There are probably no other industries that place such high demands on the marking of products as in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. HERMA will demonstrate at ACHEMA (Hall 4.1, Stand B20) how these tasks can be handled in the vast majority of cases with labels in a highly efficient, economical and particularly reliable manner. "Our customers benefit from the fact that we are probably a unique system provider in the industry," emphasises HERMA Key Account Manager Sven Pleier. "HERMA not only produces the labels, but also develops and produces the self-adhesive material itself. This enables HERMA to respond to individual challenges in a targeted manner. And as a leading specialist for label applicators and labelling machines, HERMA also knows how labels need to be made so that they can be reliably dispensed, even in high-speed systems." The latest example of this is the new HERMA PE White UV Laser film labels, which can be printed using UV lasers with a simple colour change in the label material. This makes it easy to achieve 600 cycles per minute for the variable coding of pharmaceutical products. "This not only allows you to dispense with consumables, but also to make even better use of the possibilities of high-performance labelling machines," emphasises Sven Pleier. "As thermal transfer printers usually do not make more than 300 cycles and therefore often form the 'bottleneck' in the labelling process." The perfect interplay of these labels with labelling machines and UV lasers can be experienced live at the HERMA stand at ACHEMA. For applications where paper labels make sense, for example for logistics tasks or outer packaging, HERMA offers appropriate labels with a special coating. They are suitable for coding with CO 2 lasers. In this case, too, you can achieve the pin-sharp print image exclusively through colour change.
A seal label for a variety of surfaces
HERMA will also demonstrate how conventional and therefore inexpensive paper and film label materials – in comparison to expensive special materials – can be used to ensure reliable tamper evidence. "Special adhesives with exceptionally high adhesion are used here," reports Sven Pleier. "Seal labels incorporating this technology cannot even be removed from lacquered packaging and many other surfaces such as paper and cardboard but also plastics and steel without destroying the label itself or a packaging surface." For this reason, the adhesives are highly resistant to water, hot air and various solvents. They are also highly resistant to ageing. "If you take transparent film labels, for example, one and the same seal label variant is suitable for a variety of packaging materials and surfaces," emphasise Sven Pleier. "The transparent glossy material does not cover any information. Existing folding boxes can therefore be easily reused. Tamper evidence could not be any more economical."
Seawater-resistant, even with subsequent customisation
Experts are also always looking for new approaches for hazardous goods labels. The stockpiling of different variants of danger labels, placards and ADR warning plates is costly. Due to a relatively high update speed, these also have limited durability. The risk of disposing of them without them being use is considerable. In order to make the procurement and use of hazardous goods labels cheaper, but also safer, easier and faster across all transport routes, HERMA has launched a unique cooperation with BOXLAB Services, a service provider and process consultant in the areas of hazardous goods labelling and packaging materials. Contrary to the current market-standard minimum order quantities in the four or five-digit range per type, hazardous goods labels are now available in quantities of 1 or more within 24 hours throughout Europe. BOXLAB Services guarantees legal certainty regarding the current status of the legally prescribed layouts for all transport routes (ADR, RID, IATA or IMDG). Thanks to its own development and production of self-adhesive materials as well as decades of label experience in the chemical sector, HERMA focuses within the cooperation on the selection of suitable material combinations in accordance with the applicable regulations and their printing. "It is extremely important to have a suitable selection of robust, flexible and at the same time printable label films, adhesives with a wide temperature range and suitable for different surfaces, as well as lightfast inks that fulfil the seawater resistance in accordance with the British Standard BS5609 Section 3, where appropriate," emphasises Sven Pleier from HERMA. BOXLAB Services then takes over the ordering and shipping process as well as the packaging and, if necessary, the subsequent customisation of the hazardous goods labels. In combination with HERMA materials, the individual printing in certified printers with the appropriate colour still fulfils the seawater resistance in accordance with BS5609 Section 3.
