Creative flair, the use of eye-catching graphics, coating and various embellishments are essential for items bought on impulse, such as candy and confectionery but also cosmetics and other treat items.
Brand owners, colour psychologists, marketers and focus groups know that purchasers of life’s little luxuries often make a selection on how the labelling and packaging looks. That’s not to say customers will keep coming back if the chocolate in the pack is not very good, but appearance: good or bad affects sales and confectionery is very big business.
Sweet to the producer of flexible packaging
Confectionery, chocolate and candy have long been sweet to the producer of flexible packaging. It is the largest single flexible packaging application area within the food category. In this highly competitive market, brand owners revitalise mature products with upgraded packaging designs or introduce new items to gain market share. With so much consumer purchase dependent on the whim of the moment, even the most basic twist-and-wrap must be designed to gain attention during the briefest of face time.
Over time, packaging and labelling materials have been developed, refined and modified in order that they meet the continuously evolving demands of brand owners and of course, consumers. Packaging must comply with stringent process, performance, environmental and health and safety requirements. Labelling, packaging materials and consumables such as inks and coatings are governed by various food agencies and by national and even international government edicts and legislation.
Label and packaging materials must contain non-migratory components, posses the necessary strength and barrier requirements to contain and protect pack contents. Environmental and cost strategies must be factored in and for each process requirement an effective method for protecting items from spoilage must be in place. Moreover, materials must be readily printable and convertible and where possible comply with circularity, recyclability and plastic usage reduction strategies (mono-web).
Reducing the complexity of films
Polyolefin mono-materials: polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) significantly reduce the complexity of plastic filmic constructs without sacrificing barrier resistance and other properties and are mechanically easily recyclable. Although the preference is for mono-based material this is not always possible. Some polymers, EVOH for example, are viewed as having a neural effect on the recycling stream when combined with polyethylene. Coating with primers and corona treating can improve printability and adhesion.
Converting to mono-material flexible packaging requires careful consideration; materials and process steps previously proven in use may no longer be viable or acceptable. To optimise shelf stand out for confectionery goods, metallised films and foils and special inks have been used; now however they may need re-appraising. One converting option with a substrate such as polyester has been to laminate to a backing film prior to printing: Sometimes metallised polyester is reverse printed prior to laminating.
With the need to trial new materials and establish environmentally sound workflow practices, processing practicalities can very quickly surface. Will the new material readily convert? Consider water-based coatings as an example. More often than not the coating is one of the smallest components with regard to operating costs, nevertheless, a poorly performing coating, one not optimised for the application or one that interacts negatively with the substrate can be problematic, resulting in high levels of waste and downtime.
Pilot coating systems
Pilot coating systems, colour communication and other quality control and product development devices enable processes, substrates and consumables to be monitored and to determine process/product and commercial viability.
Trialling new materials on an existing production line is far from feasible; they lack flexibility and taking a production coating machine out of line for any length of time can be prohibitively expensive. The inevitable and often unavoidable experimentation phase may be curtailed before all of the processing options have been employed due to pressure to bring the machine back into production.
Coatings must be formulated for ease of application and on relevant substrates. Determining the correct coating applicator to uniformly apply the coating film to a measured thickness is vital. Final coat quality, physical defects, coater operability and many surface features of the coated product depend not just on the rheological properties, stability and purity of the coating solution but on all of the elements associated with machine and materials performing together in an ordered manner. Ink suppliers, chemists, coating practitioners, additive producers and the converter, need to ensure compatibility; converters also need to determine the most suitable technology and when it comes to product development, they need a processing system capable of undertaking small-scale production.
The VCML Lab/Pilot Coater enables operators to print, coat and laminate on all types of flexible substrates and on a reel-to-reel basis. VCML has the ability to apply various inks, varnishes, adhesives and paint using environmentally acceptable formulations and where necessary – solvent-based materials as well. It offers the short run capability that is so necessary when determining product process viability. In addition to a wide range of pre-metered and post-metered coating technologies, the VCML offers flexo, gravure, screen-printing and other options together with hot air, IR and UV curing capability.
Written by Tom Kerchiss, Chairman of RK Print Coat Instruments Ltd.