As part of its inaugural Durables Forum in Mentor, OH, USA, Avery Dennison conducted a breakout session focused on product innovation and solutions. Product experts highlighted the company’s newest lines and various applications.

The “Innovation Zone” featured multiple segments, including specialized adhesives, TurnLock Laminating System, a Select Solutions drum label portfolio, Customer-Ready durable goods portfolio, POP tire label portfolio, new label materials selection, NFC/RFID materials, performance tapes materials and graphics solutions materials.

“We had a critical mass in terms of the investment we made in durables, both from an equipment standpoint to our laboratories and the prototyping area to experts, which is new in the last two to three years,” said Mark Pickner, segment director, Durables, at Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials, North America. “We were ready for a major event like this to have those subject matter areas to really intrigue and excite the people in the space.”

In the NFC field, Avery Dennison has created the TTC Plus, which is currently in development. The time and temperature data logger can be used for pharmaceutical, food and select material manufacturers.

‘The time and temperature data logger is put on the package–it is self-adhesive–and it sticks to the carton,” explained Mary Greenwood, director, new technology and business development of global segment innovation, Materials Group, Avery Dennison. “You can program this to take the temperature of the product in whatever intervals you want; it could be every five minutes, every 10 minutes, 15 minutes or whatever you want. When you get to the end destination, normally you take the old data logger and you have to plug it into a computer and upload the data. With the TTC Plus, you simply touch a smartphone to it and it shows that there was a big temperature spike.”

The company’s DirectLink technology enables consumers to access product information via NFC inlays. Smartphone users can link to almost any kind of digital content, such as a website, coupon, survey, video/music stream, recipe suggestion or service material. By 2018, NFC-enabled smartphones are expected to reach 1.2 billion.

Avery Dennison’s TurnLock Laminating System eliminates the need for an overlaminate by allowing converters to produce self-laminating, pressure sensitive labels. According to the company, a single roll–as opposed to two rolls– of label material can produce protected graphics, which equates to a 30% reduction in material costs and a 25% improvement in operational efficiency.

Images are reverse printed on the material’s top layer, and the substrate is then passed through the press stations. It is flipped at the turn bar and then encapsulated under a clear PET.

“This TurnLock, just like a standard roll of PS material, is put on the unwind and you unwind it through the press,” says Keith Gliesman, regional technical manager, Avery Dennison. “But you can do letterpress, waterless offset, offset, any rotary printing press that’s roll-to-roll. … It works pretty well for fire extinguishers as a durable application. We’re also looking at a lot of things like any outdoor application.”

In order to stay compliant with the new GHS labeling requirements, Avery Dennison has manufactured film and heavy facestocks designed to handle harsh environments. According to the company, the facestocks have passed the BS 5609 Section 2 Marine Immersion label testing, including a three-month exposure to saltwater, as part of International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG certification).

The label must pass several criteria as part of the process, in the event that a drum falls into the ocean. First, the label must adhere to the drum for a minimum of three months. Avery Dennison is responsible for the adhesive keeping the label on the drum. The third part involves the printing on the label, which can be done with inkjet, color laser, or two-color thermal transfer.

Avery Dennison is also working on shortening the approval process. “Typically, the product is sent over to Europe and it goes in the ocean for three months,” explained Gary Deans, technical marketing manager, Variable Information, Avery Dennison. “What we’ve done is we’ve developed the tools to actually do it in our lab. Now we’ve shortened the cycle, and part of the discussion with converters is not only do we have a plethora of products that support different print technologies, we also have the capability of doing the BS 5609 right away.”

According to Deans, the backlog to get this certification on a product can extend up to a year.

Flori Gutierrez, business development manager at Avery Dennison, detailed the benefits to the POP tire label portfolio. The company’s new product is a 2 mil polypropylene that features a barrier behind the face. This design is intended to prevent migration and bleed-through of the tire black onto the label.

“The adhesive was developed specifically for tires, and it has great adhesion,” said Gutierrez. “It’s a hot melt adhesive and it converts excellently.”

Avery Dennison offers varying specifications based on the texture of the tire. In addition, the company is also offering an RFID label to track the tire throughout its life cycle and very its authenticity. “In Dubai, they’re having problems with counterfeiting of labels, and people are actually dying because the tires are melting because they’re bogus tires,” added Jim Macuga, business development director, Durables, at Avery Dennison. “They’re putting RFID in the tires now to track if the tires are counterfeit.”

“One of the things we’re trying to do is not just show our customers what is currently commercial and what has been new recently but to give them ideas of what’s in development,” said Macuga. “We want to get them to think and give us feedback on how they might work with us in fine-tuning this.” 

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