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Sales and marketing director Sean Kirkham explains that the business needed to elevate its in-mould labelling capabilities – traditionally predominant in industrial and food applications and only a small aspect of the personal care and cosmetics packaging market – to open up the scope of decoration to high-end applications with full wraparound in-mould labels (IMLs). The ability to print these IMLs with flexo, offset, gravure or digital technologies and apply foiling effects, something that very few global converters are doing, has opened a new revenue stream for Teqal.

The first phase of the project involved creating a full wraparound IML for cosmetics jars that mimics a shrink sleeve without the associated cost, application and recycling challenges. The second phase focused on technical developments such as IML printers to apply foiling on full wraparound IML cosmetics jars.

Sean reports that Teqal used the Covid-19 lockdown opportunity to fast track production of the full wraparound IML jar and cap, planned for launch in 2022, by redirecting resources into engineering to create a pilot mould, production facility and production tool for the cap. To prove the concept to the market, a new production line was commissioned in Q3 2020 consisting of injection moulding machines and accessories, robots and downstream automation equipment.

‘We launched the 500ml jar and cap in August 2020 and sold the production capacity to several customers within a month, a very positive outcome,’ he states. ‘To expand capacity and continue growing the sector by introducing different jar sizes, we are investing in Swiss and German equipment to scale up production significantly at our new facility (see sidebar).

According to Sean, customers were sold on the concept because it combines the decoration and moulding processes, which cuts total product cost and eliminates post-handling complexities and high scrap rates for labels. ‘Customers simply need to fill the jar and apply the cap, and in some cases, are achieving three times the productivity with the same infrastructure,’ he notes. ‘The labels are printed on a 60µm polypropylene film with low scrap rates. The label is the same material as the jar, which is essentially equivalent to a directly printed container. We’ve also minimised upstream production waste because there’s no backing paper with varnish, wax and self-adhesive glue normally associated with label production. And we’ve designed an ultra-efficient and high-yielding process and installed high-precision equipment to ensure micrometric accuracy with every shot.’

Inspired by direct print

Sean explains that he was motivated by his background of direct silkscreen printing on plastic tubes and jars and frustrations with the limitations of the technology, such as the inability to run CMYK because the dot sizes weren’t small enough.

Experiments to obtain high-quality results with flexographic printing directly onto rigid containers also proved incredibly challenging.

Additionally, he wanted to reduce rehandling and produce the printed containers as customers want them to minimise storage of unprinted containers and maximise supply chain gains.

‘The full wraparound IMLs boast infinite capabilities,’ Sean maintains. ‘Printing on a flat web means that almost any design is achieved in high-definition. Customers can sign off the artwork digitally because we print exactly what they see – there are no dot/definition change surprises. Previous direct print technologies constrained production flexibility and we spent much time explaining to customers what we were going to achieve.’

Furthermore, the graphics are not defined by label size and there is no need to match the colour of the label to the jar. By taking away the boundary of the label and allowing it to run straight under the cap and off the base radius, it’s possible to decorate the full height of the jar and the imagery becomes markedly more impactful because it’s almost three-dimensional.

Because the colour is in the label and not the jar, Teqal doesn’t need to change masterbatches and can switch from one product to the next in a single cycle. Additionally, the team can play with finishes within the same mould, making the entire surface of the jar frosted, matte, orange peel or completely glossy. The finish is interchangeable within one shot – enabling a switched from matte to glossy label with different graphics within eight jars in an eight-cavity mould.

‘The patented technology enables a change from one variant to the next without stopping the moulding process, so our challenge was clearing the line to ensure that the downstream packaging equipment doesn’t place a jar in the wrong box,’ Sean reports. ‘We need to stop the line only for a colour change for special applications requiring pearlescent jars with clear labels.’

Not foiled by a challenge

Teqal started experimenting with foiling on IML three years ago. Although there are many technologies to apply foils to labels, the right combination of chemical formulations, automation and handling equipment had to be found to overcome foil interference with the transfer process of IMLs.

‘Abrasion-, scuff- and chemical-resistance properties are well defined and established in the printing industry, so we didn’t have to take a risk on that front,’ Sean notes. ‘We did, however, have to play around with chemical formulations and different forms of varnish to find the right combination of materials and properties to ensure that ink doesn’t change behaviour and that the scuff-resistance, adhesion and foil stay in place after split-second exposure to the 250°C heat of the combined injection moulding and decorating process.’

The team had to design the IML labelling device, boost the capabilities of IML printers to suit the demands of foiling on the jar and master holding label stably in place in the mould using robots, static and anti-static devices while injecting plastic over it.

Tripling facility’s footprint

CONSTRUCTION of Teqal’s 4 500m2 state-of-the-art facility at the Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone in KwaZulu-Natal is on track

for completion at the end of June, with the floor already laid and the roof in place.

In July, new machines and automation systems will be installed at this purpose-built facility, located 0.5km from Teqal’s current facility, and the existing equipment decommissioned and recommissioned in phases to minimise disruptions during the transition to full-scale production in August.

Sales and marketing director Sean Kirkham explains that the new plant – with an annual production capacity of 30-million packs or 90-million components – allows Teqal to refine and streamline its processes and incorporate next-generation infrastructure and facilities. ‘We have designed everything to comply with the latest health and safety regulations and create a wonderful working environment for staff,’ Sean remarks.

He adds that the management team has prioritised fully automated access and raw material handling systems, which automatically issue the materials according to the job and track per job usage percentages to minimise staff handling of products.

Click here to read this article in the E-mag.

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