A ‘reel’ alternative with paper reel-fed labels
Americk Packaging’s Enniskillen site has developed a paper reel-fed label for the beverage market, offering an alternative to standard synthetic substrates. The company has experienced somewhat of a resurgence for paper stocks in the last 18 months as brand owners and marketers seek a point of difference.
Technical manager, Paul Morris, commented: “Some of our soft drink and water customers prefer the natural texture of paper stocks. We have trialed numerous thicknesses and finishes both on press and high-speed applicators.
“Optimum performance is critical to bottlers and therefore we have spent a lot of time and resources in perfecting the ideal specifications for our papers range. In partnership with the leading application equipment manufacturers we can confidently offer alternative substrates to our customers.”
That said, in some cases paper labels are not a practical form of decoration. For example where bottles are filled after labelling the potential spillage may impact the presentation of paper labels, whereas synthetic stocks are water/liquid repellent.
Sales director, Michael Harkness, added: “We have showcased our range of reel-fed solutions at the recent UK Bottled Water Conference with great interest. The London event explored market trends and consumer behaviour which provided further evidence that the choices made when packaging a product, have a direct effect on buying behavior.”
Americk Packaging is fresh from sponsoring the UK Bottled Water Industry Conference. The conference covered many topics including the importance of hydration. The UK is seeing rapid growth in the bottled water market as health and wellbeing become more and more important to UK consumers. A host of industry experts and big brands commented on the shift in shopping habits since the recent announcement of the “sugar tax” on specific soft drinks. Although not necessarily related, Americk Packaging is experiencing growing demand for paper reel-fed label stocks in the water and soft drinks markets particularly.
The company’s Enniskillen plant (in Northern Ireland) specialises in reel-fed, stretch sleeves, cut and stack, deco and roll-on-shrink-on labels. This is complemented with a broad packaging portfolio from a total of six production sites across the UK and Ireland. Printing and converting cartons, punnets and trays, produce packaging, flexibles and self-adhesive labels.