Narrow Web Europe

  • Environment agency

    An ability to produce linerless labels could be a timely development for UK label converters if some proposed government legislation is adopted. It all stems from the fact that siliconized release liners in the cradle-tograve waste chain are a bi…
    07.18.05

  • Launch of all-in-one

    Launch of all-in-one linerless UV flexo press Perhaps some of these converters should take an interest in the Webmaster 2400. It’s a UV flexo press with a difference: It can produce linerless labels. Introduced at Labelexpo Europe 2001 by…
    07.18.05

  • European press manufacturers

    Reports of my death,” wrote Mark Twain on one occasion, “are greatly exaggerated.” In a similar vein, Netherlands based label press manufacturer MPS, about whose future rumors were circulating, has just issued a statement saying tha…
    11.30.-1

  • Label presses from Brazil

    Label presses from Brazil The Grafitec Group in Northern England buys, refurbishes and sells used label presses, as well as manufacturing several ranges of printing and carton converting machinery. Now Grafitec has signed a partnership to market and…
    11.30.-1

  • Clearance sale?

    Clearance sale? News just in from Italy brings encouragement for existing and future customers of failed label press manufacturer GIDUE. The company’s assets were acquired by sister company Nuova Castagnoli and agreement has apparently been re…
    11.30.-1

  • Digital presses

    Digital presses still finding markets UK’s Hine Labels Ltd. has announced the purchase of another Xeikon digital press, the first UK installation for this new model, the 3000, launched in September of last year. Hine Labels’ customers,…
    11.30.-1

  • Swiss Converter extends International coverage

    Swiss Converter extends International coverage Switzerland’s Pago is one of that country’s – and the world’s – leading label converters. From its corporate headquarters in the quaintly named town of Grabs, it has just a…
    11.30.-1

  • A challenge to IML

    A challenge to IML FESPA Digital is a trade show for digital printing, focusing on screen printing, industrial packaging and signage applications, and taking place in Amsterdam in May 2009. Digital label press manufacturer Xeikon will use the show…
    11.30.-1

  • Shows and conferences

    Shows and conferences Label professionals from all sides of the industry recently congregated in Barcelona, Spain, for a “Digital Label Summit,” and in Milan for the Converflex/Grafitialia show where many label machinery manufacturers we…
    11.30.-1

  • Europe’s narrow web

    A glance at the Labelexpo Europe show guides of 1997 and 2007 is instructive: Labelexpo 1997 was a resolutely European show, with 83 percent of exhibitors from Europe, 12 percent from North America and just 5 percent from the rest of the world (mostl…
    11.30.-1

  • Gaining currency

    Gaining currency Britain’s newspapers have been fretting about the “weakness” of the pound. Of course everyone wants to have a “strong” currency, which is seen as a symbol of economic virility. At least – not quit…
    11.30.-1

  • The French label market

    The French label market Major automobile manufacturers may shout to the world that they are on the brink of bankruptcy, but bosses of smaller, family run businesses (like the majority of label converters) would rather be thrown naked into a vat of v…
    11.30.-1

  • Bullish in Belgium

    Bullish in Belgium Just over the frontier in Belgium are the headquarters of two of Europe’s largest label converters: Bopack and Reynders. Bopack recently wound up its labeling systems division, citing falling sales and “deadly” f…
    11.30.-1

  • Plastic? No, whey

    Plastic? No, whey First it was corn, which was suddenly discovered to be the miracle eco-ingredient for everything from gasoline to plastic films. Now it’s whey, the watery stuff that is left over when you make cheese. A group of European prin…
    11.30.-1

  • Is the digital label business recession-proof?

    Is the digital label business recession-proof? The short answer to that is, of course, no. The slightly longer answer is that label converters are still showing a flicker of interest for investing in digital presses. Clever Etiketten in the Hague (N…
    11.30.-1

  • Cut, cut and cut again

    Cut, cut and cut again EskoArtwork, based in Ghent (Belgium) and one of the world leaders in prepress technology for the narrow web sector, has also not escaped the chill wind of recession. In February, the company – which employs 900 and had…
    11.30.-1

  • Press on regardless

    Take a trip round the websites of the principal manufacturers of conventional label presses in continental Europe and you will experience a deafening silence on the subject of new presses sold since the start of 2009. This may be a sign of discretion…
    11.30.-1

  • Silicone Value

    Silicone Value Silicone represents only some 5 percent of the material cost of labelstock, but in these hard times every cost element is coming under scrutiny. Germany’s Wacker Silicones reckons it has come up with a winner. Its latest silico…
    11.30.-1

  • RFID tags tap new markets

    RFID tags tap new markets Bathroom and kitchen fittings seem an unlikely new field for RFID tags, but Hansgrohe, the company that puts its products into a substantial part of Europe’s bathrooms, now uses smart tags to control its workflow, and…
    11.30.-1

  • Mind your language

    Mind your language The phrase “Any language you like so long as it’s English” may (generally) work in North America, but each of Europe’s 70 or more languages is jealously guarded by some nation or region for whom it is part…
    11.30.-1