Label Expo 2004
Highlights
By Ivars Sarkans

Exhibitors again filled the Rosemont, Illinois Convention Center for four days in September with exhibits of the latest developments in label production equipment and systems.  Because Label Expo is held bi-annually in the US, this show always has a sizeable number of new technology introductions, and industry trends are more visible than at annual events.  Label Expo 2004 clearly represented a growth industry, and it showed that label producers can utilize the versatility of the latest presses and finishing equipment to diversify into other segments of the much larger package printing industry.

The positive tone of Label Expo 2004 was supported by label industry statistics published in the September 6, 2004 issue of Flexo Market News and based on a study by The Freedonia Group.  This study shows that total US shipments of labels increased 5.3% per year from 1998 through 2003 and growth will continue at a 5.7% average annual rate through 2008.

Not Just a Label Expo
The show this year was clearly no longer just a "Label Expo."  Simple flexo presses running conventional pressure-sensitive labels were hard to find at Label Expo 2004.  Practically all of the prominent flexo press displays featured printing on films, folding carton board and other packaging materials.  Label Expo has in fact evolved into a major narrow-web packaging industry show.  As one example of this trend, Gidue, SpA, a major Italian label press supplier, was promoting itself at Label Expo 2004 as "the global packaging company" rather than just a builder of label presses.  Printing of packaging materials was featured more prominently than label production by most other major label press suppliers.

The convergence of label manufacturing with printing of packaging films and folding cartons is driven by both market forces and label press technology advances.  The general trend to shorter runs combined with proliferation of brands, products targeted at narrow market segments and customer desire to minimize printed item inventories favor the capabilities of a new generation of narrow web flexo presses.  These very versatile presses, prominently displayed at Label Expo 2004, can print not only labels, but a wide range of packaging films and folding cartons.

Presses
The trend in new label press designs is towards platform presses, where print and finishing station bases and drives can accommodate a wide range of configurations.  Typical platform presses can have flexo, rotary screen, or foil stamping units in any print position.   Some platform presses are designed to accept gravure and offset print modules or die cutting units in print positions.  The technologies that enable this advanced level of press flexibility are a combination of computer controls and servomotor drives.  Replacement of driveshafts with individual unit servomotors makes it easier to mix different types of printing and finishing modules on a single press.  These motors also allow for very precise web feeding and tension control and extend the range of materials that can be printed on a label press from very thin unsupported films to heavy folding carton board.

Another major trend in label presses is increased productivity with higher rated speeds, wider webs and reduced setup times.  A rated maximum speed of 750 feet per minute is now common among new press models.  Label Expo 2004 had more presses in the 13" to 20" web width range than 10" or narrower machines.  Quick setup provisions on some presses included print unit components that slide out of a press on operator side rails for easy access to the plate cylinder, anilox roll and ink pan.  Other suppliers provide off-line print component cleaning and preparation stations to minimize job changeover time.  Servomotor drives can contribute to both setup time and waste reduction because presses equipped with these individual unit motors can be brought in near-exact register quickly and without running any material.  The new high-productivity presses can give manufacturers a competitive advantage over plants with older equipment, but one of the side effects is growing excess capacity in the label industry, particularly in older but still usable presses.  This parallels the situation in commercial printing, where new presses are sold based on higher productivity while the industry copes with the effects of excess capacity.

Label market studies show that demand for film labels is experiencing a much higher growth rate than demand for conventional paper labels.  The attractiveness of film labels is the "no-label" look when affixed to products.  This is one of the market trends driving press innovations that allow printing on film and prompt some label manufacturers to replace older presses that are limited to paper webs.  Along the trend toward more printing of films, cold foiling was "hot" at Label Expo 2004.  The cold foiling process typically involves application of a UV-cured pattern adhesive to a film web and then pressing it against the donor web.  Foil is transferred from the donor web to the pattern adhesive.  Cold foiling units are now optional on practically all label presses that can run films and other materials not suitable for conventional hot foil stamping.

One of the largest displays of presses for labels, films and folding cartons was in the Mark Andy booth.  Label Expo 2004 was the first showing of the XP-5000 servo drive platform press, designed to run materials from ½ mil film to 14 point carton board.  The 6 color 17" wide press at the show included numerous quick setup features, a rotary screen unit, automatic compensation for film stretch and a re-register system to run preprinted webs.  Mark Andy also showed the LP-3000 platform label press with a cold foiling station and an integrated Longford RFID circuit inserting station.  More demanding packaging material printing applications can be served by the Mark Andy Comco Proglide model demonstrated in an 8 color servo drive version that can run materials from 0.5 mil unsupported film to 24 mil folding carton board.  This model is available in web widths from 13" to 26", up to 12 print stations and an exceptionally wide range of dryer options, which can include cooled drums to carry heat-sensitive webs through the drying stations.  All Mark Andy Comco presses are designed with dryers above the print units.

Nilpeter displayed the unique 13" wide MO platform press which can be configured with offset, flexo, gravure, rotary screen and hot foil print cassettes.  The Omet Varyflex was another innovative press for labels, films and folding cartons.  This machine uses variable size plate sleeves, with two servomotors per print station for precise control of plate and impression cylinder speeds.  At Label Expo 2004, Omet introduced the TwinCut die system, with two servo-driven magnetic cylinders that can accomplish all cut repeats without cylinder changes.  The Omet Varyflex press, available in 16", 20" and 26" widths, is sold in the U.S. by Matik North America.  A newcomer to the U.S. market, Multi Print Systems (MPS) from Holland claimed that their flexo presses can match 200 lines/inch offset print quality.  MPS indicates that this level of flexo quality is attained with servomotor drives and a special coating on impression cylinders that allows use of hard flexo plates to minimize dot gain.  The Aquaflex booth had another demonstration of press versatility, as their LX model 8 color UV flexo press was switched between printing film labels and folding cartons.  In folding carton mode, using a rotary die cut and trim removal station, the press was producing finished printed and scored cartons at 500 ft/min.

Digital Printing
Full color digital printing still appears to be a niche process in the label industry, with a limited number of installations to date.  Hewlett Packard (HP) indicates that world-wide approximately 250 Indigo digital color presses have been installed for label production, and the pace of new label press sales is increasing.  HP demonstrated the ws 4050 digital color press in line with a conventional and laser die cutting unit, hot foil station and a coating applicator.  The ws 4050 can print up to 7 colors with rated speed at 52.5 ft. /min. in 4 color mode.

Mark Andy showed the fastest digital color system for labels, the DT 2200 model, with a 4-color ink jet print unit mounted on a conventional label press base.  This system uses an array of piezo drop-on-demand ink jet heads and UV curable inks.  Rated web speed is 80 ft/min. with 300 dpi resolution and 8 levels of grayscale.  Options for the DT 2200 system include a laser die cutter.  Label Expo 2004 had several laser die cutting demonstrations, but these machines are still very expensive and have limited effectiveness on some materials.  In many applications, a laser die cutter would not eliminate the need for a conventional die station.

The digital color presses demonstrated at Label Expo 2004 by HP-Indigo, Mark Andy and Xeikon appear to be meeting some market resistance due to the cost of a complete label production configuration.  When buyers consider the cost of die cutting and other finishing stations that have to be added to the digital color press, total investment can approach or exceed $1.0 million.  With conventional die cutting, users have to recognize the cost of dies, which can be a significant factor in the short runs best suited for digital color presses.  The alternative is a substantially more expensive laser die cutting unit.  All of these factors present a major challenge in justifying the initial purchase of a digital color label press that is both slow and expensive relative to conventional flexo equipment.  To address this challenge, HP held a conference session at Label Expo 2004 where several users described successful businesses developed on the basis of Indigo digital press capabilities.

Matan Digital Printers introduced a new short run digital color label printer based on thermal transfer technology.  The complete system, including a machine with computer-controlled stylus for label cutting, costs less the $130,000.  The Matan printer called Spring is 12" wide and runs at 14.75 ft/min. in low resolution 400 x 200 dpi mode.  Run speed decreases as print resolution is increased up to a maximum of 1600x400 dpi.  Donor ribbons are priced at $1.42 M square inches per color.  This printer exemplifies the tradeoffs in digital color for labels between low equipment cost, speed and high cost of consumables.  For low volume applications, the show had several other moderate cost digital color printers with matched computer-driven label cutting machines.

Black toner or ink jet printers are relatively common on label presses for variable bar codes, numbers or text imprinting.  At Label Expo 2004, Jetrion, a new subsidiary of Flint Ink Corporation, introduced the Jetrion 3025 ink jet printer for Label presses or finishing lines.  Jetrion uses 2.4" wide print heads which can be combined to increase print width.  Print resolution of 316 x 526 dpi is adequate for bar codes.  Rated speed with UV inks is 250 ft. /min. and 400 ft/min. with solvent inks.  The Jetrion ink jet system was demonstrated on a Mark Andy label press.  For off-line printing of bar codes or other variable information on labels, Nipson showed their model 1865 pinfed laser printer.  This machine can run webs up to 18" wide, including heavy tag stock up to 25 mils thick.  Print resolution can be adjusted from 240 dpi to 600 dpi.  Normal production mode is pack-to-pack with production rate equivalent to 100 pages (8½" x 11") per minute.  The features that make this printer especially attractive for both forms and label imprinting or bar coding is the heavy stock capability and flash fusing.  The fusing process does not apply pressure or heat the web, which makes this machine particularly well suited for forms with integrated labels or cards and most label materials.

Auxiliary equipment and RFID
Smart labels and other RFID applications were among Label Expo 2004 conference session topics, but promised radically new technologies were not evident in the equipment and processes on the show floor.  The feasibility of printing RFID antennas, batteries or processor chips was a subject of discussions at the show, but there were no actual demonstrations. Precisia LLC, a new subsidiary of Flint Ink Company, presented information on conductive inks for printing RFID antennas and other technology projects to develop thin and flexible batteries that can be created by printing.  It is still uncertain when some of these innovations will be ready for high volume production.

The most sophisticated machine for adding RFID circuits to pressure-sensitive labels was demonstrated by Melzer, a German company.  This machine tests the RFID inlays, discards defective ones, delaminates a label web, affixes the RFID chip and antenna assembly in correct position, re-laminates the label and liner webs and tests the finished product.  The base model can run one stream of labels.  For higher volume production, Melzer makes a four stream version of the RFID inlay applicator.  Melzer is represented in the United States by Innovative Equipment, Inc.

Two other European suppliers presented information on off-line machines for adding RFID circuits to pressure-sensitive labels.  Bielomatik Jagenberg displayed diagrams and specifications of machines demonstrated at Drupa 2004.  A new moderately priced (under $200,000) single-width RFID inlay applicator was introduced by Schober USA, Inc.  The Schober applicator does not have the sophisticated controls and defective circuit removal provisions of the Melzer and Bielomatik machines, but it should meet the requirements of label suppliers looking for affordable entry level off-line equipment.  As indicated by the Mark Andy label press exhibit with an on-line Longford inlay applicator, label manufacturers are also looking for ways to complete RFID tags and labels on their presses rather than off-line machines.

Labels with integrated RFID chips and antennas can be easily damaged in normal use by imprinting equipment, handling and static electricity.  To reduce RFID label failures, Appleton introduced SmartStrate ®  stock specifically designed to protect the integrated circuits.  The new material consists of several layers that cushion the RFID inlay, provide a smooth surface for imprinting and prevent damage from static.

RFID label, tag, ticket and card manufacturing equipment will probably be among the "star" attractions at the next Label Expo show in 2006.  The show this year provided a strong signal that demand for RFID labels, tags, cards and other "smart" products will present new growth opportunities for firms that can keep pace with advances in technology.  Label Expo 2004 had the equipment needed for early entry into the RFID product market, but the technologies that can lead to huge increases in demand for RFID products by driving down the cost of manufacturing are still only in laboratories and test sites.

Ivars Sarkans is president of consulting firm Sarkans & Associates of Los Angeles, California and a long time contributor to DMIA publications.  He can be reached by telephone at (323) 221-7791 or by e-mail at isarkans@sarkans.com.

Companies Mentioned in this Article
Appleton, Appleton, WI
www.appletonideas.com

Aquaflex (division of F.L.Smithe Machine Company, Inc.) Duncansville, PA
www.aquaflex.com

Bielomatik Jagenberg, Inc., Windsor, CT
www.bielomatikinc.com

Flint Ink Corporation, Ann Arbor, MI
www.flintink.com

Freedonia Group, Inc., Cleveland, OH
www.freedoniagroup.com

Gidue Spa, Turante, Italy
www.gidue.com

Hewlett-Packard Company, Littleton, MA
www.hp.com/go/graphicarts

Innovative Equipment, Inc., Cortland Manor, NY
www.innovativeequipment.com

Jetrion, LLC, Ann Arbor, MI
www.jetrion.com

Longford Equipment International Ltd, Toronto, Canada
www.longfordint.com

Mark Andy, Inc., Chesterfield, MO
www.markandy.com

Matan Digital Printers, Rosh-Ha'ayin, Israel
www.matanprinters.com

Matik North America, West Hartford, CT
www.matik.com

Melzer Machinenbau, GmbH, Schwelm, Germany
www.melzergmbh.com

MPS Systems bv, Didam, Holland
www.mps4u.com

Nilpeter A/S, Slagelse, Denmark
www.nilpeter.com

Nipson America, Inc., Elk Grove Village, IL
www.nipson.com

Omet SRL, Lecco, Italy
www.omet.it

Precisia LLC, Ann Arbor, MI
www.precisia.net

Schober USA, Inc., Cincinnati, OH
www.schoberusa.com

Xeikon America, Inc., Itasca, IL
www.xeikon.com

All of the trade names, trademarks and other proprietary product or process designations mentioned in this article are the property of the respective owners.

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