There were 230 entries submitted into this year’s German Packaging Award.
NMP Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of KHS, wowed the judges by putting together two of its prototypes. NMP’s Direct Print and Nature MultiPack developments won a German Packaging Award 2014 as an overall concept. In combination, they produce a multipack whose information is printed directly onto individual PET bottles bonded together by dots of adhesive, thus delivering a packaging system which is not only completely new but also extremely sustainable.
Direct Print - what stands out:
1. No labels and brilliant colour:
In the direct digital printing process, PET bottles are decorated with non-migrating UV inks. This removes the need to apply labels. The containers are printed with CMYK process inks, white and, if required, special colours with an optical resolution of 1,080 x 1,080 dpi. The result is a brilliant colour image.
The UV inks dry within milliseconds and have outstanding adhesion. So the quality of the decoration is retained as the bottles journey towards consumers’ hands. KHS' direct digital printing process is completely safe for the printing of food packaging and the bottles are bottle-to-bottle recyclable.
2. Flexibility, lower costs, sustainability:
Print images can be transferred straight to the bottle. Compared to the classic labelling system, the time to market intervals are much shorter.
The system is also especially sustainable and cuts costs. Labelling materials and adhesive are now completely superfluous and labels do not need to be procured. If a classic labelling machine applies 36,000 labels per hour on 220 days of the year in two-shift operation, around 60 metric tons of labelling materials plus the necessary adhesive can be saved when the Direct Print system is used.
Nature MultiPack - what stands out:
Sustainability and cost reduction are Nature MultiPack’s hallmark features.
PET bottles are simply bonded together by dots of specially developed adhesive which ensures very good pack stability. Consumers simply twist the individual bottles off from the rest of the pack.
Compared to conventional multipacks, where containers are wrapped in film, Nature MultiPack requires up to 85% less packaging material and saves up to 67% energy during production. The new packaging system can be applied not only to PET bottles but also to glass bottles and cans.
