Narrow Web Europe
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Spreading waste-lines, and British bolshiness
Spent liner… landfill… sustainability… impossible to open a label or packaging-related magazine these days without being bombarded with articles telling us to do something about waste. The problem is not the same for industrialis…08.27.10
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The digital band wagon
Few people would quarrel with the word exponential to describe the rise in the number of manufacturers offering narrow web digital presses. At the Labelexpo show in Brussels in 2003 there were just three companies making them. By last year there were…07.14.10
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Food for thought
This month’s letter from Europe starts with a short dissertation on British food. Readers who have lived or worked in Britain can skip the next paragraph. There have been huge advances in British food since the days of over-boiled vegetables a…05.07.10
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Manufacturing is still moving east
Despite the protectionist rodomontades of some of Europe’s leading politicians, manufacturing industries continue to move out of the high-cost Western European theatre. Much of the benefit is going to the countries on the eastern fringe of the…03.30.10
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Recession recedes, sales still stagnate
Despite competition from the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics, it will not have escaped L&NW’s readers that all was not well with Europe’s economies at the start of 2010. The Euro went down against the dollar, which pleased Europe&r…03.15.10
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Never make predictions
The previous Narrow Web Europe update expressed surprise that so few European press manufacturers had gone out of business. The ink was not dry on that text before another press maker went under. Werner Kammann Maschinenfabrik, with 260 employees, wa…John Penhallow 01.15.10
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European thinking in times of adversity
The surprising thing about Europe’s narrow web press manufacturers is not that some of them have gone out of business this year, but that so many of them haven’t. Gaetan de Charry, sales director of Spain’s Rotatek, reckons that be…John Penhallow 11.13.09
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Labelexpo and beyond: Reports from the European markets
After four days at Labelexpo Europe being bombarded by the sights and sounds of 500 exhibitors, many visitors (including your correspondent) were reduced to a near-zombie state with the rational mind switched off. Now that he has recovered most of hi…John Penhallow 10.07.09
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A break in the (economic) clouds
In France, and to some extent in the rest of Europe, nothing much happens in July and August because the journalists are all sunning themselves on a beach. Some, however, soldier on, and those that do sometimes find that the economic and business lif…John Penhallow 09.03.09
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Acquisitions, ownership and global pursuits
The hottest news from France, as already reported in L&NW’s online version, is the acquisition, by the country’s third biggest label converter, of Bopack, hitherto the biggest. This will create a market leader with a 15 to 20 percent…John Penhallow 07.07.09
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European press manufacturers 'down but not out'
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…John Penhallow 05.08.09
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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…John Penhallow 03.31.09
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Europe's narrow web equipment makers feel the squeeze
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…John Penhallow 03.06.09
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What is packaging?
The European Union’s latest Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste imposes penalties on converters and end users who fail to reduce or recycle their packaging. However, not everyone agrees on what constitutes packaging, and in particular wh…01.27.09
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Shall they beat
Shall they beat their liner into decking? Major labelstock manufacturers meanwhile have all seen the writing on the wall, and have no wish to be found wanting. UPM Raflatac must surely get high marks for its RafCycle and ProFi initiatives (as repo…01.27.09
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Eastern underwear
Eastern underwear The British clothing retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S), affectionately known as Marks & Sparks, is a pioneer in using RFID labels to move stock more easily through its supply chain. (A few years ago M&S caused constern…01.27.09
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A roll call of prestigious brands
A roll call of prestigious brands While Ukraine is welcoming Western apparel, Russia and other Eastern European countries continue to see an influx of factories making fast-moving consumer goods, and not just in the major population centers. This ye…01.27.09
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Cheaper chips
Cheaper chips Electronics will do away with paper, and printers will go the way of the blacksmith – that was the conventional wisdom a couple of decades ago. You have only to look around your shopping mall (or your desk) to realize it hasn&rsq…01.27.09
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Labelstock production in Germany
Labelstock production in Germany Sandwiched uncomfortably between global market leaders and small, highly specialized producers, Herma is a medium sized labelstock manufacturer producing some 700 million square meters of product per year, and sellin…01.27.09
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An inclination to Port
An inclination to Port Portugal’s second city, Oporto, is the heart of the Port wine industry. Gone are the days when Port was a vintage luxury consumed by Oxford professors and retired officers in London clubs. Today this export-oriented indu…01.27.09
