No shrinkage of sleeve market

An healthy double-digit growth rate is predicted for sleeves as they continue to make inroads into the more conventional luxury labelling market. Mike Fairley of Label Expo Europe's organiser Tarsus said: "Shrink sleeves are growing at between 15-18% a year." This compares with 6-8% for self-adhesive labels, although the self-adhesive base volume is, of course, far greater.

Just why are shrink sleeves such a dynamic market? Product differentiation must be a major driver for all brand owners. Add to that the flexibility of being able to decorate most shapes and the economic advantage of changing the look of the same shaped container as well as the tamper-evident features and you have a sure-fire recipe for success.

"With the advances in materials and shrink tunnels, projects feasible today would not have been thought of five years ago," explained senior sales and marketing manager at Fuji Seal Europe Sia Memarnia. "For example this has allowed sleeves not to be just container decoration, but they are also now an alternative to coated glass bottles."

This is perfectly illustrated by the change of Diageo's Archers Schnapps packaging for four of its sizes (35cl, 70cl, 1-litre and 1.5-litre) from the traditional acid etch bottle with labels, to a PET shrink sleeve which is gravure printed in eight colours. Diageo gave Fuji Seal a precise brief for the sleeve to match the existing etch effect and labels which is to go on a clear glass bottle.

"When you hold the container in your hand you really don't know that this is a sleeve; it has all the feel of a coated bottle," said Memarnia. The first challenge was to print a lacquer to replicate the acid etch effect on the surface of the sleeve which was robust enough to withstand the whole process from sleeve application to filling line to transportation. "Many lacquers can give the effect but not the robustness needed and, after extensive trials both at the shrink stage and after filling, a lacquer was developed specially for this product which satisfied both requirements.

"The next challenge was to be able to print a reflective silver and match the current labels, which was achieved." Fifty micron film was chosen for its shrink capabilities and scuff resistance and the bottles are manufactured and sleeved empty at Redfearn Glass on a Fuji Seal Intersleeve application machine.

Fuji Systems, the inventor of the shrink sleeve way back in 1960, offers a complete system from films and sleeves through to application and shrink equipment and says the rise of steam shrink continues. "Some 80% of the installations we sell now are steam shrink," Memarnia reports. "Hot air and IR is confined to areas where moisture presence would be a problem, for example hygroscopic powders."

He cites several reasons for the double-digit growth. "Packaging brand owners and design companies have learnt the benefits of sleeves. So now they are considered for launches and relaunches. Also there is much greater freedom in container shape possible today. These shaped containers have generated an extra market for sleeves as it would be difficult to decorate them by any other means."

In addition, he says, "there is a quiet revolution going on in Eastern Europe and China. It seems they are making a technology jump straight into sleeves." This is the reason that Fuji Seal is expanding once more. "In addition to our plants in the UK, France and The Netherlands we are now in the process of building a significant operation in Poland equipped with the very latest equipment. The driving force behind that that investment is not lower cost manufacturing; it is because we need to be near our customers."

Luxury goods certainly benefit from the shelf power of sleeves. This year Sleever International developed an innovative sleeve for the aquarium themed fragrance produced by Shiseido as a summer 2005 limited edition for French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier.

The pack was designed by Beauté Prestige International and the PET sleeve applied by a Sleever machine at Shiseido to a crystal PS outer case – shaped like Gaultier's distinctive can – which holds the bottle of fragrance. "It is just a fantastic pack," said managing director of Sleever International Eric Fresnel. "It is wonderful to work with such creative people." The sleeve had to be as transparent as possible so that the printing on the bottle would remain visible behind the printed design on the sleeve. The combination of two prints gives a striking three dimensional effect. The sleeve also provides security; it gives a guarantee of authenticity, as in order to open the bottle tiny perforations in the sleeve have to be broken.

"Growth rates in sleeves vary across Europe. It is linked to the economy, "said Eric Fresnel. "For example in Germany and France it is slower and in the southern states and former eastern countries higher. And real growth is being seen in dairy foods and water." He added: "I see no change in the double digit growth of 2005 going through to 2006.

"The big growth is going to be in dairy products. We are seeing an upgrading from milk to drinking yoghurts to probiotic drinks. At first the majors were playing with it, but now local players are investigating it too. It is happening from the tip of Spain in the South to Russia in the north and they are opting for the shrink sleeve. In the wet filling environment the dairies are looking for sophisticated designs of bottle shape. Many are investing in new aseptic lines to meet the capacity needed for the new products; they need a labeller and they are choosing shrink sleeving equipment", says Fresnel.

He is also enthusiastic about the growth of top of the range waters. So much so that the company's bar at Luxe Pack in November featured a range of these beverages rather than the traditional alcoholic varieties. "The Icelanders have come up with water from melting glaciers; the Norwegians with water from the deepest artesian wells in the north and the French with water from the Alps. They are all looking to pull forward their brands. Luxury water is now similarly priced to wine.

"These are high quality waters, and the brands also want to be nice to the environment. For this 'high value recycling market' we have developed a thermoplastic elastomer that has a lower density than the 1.7 –1.3 density of PET." It is the same thickness as a polyester sleeve, but with a density of 1. TPE-G, developed by Sleever International's Films Division, originally in conjunction with Coca-Cola Belgium, has been approved by Amcor's recycling plant as well as under recycling legislation in Norway, Sweden, France and Germany.

"Another new film", says Fresnel, "is OPS TH50, which allows OPS to steam shrink like polyester yet is price competitive." That is important in the dairy where steam is available in quantity and steam shrinking makes sense, he explained, but where the upward movement of PET prices has not been good news.

Fresnel believes Sleever's strength lies in being a "systems company providing turnkey sleeving solutions to customers worldwide. We can provide global as well as local solutions." The company's latest equipment is the new generation of Powersleeve Evolution 3 sleever which has brushless servomotor technology, allowing an improved price quality ratio of as much as 20%. Introduced at Interpack earlier this year, it is said to ensure high speed sleeving - up to 24,000 containers/hr for the mono head and up to 48,000 units/hr for the duo head version. The equipment also dovetails with Sleever's shrink applicators for infra red and steam formats.

Shrink sleeves can be the carriers of striking promotions, as Miller Brewing recently illustrated with its "Taste Referees" advertising campaign on limited edition bottles of Miller Lite. The "referee's jersey" sleeves produced by Multi-Color Corp are on bottles distributed to sports bars across the USA and illustrate eight "Beer Penalties" such as "Ineligible Beer in the Cooler" and "Unbeermanlike Conduct".

"The response to the promotion has been tremendous," said Rick Carter, innovation director at Miller. "Our customers like the dynamic graphics. People want to see which penalties their friends received so the bottles are being passed around and some people are trying to collect the entire series."

The sleeves are reverse printed gravure in eight colours and finished at Multi-Color's Indiana facility.

High speed application

Displayed at Pack Expo Las Vegas was a new high speed shrink sleeve applicator capable of production rates up to 600 containers/min. Axon (part of Pro Mach) said that the EZ-Seal 600SL is capable of either single or dual head operation and features a patented cutting assembly designed for high productivity and blade life.

Axon equipment is used for sleeving golf balls in threes at Wilson Golf. A custom-manufactured EZ-100 applicator accepts a fixture loaded with balls from a Bosch conveying system and positions them in the application station. The sleeve applicator cuts and drops the sleeves of 2mil PETG print registered film into the pallet fixtures.

Above the application station, rollers advance flat film downward to a bullet-shaped forming device. The film is formed into a tube so it can drape over the fixture waiting at the application station. As the label stock moves downward, rotating knives powered by a stepper motor cut each individual shrink sleeve. From there, a photo eye triggers high-speed wheels to transfer the sleeve from the machine to the exit conveyor. The pallet travels downstream where balls are automatically loaded into the pallet fixtures and transferred through a heat tunnel. Finally, packs are removed from the fixtures by pick-and-place equipment.

After switching to sleeves Wilson discovered that quick changeover of printed films allowed it to offer a variety of packs, including seasonal and event packaging. And the cost of packaging a single golf ball went from 5-12 cents a ball to one cent per ball.

The relaunch of of Arla Foods' cream range required Decorative Sleeves to simultaneously manufacture over 90 individual sleeve designs as the label design for the pots is retailer specific. To meet the varying design and reprographic requirements, Decorative Sleeves is utilising all three major printing processes – Gravure, CI Flexo and UV Flexo – and has also supplied sleeves in both OPS and PVC. The sleeves also feature a visistrip on the side of the packaging, which enables the consumer to see how much cream is left in the pot. A heat-activated adhesive is applied to ensure "excellent contact" between the sleeve and the pot and to enhance pack rigidity.

Seen at Label Expo Brussels earlier this year was Cold Sleeve, a "Super Stretch" sleeve developed over two years by Autobar in collaboration with PDC Europe. The company says it is now possible to realise a sleeve price reduction of around 25% over shrink sleeves. The highly elastic sleeve – the LDPE material offers 40% elasticity ratio – enables full-body decoration of shaped containers from 150ml up to five litres. Sleeves are flexo printed in up to eight colours.

Autobar Decorative Packaging formulates its own films and extrudes, prints and converts at its Bordeaux facility. A range of printing inks enable stretch sleeves to meet the demanding conditions of humidity, corrosive liquids, UV and freezers, it says. Only PDC Europe stretch sleeving machines are used and as no heat tunnel is required, tremendous energy savings are claimed over shrink sleeves.

ITW Auto-Sleeve agrees that stretch sleeves offer an alternative in a wide variety of hot fill products. The company is currently supplying a range of solutions, using LDPE sleeves, for typical hot fill bottle shapes in PET and HDPE, in sizes from 0.25 to 1.5 litres.

"Hot fill is an increasingly popular packaging solution across a number of drink markets," commented Kenny Mitchell, sales manager. ITW Auto-Sleeve. Stretch sleeves can be printed using a variety of techniques and reverse print eliminates scuffing.

Braille success

In response to an EU directive requiring all pharmaceutical packaging to carry Braille information by for products approved after 30th October, Sleever International has developed shrink sleeves capable of carrying the raised characters.

Although he did not reveal the name of the user company, managing director of Sleever International Eric Fresnel told Packaging Today: "In December one of our existing pharmaceutical customers will be using the sleeves carrying characters which are not destroyed in the shrink process for a product that is distributed in over 10 countries."