CCL Label, a world leader in labels and packaging, announces the inauguration of a brand-new production facility for shrink sleeve labels in Tibi, Spain near Alicante.

“We are very excited to offer shrink sleeves produced in Spain for local brands and multinational brands operating in Spain. Investing into local production follows CCL’s strategy to stay close to the production sites and filling lines of major food and beverage as well as home and personal care brands and service them locally and efficiently”, explains Lukas Nachbaur, Commercial and Technical Director at the new facility. “Our first brand customers have placed and received orders and were happy with the quality and service.”

Modern printing technology for premium shrink sleeves

“The investment in this greenfield facility is a commitment to the growing Spanish consumer products market. There are many great brands that call Spain their home and the country has a proud tradition to produce outstanding high-quality food and drinks including beer, wine and spirits”, Reinhard Streit, VP and Managing Director Food&Beverage at CCL Label points out. “We installed state-of-the-art assets to service these premium brands in the best way possible – we see that we can offer our customers very special printing technology that is unique in Spain.”

The installed assets offer customers premium printing technology. The combination of offset and gravure printing offers customers the greatest flexibility when it comes to changing designs frequently.

Award-Winning floatable EcoFloat sleeve technology a focus

Although all shrink sleeve materials will be available, there will be a focus on the award-winning EcoFloat shrink sleeves made from polyolefin that are approved for PET, HDPE and PP bottles and containers and have been embraced by renowned brands.

Shrink sleeves are applied by heat and conform to a variety of container shapes, acting like a second skin. They are made from floatable low-density polyolefin material, which is at the forefront of sustainable shrink sleeve technology. The design of the sleeves allows for easy separation from the primary container during the recycling process, thus supporting material separation and enhancing recycling efficiency.

“Just as other European countries, Spain will have to deliver on the ambitious new packaging and packaging waste (PPWR) regulation. The regulation also includes mandatory Design for Recycling and our low density, floatable EcoFloat polyolefin sleeves have been endorsed by several recycling associations like RecyClass and the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP),” says Marika Knorr, Head of Sustainability and Communication at CCL Label. “PET bottles that are combined with a EcoFloat sleeve are fully recyclable and this helps increase the yield of food-grade PET resins, that then can be fed back into new bottles – closing the loop. Mandatory recycled content targets are also an integral part of PPWR legislation.”

Sustainability a priority at production site

The sleeve production will be ultimately be co-located with the In-Mould Label production site (formerly Creaprint) that was acquired about a year ago. The IML Business is expected to move to the new site in Tibi in 2026.

“IML is a rapidly growing decoration technology. The label becomes an integral part of injection or blow moulded plastic containers without the need for adhesives, typically using the same resin material as the container for easy recycling”, comments José Vincente Guillem, general manager of the CCL Spain IML plant.

How REVO is helping Stratus Packaging to optimize its label production

Stratus Packaging Group is one of the European leaders in the manufacture of printed labels, sleeves and in-mould labels. With 300 employees working in five production plants in France and a sales office in Switzerland, the company prides itself on its quality of service and the relationships it establishes with its customers. As such, Stratus Packaging is always on the lookout for true innovation that will provide its customers with a competitive edge. When it saw the solutions offered by BOBST and its REVO partners, Stratus Packaging knew it had found a source of innovation.

The DigiFlexo innovation, first brought to the market by BOBST at drupa 2016, has revolutionized the digitalization of packaging production by providing consistent color matching and control, process repeatability and consistency, with very quick job changes and minimum waste.

Progress in productivity

“Before, it was taking a lot of time to change the plates and clean the ink tanks between each job printed with different pantones,” explains Julien Chauveau, R&D Manager at Stratus Packaging. “It was costing us, and therefore our customers, time and money that we were keen to save.”

The solution came in the shape of a BOBST M5 UV flexo machine, which with the help of REVO innovation, transforms flexo printing and die-cutting into a digital process. Through a digital work flow, with integrated printing and converting technologies, the machine only generates 20 meters of waste and requires only one minute for each job change, providing the highest quality consistency at the lowest operating costs. The machine is equipped with Excellence™ for automated exchange of flexo print cylinders.

“We already had an advanced workflow, which made the DigiFlexo solution a natural fit,” says Julien Chauveau, “But now we have taken it to the next level. With only around 15 meters to automatically register up to eight colors between two jobs printed with REVO technology, we now have control and consistency at our fingertips at a very high production speed,” he says.

REVO and the color consistency revolution

REVO stands for Digital Flexo REVOlution. BOBST established the REVO partnership, consisting of Apex International, AVT, BOBST, DuPont, ESKO, Flint Group, Saica Flex, Stora Enso, UPM Raflatac and X-Rite Pantone, to optimize the digitalization of the complete production process.

One of its biggest successes has been around color consistency, which has been one of the main concerns of brand owners. Some substrates are more absorbent, which can affect how the color of the substrate itself interacts with the ink and affects the color. What’s more, different printing processes all using different types of inks and colorants.

The REVO 7-color Extended Color Gamut (ECG) is now a well-established turn-key DigiFlexo process that flows from pre-press through to production output. ECG printing uses three additional ink colors – orange, green and violet (OGV) – on top of the conventional colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK), enabling a match with 90%+ of the Pantone book, compared with approximately 60% previously. This means there is no need to keep huge inventories of spot colors, but these can be added if required.

The benefits for Stratus Packaging are significant.

“The machine allows us to print in multichromy in UV flexo,” says Julien Chauveau. “This leads to reductions in ink costs. In addition, eliminating color matching reduces set-up times significantly. Overall with the REVO technology, we are able to optimize our production, with less change time for colors, less cleaning operation needed and fewer flexo plate changes. Consequently, we are able to optimize the cost to produce labels for our customers. By adjusting our printing processes, we have been able to open up new avenues for our company.”

In a nutshell, the REVO DigiFlexo has transformed the way Status Packaging is managing its labels production. The technology benefits are significant, and they answer the brand owners’ requirements well. The changing demographics and customer behaviors are here to stay and adjusting its production capabilities is a must to remain competitive.  “BOBST offers leading innovations and we are glad to have deployed them,” summarized Julien Chauveau.