Innovative print techniques

Packaging News
October 2007

Printing techniques have transformed the humble metal container into an eye-catching, cost-effective piece of packaging that reflects the brand values of a product.

Impress Metal Packaging used its screen-printing facility to produce the new Laura Ashley paint packaging. Laura Ashley wanted to market its range by using a coloured can that replicated the paint colour on the inside of the container. Graphics manager Peter Hall says: "To my knowledge this is the first time that a full range has depicted the colour of the paint as an overall external decoration. The paint colour is normally represented with colour chip labels."

Litho wasn't an option as only a comparatively fine film of ink can be printed, making exact colour matching difficult. Instead, says Hall, "screen had the advantage when it comes to short runs and it is good for less complex designs."

Rexam set up the innovation centre at its Beverage Cans head office in Luton to enable customers to feel inspired and interested in the printing techniques and special effects that can be achieved, such as embossing and sparkle varnishes. New product development manager Ann Bonner says: "Differentiation is a key trend at the moment with customers looking for something unique and different to enhance existing brands and help build new ones."

Further advances in printing on metal have pushed the boundaries of technology and have led to UV digital inkjet printing directly onto a can.

A three-and-a-half-year project is nearing completion between Crown Holdings and Jetrion to achieve the first commercial unit for UV digital colour inkjet printing of metal packaging, planned for installation in Belgium in 2008.

The system prints high-resolution images directly onto coated metal, which is then formed into three-piece cans. The many different product variants available in market segments, as well as customers looking for shorter time to market, have pushed the development forward. Crown executive vice president for technology and regulatory affairs Dan Abramowicz says: "Crown's initial thrust with the technology is to target promotional and small-volume business - where metal packaging has not previously been competitive. The plan is to roll it out to plants around the world."

Ink development has played a key part in the success of the project. Jetrion director of marketing SeanSkelly explains that every one of its custom integration projects starts with the development of an ink for the specific substrates that it will be printed on. Skelly says: "In Crown's case we had to develop a set of CMYK UV inks that would meet all their needs, such as colour and adhesion. We had a challenge with the Crown project to create an ink that wouldn't crack when formed into the shape of a can."

The system also could deliver massive cost savings for Crown as, according to Skelly, the largest cost component has been the label substrate itself, which would be eliminated.

Abramowicz feels that the project will go from strength to strength because of continuing advances in inkjet printing technology. He says: "It is a wonderful thing because print heads are going to be getting better and even faster in two or three years."

Impress
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