,for example,stacks Tetra Paks. With a special product grip, the robot takes six trays of twelve Tetra-Paks each from the product line, positions them and stacks them according to a programmed Automatic packaging process tailor-made constellation. At the same time that the finished pallets are transported to the dispatch area, the robot takes an empty pallet, places it in the programmed position and commences the construction of the next pallet. ABB robot processes are tailor-made to the exact requirements of the user and installed as complete systems. ❐ Stable and Stackable Riverwood International of Houston, Texas/USA, has developed a new packaging concept called Cap-It 1000 for medium size PET bottles. The machine can handle PET bottles ranging from 16 oz to one litre with collared necks in a variety of proprietary shapes, straight/swirl/contour walls and full or petalloid bases. It can run four, six and eight bottle packs, with and without handles, at speeds of up to 150 packs per minute, whatever the package format. Optional finger holes or an extended handle for ease of carrying are also offered. ❐ 30 VR Beverage Packaging 1997
Page 1 and 2: At the Cutting Edge of Beverage Fil
Page 3 and 4: COVER STORY At the Cutting Edge of
Page 5 and 6: DESIGN Style Comes to the Plastic B
Page 7 and 8: Tear and stack DESIGN Travel bottle
Page 9 and 10: BEER speed glass bottling line was
Page 11 and 12: BEER look of the design on the fini
Page 13 and 14: BEER To meet rising demand, Kaiser
Page 15 and 16: SOFT DRINKS No vehicle is too small
Page 17 and 18: GLASS/PET Chopping and Changing Gla
Page 19 and 20: GLASS/PET New RefPET Plant in the C
Page 21 and 22: CANS Photo: The Coca-Cola Company I
Page 23 and 24: CARTONS A Bottle Made of Cardboard
Page 25: LABELLING clean and dry. This enabl

At the Cutting Edge of Beverage Filling - Verpackungs-Rundschau

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