Herma is setting the pace in thin and resource-friendly self-adhesive label materials. The company claims that for the new Herma PE white light film (grade 853), the thickness has been reduced by almost 17% compared to a standard film – from 78 micrometers to 65 micrometers – with practically the same functionality.
“Reducing material is one of the key steps to conserve resources – while lowering costs for the printer and label user. Thin materials are also, of course, cheaper. This increases the incentive to use them to achieve an important goal of the zero waste hierarchy,” says Herma product manager Hendrik Kehl.
Label users also benefit in other ways. Due to the reduced thickness, about 10% more label material fits on a roll. This means fewer roll changes and therefore more efficient labeling machine running times plus reduced warehousing space with the same amount of labels. Herma is therefore committed to driving forward the expansion of the so-called Thin Range. The range currently includes a whole range of different thin film and paper qualities. “State-of-the-art coating technology will also allow us to make further progress in this area in the future,” says Kehl.
Equipped with a special multi-layer adhesive
Due to its special surface treatment, the glossy surface of Herma PE white light results in good print quality in conventional printing processes, such as UV flexographic printing. Herma PE white light therefore forms the basis for very attractive, glossy and opaque labels, which should preferably be used on PE surfaces for recycling reasons. The typical applications include in particular the labeling of cosmetic and personal care products, household cleaners, etc., as well as products requiring weather and chemical resistance.
The high flexibility of the PE film also allows for easy application on curved surfaces and flexible packaging. The PE film is equipped with the adhesive 62Xpc, which has been specially developed for film labels. The use of the 2-layer technology and ideally matched adhesive layers achieves very good further processing properties with excellent adhesive properties.
Most common standard applications covered
In order to cover the most common standard applications, Herma now offers various self-adhesive materials in the Thin Range. In addition to Herma PE white light (grade 853), these include the two film variants Herma PP white light (grade 884) and Herma PP white 40 (grade 892). Hermalaser sheet 50 (grade 133) is used as a self-adhesive material for paper labels. It is a particularly lightweight and supple material for the production of label sheets, which ensure the permanent, reliable labeling of various surfaces.
For paper labels on rolls, the Thin Range also includes the Hermacoat light (grade 238) material, a white self-adhesive label paper with a slightly glossy coating on one side and a lower grammage (70g/m2). Hermatherm C (grade 902) is ideal for paper labels used in the weighing area of food packaging. The same applies to a self-adhesive material with Hermatherm G BPA-free (grade 907), whereby the weight reduction is due to the significantly lighter backing paper (grade 543). EAN codes and other code systems can be clearly displayed on both paper materials.