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Label the future? That is a challenge for
the label industry, in the face of the
exceptional change that is happening on
many fronts. A developing palette of
label technologies and alternative
options; the ‘cloud’ business
environment; the urgent need for
succession change in SMEs; making the
decision to stay local, serve a specialty
market segment, or go international;
maturing geographical markets versus
the emerging economies… these are all
topics which, within FINAT and its
member companies, the label industry is
actively engaged in addressing. The
prime task of FINAT, as the industry’s
European association, is to help its
members, who span the entire supply
chain (from raw materials and label stock
coating and lamination, to pressroom
consumables and label converting) to
define, and then activate, their future
routes to success.
TECHNOLOGY
INNOVATION
Technology innovation is changing the
face of the entire print industry; and as
commercial print dwindles in the face of
downloadable reading matter, packaging
new-generation digital label presses
deliver high-quality print results too;
and today’s sophisticated digital
pre-press solutions make design,
proofing, and even product prototyping
fast and easy – even if the client is
thousands of miles away. Short-run
work and multi-versioning of generic
brand labels are now firmly part of a label
converter’s remit. There have never
been so many options – and providing a
knowledge base on using them creatively
to the benefit of printers’ clients is a key
activity within FINAT.
LEAN
AND
GREEN
At a time when brand owners are
concerned to keep costs as low as
possible, optimise profits, and still
present a ‘green’ image to the consumer,
lean manufacturing and sustainable
ROUTES
TO
SUCCESSFUL
GROWTH
AND
PROFITABILITY
HOW DO WE LABEL THE FUTURE?
The 2013 joint FINAT/VskE Congress carries as its theme ‘Label Your Future’. The theme demonstrates our
industry’s commitment to entrepreneurship and its tendency to control its own destiny. Making the right
choices requires taking into account the relevant factors, megatrends and scenarios. Which are the routes to
successful growth and profitability? An overview.
print is growing exponentially. It is the
key area where the consumer relies on a
product’s physical brand image to
confirm its quality, reliability, and
desirability. Narrow-web label
converters, working with innovative new
print substrates, inks, and varnishes, are
today able to deliver a much broader
spectrum of solutions to their brand-
owning and retailer clients than just
self-adhesive labels. Shrink and stretch
sleeves and flexible paper and film
pouches are good examples.
This expanding capability also extends
to the print processes they can offer.
Today’s modular presses make it possible
to use multiple ‘traditional’ print
processes – UV flexo, screen, foil
blocking – in the one machine pass – as
well as digital print for personalisation,
barcoding, etc. What is more, the
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FINAT YEARBOOK
2013
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