• Login
    • Join
  • Subscribe Free
    • Magazine
    • eNewsletter
    Checkout
    • Magazine
    • News
    • Exclusives
    • Labels & Packaging
    • Markets
    • Technology
    • Equipment
    • Supplies
    • Buyers' Guide
    • Events
    • Jobs
    • More
  • Magazine
  • News
  • Exclusives
  • Labels & Packaging
  • Markets
  • Technology
  • Equipment
  • Supplies
  • Buyers' Guide
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Current / Back Issues
    Features
    Editorial
    Columns
    Digital Edition
    eNewsletter Archive
    Our Team
    Subscribe Now
    Advertise Now
    Top Features
    Label Insights: Kocher + Beck highlights GapMaster enhancements

    Die Technology

    Ink Innovation

    E-Commerce Labels

    Contingency Planning
    Breaking News
    Converter News
    European Label News
    Industry News
    Industry People
    M&A News
    New Products
    Expert's Opinion
    Live From Shows
    Top News
    Sakata INX and INX International continue sustainability efforts

    TLMI reveals Eugene Singer Award winners at Virtual Spring Summit

    Monadnock Paper Mills joins SGP

    ACTEGA helps converter reach sustainability goals

    Bobst enhances design of Mouvent LB701-UV digital label press
    Blog
    Video Bites
    Beauty & Personal Care Labels
    Beer Labels
    Beverage Labels
    Flexible Packaging
    Folding Carton
    Food Labels
    Glue-Applied
    In-Mold
    Industrial Labels
    Medical Labels
    Pharmaceutical Labels
    Pressure Sensitive
    Prime Labels
    Promotional Labels
    Security Labels
    Shrink
    Smart Labels
    Specialty Labels
    Spirits Labels
    Wine Labels

    Enprom helps converter respond to flexible packaging needs

    anytron assists medical device company with labeling

    Deep dive into the packaging supply chain

    Fortis Solutions Group acquires Total Label USA

    Schreiner MediPharm develops NFC-Label for Ypsomed’s UnoPen injector
    Africa
    Asia
    Australia
    China
    Europe
    India
    Latin America
    Middle East
    North America

    Touring Creative Labels of Vermont

    Collaboration helps propel Creative Labels of Vermont

    TLMI delivers optimism about future of label industry

    Five product label design trends for 2021

    TLMI reveals Eugene Singer Award winners at Virtual Spring Summit
    Flexography
    Digital Printing
    Prepress
    Finishing
    Sustainability

    Sakata INX and INX International continue sustainability efforts

    Touring Creative Labels of Vermont

    Collaboration helps propel Creative Labels of Vermont

    Monadnock Paper Mills joins SGP

    ACTEGA helps converter reach sustainability goals
    Digital Printers & Presses
    Flexo Presses
    Label Converting Equipment
    Label Finishing Equipment
    Prepress Equipment

    Bobst enhances design of Mouvent LB701-UV digital label press

    Epson SurePress reaches milestone

    Maxcess updates user interface for Fife guiding Sensor

    Mark Andy organizes international webinar for students

    Mark Andy launches monochrome digital print bar
    Dies And Tooling
    Flexo Supplies
    Ink & Coatings
    Prepress Supplies
    Pressrooom Supplies
    Substrates

    Sakata INX and INX International continue sustainability efforts

    Monadnock Paper Mills joins SGP

    ACTEGA helps converter reach sustainability goals

    Dantex debuts new capabilities with white ink opacity

    VideoBite: Sun Chemical drives label and packaging innovation
    All Companies
    Categories
    Company Profiles
    Label Converters
    Trade Associations
    Add New Company
    International Buyers Guide Companies
    KTI

    NarrowWebExchange.com, LLC

    Ashe Converting Equipment

    Flexo Label Advantage Group LLC (FLAG)

    UPM Raflatac
    Industry Events
    Webinars
    Live from Show Events
    • Magazine
      • Current & Past Issues
      • Features
      • Editorial
      • Columns
      • Digital Edition
      • eNewsletter Archive
      • Subscribe Now
      • Advertise Now
    • Breaking News
    • Buyers' Guide
      • All Companies
      • Categories
      • Company Profiles
      • Label Converters
      • Trade Associations
      • Add Your Company
    • Labels & Packaging
      • Beauty & Personal Care Labels
      • Beer Labels
      • Beverage Labels
      • Flexible Packaging
      • Folding Carton
      • Food Labels
      • Glue-Applied
      • In-Mold
      • Industrial Labels
      • Medical Labels
      • Pharmaceuticals Labels
      • Pressure Sensitive
      • Prime Labels
      • Promotional Labels
      • Security Labels
      • Shrink
      • Smart Labels
      • Speciality Labels
      • Spirits Labels
      • Wine Tables
    • Markets
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • Latin America
      • Middle East
      • North America
    • Equipment
      • Digital Printers & Presses
      • Flexo Presses
      • Label Converting Equipment
      • Label Fishing Equipment
    • Supplies
      • Dies And Tooling
      • Flexo Supplies
      • Ink & Coatings
      • Prepress Supplies
      • Pressrooom Supplies
      • Substrates
    • Online Exclusives
    • Slideshows
    • Experts Opinions
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Infographics
    • Blog
    • Whitepapers
    • Events
      • Industry Events
      • Live from Show Events
      • Webinars
    • Jobs
    • Resources
      • Supplier Gallery
      • Literature Showcase
      • Homepage Showcase
    • About Us
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise With Us
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms of Use
    Narrow Web Europe

    Countering contraband

    ...

    Related CONTENT
    • An industry to watch
    • Labelexpo reports largest, most international edition to date
    • Bobst presents largest label product portfolio
    • QSPAC offering new self-wound lamination products
    • S-One highlights new packaging materials
    John Penhallow10.11.19
    Readers of this column may remember that in conformity with European legislation, France recently introduced measures to combat cigarette smuggling by using security labels. The Imprimerie Nationale (now renamed IN Groupe to make it sound a little less Soviet) has so far produced 200 million individually coded labels, with plenty more to come.

    “This regulation aims to trace the course of tobacco by identifying all products and actors in the chain, from production to delivery to the tobacconist,” says a spokesman for the printer. “This means customs officers can know the routing of each package and detect contraband simply by connecting to a database.”

    Each cigarette pack carries an identifier that has been generated by IN Groupe and is valid as an “Authorization for distribution” under European law. Each pack has five different identification markers, one overt and the others visible only with appropriate readers. French customs officials have wide stop-and-search powers, and the new security markings will hopefully put several spanners in the works of organized smuggling gangs.

    Swiss savvy meets Italian flair
    When your correspondent visited Bobst in Lausanne, Switzerland a few years ago, the talk was all of optimizing packaging equipment for long runs. Asked about digital printing, a senior Bobst manager said, “We’re looking into it.”  

    Today, and several acquisitions later, the Swiss company is a major force in both cartonboard packaging and labels. This transformation started with the takeover of Nuova Gidue, which took place in 2015.  As unlike Bobst as it is possible to be, narrow web flexo press manufacturer Gidue was long on innovation but short on cash. When the cash ran out, the company folded, only to emerge a little later with “Nuova” tacked on to its name and still under the aegis of Federico d’Annunzio.

    As befits the nephew of one of Italy’s most famous poets, Federico d’Annunzio is beyond doubt one of the better salesmen in the world’s label business. Those who know him well say he could charm the birds out of the trees (although this was the specialty of another famous Italian). After the acquisition, Bobst wisely kept d’Annunzio on to run the narrow web side of the group’s business. He has intensified the cooperation within REVO, a group of 10 independent manufacturers each contributing its expertise to digitize the flexo process.

    If the idea of digitizing everything upstream and downstream of where the ink hits the substrate is no longer new, this is in part due to REVO, which was set up in 2013. Color matching, faster setup and ease of operation are its goals. Recent innovations include the color matching process DigiColor, said to guarantee for a 7-color extended gamut a digitally controlled matching process unaffected by press speed or substrate. Another is the “Ink on Demand” system, which eliminates both ink tray and doctor blade, reduces ink use and makes cleaning faster and easier.

    Not content with ratcheting up innovation in flexo, the Bobst group is also steaming into the crowded waters of digital inkjet, through its “Digital printing competence center” Mouvent. The latest Mouvent press with “cluster” printhead technology was on demo at Labelexpo Europe, running at close to 100 m/m and was certainly one of the stars of the 2019 event.

    Kindly raise your glasses
    With Europe’s economy growing sluggishly or not at all, any good news on the export front is welcome, particularly when it involves the notoriously fickle North American market. So, please drink to the health of that most typical of French drinks: cognac. Distilled only in and around the town of Cognac in Southwestern France, this postprandial spirit is no longer, in France, the normal conclusion to a good dinner. Fortunately, our American cousins are ingesting it with gusto (which is fine) and sometimes with ice (which is sacrilege).

    Ice or no ice, the cognac business is booming, with over 200 million bottles sold in 2018, no less than 87 million of them going to the United States. This knocks spots off the second biggest market, Singapore (a measly 27 million bottles, but not bad for a country with just seven million people). Labels for cognac bottles tend to be expensive, exclusive and tamper-proof. Litho-Bru, a label converter based in Cognac, is one of several suppliers to the local distilleries. Making both wet glue and pressure sensitive labels, Litho-Bru is also equipped with a wide range of finishing units including hot-foil, embossing and flash-code security to meet the exacting requirements of labels for cognac, champagne and other luxury goods.

    What does Labelexpo 2019 say about world label markets?
    After every show in Brussels, your correspondent looks to see from which countries the exhibitors hailed. Comparing this year’s show with 2017, Germany still takes the top slot with 121 exhibitors but closely followed by China, which has shot up the league table.  

    British exhibitors too increased in number, despite the imminent threat of Brexit. France saw the number of exhibitors up, though still punching way below its weight. Eastern Europe and Scandinavia are still the weak links – and if Poland boasted 16 names on the exhibitor list, closer inspection revealed that eight of these were trade magazines.

    …and then Luxe Pack
    No sooner has the dust died down in Brussels than the center of attention will move to Monaco for the luxury packaging event, which this year brings together 470 exhibitors and reminds us that times are not too hard – at least not for some. The main theme as in previous years will be on labels and packaging for alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. To replace real leather on some champagnes, the label will be made of 100% vegetable “Pineapple-leather” (which, please note, is not made from pineapples); other bottles will feature a patented system for personalizing the label. 

    The other theme running through the Luxe Pack show will be sustainability. Entries for the “Luxe Pack in Green” contest will present packaging using a lot of recycled paper, board or glass – there is even one using a material made from recycled jeans – quite appropriate for a Monaco show, just down the road from the Genoa, the city after which jeans are named.

    For those who can’t visit the Monaco event, there will be another Luxe Pack next February in Los Angeles, then in May 2020 in New York.

    From bottle to bottle – a new internet platform
    Germany ranks as one of the most environment-conscious countries in Europe. So, it is no surprise that a German start-up is aiming to provide an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of recyclable plastics. Called Cirplus, its aim is to build up a global marketplace for recycled plastics.

    Says Cirplus founder Christian Schiller, “Our vision is to make plastics 100% circular, so as to massively reduce the environmental footprint of plastics overall.”

    So far, no labelstock producers are involved in Cirplus, but these are early days yet. Providing an efficient online market place for plastic recycling is important, but for many products recyclability has to be addressed further upstream, at the design stage. This particularly concerns labels, which should either be wash-off or compatible with the associated packaging for recycling.

    The German Packaging Register (Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister, or ZSVR) has published the first minimum standard for assessing packaging designed for recycling. The plan is to reward high-quality recyclability. Says Gunda Rachut, who heads up the ZSVR, “These financial incentives create a strong motivation for companies planning new waste lines to implement their responsibility for their products’ packaging faster and more thoroughly.”
    Related Searches
    • digital
    • bobst
    • printing
    • Digital printing
    Suggested For You
    An industry to watch An industry to watch
    Labelexpo reports largest, most international edition to date Labelexpo reports largest, most international edition to date
    Bobst presents largest label product portfolio Bobst presents largest label product portfolio
    QSPAC offering new self-wound lamination products QSPAC offering new self-wound lamination products
    S-One highlights new packaging materials S-One highlights new packaging materials
    X-Rite and Pantone showcase end-to-end color workflow solutions X-Rite and Pantone showcase end-to-end color workflow solutions
    Bobst ushers in Bobst ushers in 'new era' with launch of hybrid press Master DM5
    Sihl focuses on digital printing, sustainability Sihl focuses on digital printing, sustainability
    Event Info Event Info
    Labelexpo Europe 2019 set for largest show to date Labelexpo Europe 2019 set for largest show to date
    Haney launches digital division Haney launches digital division
    Labels West Labels West
    EskoWorld panel explores latest trends in flexo EskoWorld panel explores latest trends in flexo
    Xeikon Cafe North America sees evolving benefits with digital printing Xeikon Cafe North America sees evolving benefits with digital printing
    Why labels are pioneering progress in packaging Why labels are pioneering progress in packaging

    Related Narrow Web Europe

    • Pulp friction

      Pulp friction

      ...
      John Penhallow 04.13.21

    • Big deal – the Gallus/benpac saga ends in tears

      Big deal – the Gallus/benpac saga ends in tears

      ...
      John Penhallow 03.04.21

    • A Nestlé egg for recyclers?

      A Nestlé egg for recyclers?

      ...
      John Penhallow 01.27.21


    • Dirty work

      Dirty work

      ...
      John Penhallow 11.12.20

    • Less power in Europe’s powerhouse

      Less power in Europe’s powerhouse

      ...
      John Penhallow 10.09.20

    • Low spirits

      Low spirits

      ...
      John Penhallow 09.02.20


    • A tide of debt keeps Europe afloat

      A tide of debt keeps Europe afloat

      ...
      John Penhallow 07.10.20

    • Too big to fail – will European governments step in to help COVID-stricken giants?

      Too big to fail – will European governments step in to help COVID-stricken giants?

      ...
      John Penhallo 06.04.20

    • Who will bet on offset?

      Who will bet on offset?

      ...
      John Pennhallow 04.03.20


    • The healthy, wealthy business of pharma labeling

      The healthy, wealthy business of pharma labeling

      The annual Pharmapack show in January of this year hosted more than 400 exhibitors, including around 50 directly connected with labels.
      John Penhallow 03.05.20

    • If you want to make money…

      If you want to make money…

      ...
      John Pennhallow 01.31.20

    • Want a quanta?

      Want a quanta?

      ...
      John Penhallow 11.15.19


    • French leave

      ...
      John Penhallow 09.06.19

    • Weapons of mass instruction

      ...
      John Penhallow 07.10.19

    • Cherishing plastic

      Cherishing plastic

      ...
      John Penhallow 05.31.19


    Trending
    • VideoBite: Sun Chemical Drives Label And Packaging Innovation
    • TLMI Reveals Eugene Singer Award Winners At Virtual Spring Summit
    • TLMI Delivers Optimism About Future Of Label Industry
    • Ink Innovation
    • ACTEGA Helps Converter Reach Sustainability Goals
    Breaking News
    • Sakata INX and INX International continue sustainability efforts
    • TLMI reveals Eugene Singer Award winners at Virtual Spring Summit
    • Monadnock Paper Mills joins SGP
    • ACTEGA helps converter reach sustainability goals
    • Bobst enhances design of Mouvent LB701-UV digital label press
    View Breaking News >
    CURRENT ISSUE

    April 2021

    • Label Insights: Kocher + Beck highlights GapMaster enhancements
    • Die Technology
    • Ink Innovation
    • E-Commerce Labels
    • Contingency Planning
    • Narrow Web Profile: Executive Label
    • View More >

    Cookies help us to provide you with an excellent service. By using our website, you declare yourself in agreement with our use of cookies.
    You can obtain detailed information about the use of cookies on our website by clicking on "More information”.

    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms And Conditions
    • Contact Us

    follow us

    Subscribe
    Nutraceuticals World

    Latest Breaking News From Nutraceuticals World

    Review Concludes That Refined Grains Have a Place in Healthy Eating Patterns
    AstaReal Astaxanthin Ingredient Receives U.S. Patent Approval
    Study on Kemin’s DailyZz Botanical Blend Uncovers Sleep Quality, Next-Day Performance Benefits
    Coatings World

    Latest Breaking News From Coatings World

    SOS '21 Call For Papers
    ICP Acquiring Choice Adhesives
    PPG Brand Olympic Stains Announces 1st Ever 2021 Stain Color of the Year
    Medical Product Outsourcing

    Latest Breaking News From Medical Product Outsourcing

    FDA OKs Canon Medical's One-Beat Spectral Cardiac CT
    NeuroLogica Debuts Next-Generation SmartMSU with OmniTom Elite
    IZI Medical Products Launches Fully Automatic Quick-Core Auto Biopsy System
    Contract Pharma

    Latest Breaking News From Contract Pharma

    Resilience Acquires Ology Bioservices
    RDIF, Hualan Ink COVID-19 Vaccine Deal
    Kintor, Visum Enter COVID-19 Manufacturing Partnership
    Beauty Packaging

    Latest Breaking News From Beauty Packaging

    2021 Perfumed Plume Awards Announces Finalists
    Bésame Cosmetics Unveils Marilyn Monroe Collection
    Procos Opens U.S. Office
    Happi

    Latest Breaking News From Happi

    Hair Luxury Company Expands Availability of Its Vegan Beauty to Walmart Online
    ACI Appoints Director, State Government Affairs
    Jergens Launches Mother’s Day Campaign
    Ink World

    Latest Breaking News From Ink World

    Kumon North America Adds Speedmaster XL 106 from Heidelberg
    SE-DA Invests in Kornit Presto S
    Acrylic Resins Market Worth $21.9 Billion by 2025: MarketsandMarkets
    Label & Narrow Web

    Latest Breaking News From Label & Narrow Web

    Sakata INX and INX International continue sustainability efforts
    TLMI reveals Eugene Singer Award winners at Virtual Spring Summit
    Monadnock Paper Mills joins SGP
    Nonwovens Industry

    Latest Breaking News From Nonwovens Industry

    Andritz to Supply Elliptical Cylinder Pre-Needler in France
    Ahlstrom-Munksjö to be Delisted from Nasdaq Stockholm
    Radienz Living Introduces Sustainable Products
    Orthopedic Design & Technology

    Latest Breaking News From Orthopedic Design & Technology

    AgNovos Healthcare's AGN1 LOEP SV Kit Obtains IDE
    First Surgeries Completed with Globus Medical's CREO ONE Robotic Screw
    BioMagnetic Sciences Names President and CEO
    Printed Electronics Now

    Latest Breaking News From Printed Electronics Now

    SEMI, Center for Automotive Research Collaborate
    Zebra Technologies Introduces New Alliance Track for PartnerConnect Channel Program
    Virtual ASMC 2021 Spotlights Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Excellence

    Copyright © 2021 Rodman Media. All rights reserved. Use of this constitutes acceptance of our privacy policy The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Rodman Media.

    AD BLOCKER DETECTED

    Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
    Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.


    FREE SUBSCRIPTION Already a subscriber? Login