A survey of members of Germany’s IPV (paper and film packaging association) paints a sobering picture. Thanks to increased costs for raw materials, energy and production, turnover has fallen noticeably. This year’s industry survey of IPV member companies reflects the current economic situation. Around 67% of companies report a noticeable decline in sales, mainly due to increased raw material costs. Despite the current difficulties, Karsten Hunger, IPV’s managing director, sees signs of demand stabilizing but warns of possible setbacks due to deteriorating macroeconomic conditions and, for the whole packaging sector, reduced margins due to difficult competitive conditions.

And now, more sobering statistics

Labels for beer and wine account for between 10% and 15% of all labels printed in Europe, and for many converters they are bread-and-butter business. But all is not well, as Europe’s consumers turn away from these traditional drinks. Total alcoholic beer production in the European Union fell by 5% in 2023, down to a mere 32.5 billion liters (disappointing, but still enough to fill 13,000 Olympic swimming pools). Germany is by far the leading producer with nearly one quarter of total EU production. The EU is largely self-sufficient in beer consumption, importing significant volumes only from Britain. Much of Europe’s beer gets traditional wet labels, or is canned, but micro-breweries opt for pressure sensitive labels. Despite that, the long-term future for beer labels is not rosy. And when it comes to rosé, or white or red wine, the future is not so good either but for very different reasons. Europe’s wine production has been hit by freak weather, from droughts to hailstones the size of golf balls. France, a leading wine producer, estimates the 2024 harvest will be 18% down on the previous year. And wine labeling is the lifeblood of several hundred French label converters.

M&A – a transatlantic deal, and a change of CEO

XSYS is a leading European company based in Willstätt, Germany, and specializes in the manufacturing of flexo platemaking equipment. In November 2023 Oliver Dohn, formerly chief executive of Felss Group, a manufacturer of components for the mobility industry, became CEO of XSYS. His previous career took him to leadership roles at Oerlikon Drive Systems, Bombardier Transportation, and General Motors.

During his tenure as CEO, XSYS acquired a bundle of US enterprises and, most notably, MacDermid Graphics Solutions. Now, less than a year later, Dohn “has decided to pursue other endeavors.” His place at the head of XSYS will be taken by Dr. Alexander Unterschütz, who until now led the Components business at Linde Engineering. The MacDermid deal is reported to be worth over $320 million.

Will it wash? New filmic and paper-based labels for plastic bottles

Rigid plastic containers, be they HDPE or PP, are generally recycled, but all too often the label throws a metaphorical spanner into the recycling works. Not any longer, says UPM, thanks to its innovative “New Wave” face material, just launched onto European markets. Currently, New Wave is the only Recyclass-approved label solution for rigid HDPE and PP bottles. (Recyclass is a European initiative aimed at improving the recyclability of plastic products and promoting the traceability of plastic waste and recycled plastics.) The New Wave label material is designed to work throughout the life cycle of products, especially household and personal care products such as soap bottles or detergent containers. According to UPM, “It supports the purity of recycled materials by allowing them to be washed off with clear water at low temperatures without chemicals.”

Also looking at better recyclability, the German company Siegwerk, a manufacturer of inks and coatings, has joined forces with Multi-Plastics, a producer of customized plastic solutions, and Tripack, a manufacturer of shrink sleeve solutions, to develop an APR-approved fully recyclable shrink sleeve (a project launched at Labelexpo Americas 2024). The film used is a PET with 30% post-consumer recyclate, and Siegwerk’s de-inking primer is used to wash off and ensure a clean and uncontaminated PET flake.

The flowering of Geostick

Netherlands-based Geostick has just installed another inkjet press from Bobst. This converter’s first step in digital label printing goes back a long way. The company’s production site was, and still is, close to the Amsterdam flower market, one of the biggest of its kind in the world. The flower wholesalers had a problem: they never knew from day to day what quantities of flowers would come in, nor how the demand would fluctuate. And Geostick was among the first, maybe the first, converter to solve the problem using digital label presses.

That was a long time ago, and Geostick is still investing. Its latest press is a hybrid flexo/digital Bobst 510, coming just two years after it installed a Bobst 340. The latest model, with delam-relam, and inline calibration for 100% quality control, runs with a turret rewinder from A B Graphic. When the micro-brewery craze got under way, Geostick was not slow to see the same potential for digital labels.

Any native of that country will tell you that Dutch beer is the best in the world (but don’t try telling that to a Belgian, unless you’re looking for a fight). Geostick stays aloof from such rivalries but supplies labels, often installing user-friendly presses on customers’ premises.  “You want five-color digital or flexo printing on transparent or pre-printed labels, just ask us,” says Geostick’s COO Cees Schouten.

UK label converter opts for toner-based technology

MRP is not yet a leading UK converter. With 65 employees, it is a middle-ranking company in England. Its sales are 75% folding cartons and 25% labels. Kate Tew is sales manager of this family-owned business, and she finds this product mix brings advantages: “In volume terms, labels are the smaller side of the business but our clients like the fact that we can deliver cartons and labels that are perfectly matched to preserve their brand image.” Like many label converters MRP felt the need to go digital, but unlike many of their competitors, they found that “inkjet failed on quality grounds.”

MRP chose a toner-based Mark Andy Digital Pro 3 press with inline finishing due to the range of PS stocks, as well as unsupported papers and films, which this new press can run.

Try limestone

Limex, a patented process developed by the Japanese company TBM, has received a tepid welcome in Europe, even from the most fervent ecologists. To recapitulate, limestone, available almost everywhere, is the main raw material for LIMEX. According to TBM, manufacturing LIMEX requires less material than manufacturing equivalent plastic products, and it can be used as an alternative to paper or plastic. Another feature of LIMEX is that it can have various physical characteristics depending on the raw materials with which it is mixed. According to Ms. Natsumi Sakaie of TBM, “While conventional paper requires massive amounts of water and trees to produce, the production of LIMEX sheets uses no water – except cooling water – or fiber-based pulp and emits less CO2.”

…or go for grass

Although it is cheap and plentiful, grass has not fulfilled its promise as a raw material for paper and packaging. The Meldorf paper mill in Germany is doing its best to produce and popularize a range of grass-based products. Sales manager Sebastian Fink is a firm believer in a raw material that is climate-friendly, recyclable and printable, albeit only when mixed with conventional wood-based fibers. According to Fink, grass gives you a fiber that uses less energy and less water. Grass is – indirectly – also the base material for what must be one of the weirdest paper-producing plants in the world. Visiting Wales some years ago, your correspondent saw what purported to be paper made from sheep’s droppings. At the time, he poo-pooed the idea, but he was wrong, again. It seems sheep fail to digest much of their intake of cellulose, and this can be separated out and processed into “ecologically pure” paper. So far, no one has tried the idea with elephants.