tesa tape, a manufacturer of pressure sensitive adhesives, is offering both tesa Twinlock and Softprint products at Labelexpo Americas. The company is focused on providing its customers with a full suite of solutions to solve their printing woes, including single-use and more sustainable alternatives.

tesa has an on-site consultation station at booth 751 for prospective customers to figure out, based on their individual and specific printing needs, which plate-mounting solution is best for them. tesa also boasts an on-site mounting station to demonstrate how tesa Twinlock and Softprint work.

“We’re thrilled to be back at Labelexpo Americas,” says Chuck Doyle, head of sales and marketing, FP&P for tesa tape North America. “The flexible packaging and label industry is constantly changing, and we’re excited to exhibit our Twinlock and Softprint products that can get our customers out ahead of the innovations and trends disrupting the space.”

tesa Twinlock is a reusable, self-adhesive, and compressible sleeve that provides consistency in high-quality printing – all while reducing a company’s waste and carbon footprint. By eliminating the need for plate-mounting tape with mounting the printing plate directly on the sleeve, companies can reduce tape waste (some companies, as much as a Boeing 757-200 weight’s worth of tape, the company says), CO2 emissions caused by frequent tape deliveries, and time from buying, storing, mounting, and de-mounting plate-mounting tape.

After printing and plate removal, the tackiness of tesa Twinlock can simply be re-activated, making the sleeve ready for the next job. tesa adds a layer of polyurethane (PU) foam, a stabilization film layer, and a layer made from a polymer that is formulated to retain its adhesive qualities to your preferred sleeve type. The special chemistry and thickness of the PU foam layer ensures consistent compressibility, eliminating the need for on-press machine adjustments. The PU foam also compensates for vibrations occurring on the press and smooths out the effects on unbalance within the printing press.

tesa offers three different hardness levels (soft, medium, and hard) for different print motifs, as well as different thickness coating layers to deliver a sleeve that exactly fits the customer’s needs.

tesa Softprint, on the other hand, is a plate-mounting tape that bonds to sleeves, cylinders, and plates as securely as possible during printing to completely eliminate any possibility of plate-edge lifting or bubbling. And, when the job is done, it removes easily. tesa Softprint tapes are specially developed to provide the highest levels of both print quality and process efficiency and are made from high-quality materials that ensure the best performance in bonding, handling and printing.

tesa doesn’t apply stress to the foam during Softprint manufacturing. This is important because when the foam cells are untouched and undamaged, the foam is better able to absorb bounce from the sleeves that can leave chatter, or gear marks. It’s also more resilient. tesa’s foam will compress and return to the same thickness over and over – from the first impression to the last. That means you’ll get beautiful results, from fine screens to deep solid areas, whether the job is a few thousand or a few million feet long.

tesa Softprint FE-X EA is specially developed for easy tape handling to reduce waste, save time, and further improve productivity in your print room. Micro channels within the adhesive ensure effortless air removability during plate mounting and printing. The FE-X adhesive reliably holds the plate edges down while making the plate-demounting process quick and painless. The improved surface makes product handling even more convenient.