Siegwerk is providing a combination of best-in-class inks, product safety and knowledgeable guidance and support at Labelexpo Europe. According to the company, it strives to make every effort to help its customers address upcoming trends while meeting their specific needs with the latest ink products. At Labelexpo Europe, Siegwerk is presenting its broad range of UV, LED UV and solvent-based ink systems and special whites for all printing technologies suitable for sleeves used for non-food and food packaging applications. All inks and whites are always available as both standard and low migration ink systems.

“It’s Siegwerk’s goal to provide our customers with the most efficient ink solutions and support for their individual situations, by being ‘Focused on your needs,’” explains Guido Lander, vice president, Business Unit Narrow Web EMEA at Siegwerk. “At this year’s booth, we are highlighting our expertise in trending topics like shrink sleeves, plastic tubes and laminates, digital printing, as well as upcoming requirements from brand owners regarding sustainable ink solutions and how Siegwerk’s product portfolio enables an efficient recycling of printed films. Visitors can get in touch with our experts to learn more about our latest ink developments and how we can meet their individual needs and challenges. Siegwerk attaches great importance to open dialog with its customers. Understanding their needs is key to the company identifying trending topics and open issues that enable it to channel its research and development activities into the market segments of the future.”

The all-round labeling of containers using sleeves is a growing trend in packaging today, as it offers more design opportunities than standard labels. But the sleeve production is a fully developed and complex process, and printing inks for sleeves must meet strict requirements, regardless of whether the tube is printed with UV ink or solvent ink. They have to be flexible so as not to break after shrinking and need to be scratch-proof to endure the disposal process without any damage.

Plus, the products must be heat-resistant and need to include pigments that do not bleed out in the steam shrink tunnel. A crucial role is taken on by the full-surface white, which is applied on the inner side of the film, generally as the last ink of reverse printing. The white must possess good gliding properties and high scratch-resistance so that it is not damaged when the sleeves are pulled over the final containers.

Siegwerk is also offering a wide range of specialty solutions for high-end packaging. Its specialty UV varnishes can be applied on various laminates and tubes based on plastic substrates like PE, PP, ABS, PC and PS. The company is showing visitors a new ink development for the PTL segment, Sicura Nutritube, a new low migration ink series for dry offset printing is designed for extruded (pre-formed) tubes as well as laminated tubes in web printing.

In addition to the company’s broad portfolio of established analog inks for printers, Siegwerk has a strong footprint in digital printing offering UV and water-based inkjet ink products for narrow web and large width packaging to equipment manufacturers for both packaging and label applications. The company offers customized ink solutions to end users’ final application requirements.

Finally, Siegwerk is driving the development of eco-friendly inks. Assessing ways of enhancing the ecological footprint of the company’s inks, with no loss of performance is one of its key research and development efforts at the company. Sustainability means progress and differentiation for customers. During Labelexpo Europe, Siegwerk is showcasing a newly developed product system for the first time. The product allows for complete de-inking of printed films as they are used for labels, shrink sleeves and other applications, leading to a complete “clean/virgin” recycling of the transparent film in a later process. With Sicura Low Nrgy UV/LED UV, the company offers a newly developed UV/LED UV offset ink system with enhanced deinking properties even comparable to the deinkability of conventional oil-based sheetfed offset inks.