Cartes, which is growing its presence in the North American label and packaging market, has recently been recognized for its advanced embellishment technologies. In 2023 alone, Cartes notched several prestigious awards, including first prize for Best Technological Innovation at the Label Industry Global Awards – celebrated at Labelexpo Europe in Brussels, Belgium, and four more awards at the 30th Annual FSEA Gold Leaf Awards competition.

The company’s wide range of digital finishing techniques deliver a tactile feel that allows brands to stand out on crowded shelves. With competition on the shelf becoming ever more fierce, Cartes’ digital embellishment has assisted converters in providing that eye-catching look.

“The market response to our newest solutions has significantly exceeded our expectations,” notes Virgilio Micale, director of sales, Cartes. “After receiving the innovation award at the last Brussels fair, the interest of our clients has been strongly confirmed with purchase orders that we know will make a radical change in the near future for those new embellishment capabilities to enhance the label’s appearance to the next level.

“These achievements and recognitions have been of great satisfaction and an honor for all our collaborators who have raised their enthusiasm to continue working with the excellence that has always characterized us,” he continues. “We will continue on this journey that will surely bring new satisfactions.”

Cartes’ newest technology that has made a substantial impact out in the marketplace is the Jet D-Screen unit for digital embellishment, which simplifies converters’ ability to create multi-layer effects such as spot coating, complex tactile raise volumes and braille printing, as well as very detailed foil and metallic doming transferring.

The Jet D-Screen unit is available for both of Cartes’ platforms – GEMINI and the GT360 Series – which allows users to personalize and beautify labels in just one-step, with no tooling costs, immediate startup and no material waste.

“In addition, our well known Laser converting system, available in single or double head versions, powered with 350W Semi-Sealed sourcing technology, provides an unlimited lifetime with a constant power and cutting quality, suitable for paper and film,” explains Micale. “This technology also works well with linerless facestock processing, and it comes with all thee proper gadgets to automate processes, like automatic barcode reading, turret rewinding and the auto-slitting systems, all of them completing a perfect match with the roll-to-roll digital press concept.”

This technology has been developed in constant communication with customers in the industry. According to Micale, the company understood the pain points of label printers and collaborated to provide a solution that meets their needs.

“Our company is constantly developing solutions to ease reaching the scope of new goals, as well as operational improvements to reduce material and time waste,” says Micale. “Our clients face new challenges every day and the market trend is to completely satisfy the digital concept, and that has been growing significantly. Cartes strongly believes that automation is the key to help customers better resolve as many issues as possible.

“The latest trends in label embellishment have focused on increasing the value of the effect that generates different heights on the labels,” adds Micale. “Adding higher raised printing with digital screen, as well as superimposing labels made of different materials or removing windows to generate down reliefs, has been and will always be more common as it unequivocally enhances the final appearance of the product.”

In addition to Cartes’ extensive R&D work in the digital embellishment realm, the company has been focused on increasing its presence in the North American market. In 2022, Cartes hosted numerous industry members at its Tech Days event at the company’s facility in Eatontown, NJ. The event focused on Cartes’ Invisible Laser Diecutting Technology (ILC) and its new digital foil embellishment technology.

“Our presence in the North American market has been growing more every day, as new clients have been added to our family,” states Micale. “We hope to soon close several projects and expand our sales and assistance network throughout the territory.”