PACKAGING RESOURCE CENTER
 |
Anticounterfeiting Features
A company offers a carton featuring coin-reactive ink, a holographic foil stamp, and thermochromatic ink. All of these features can be applied in a single pass through the company’s Gallus KM 510 folding carton press. The company offers these anticounterfeiting features as a lower-cost alternative to RFID technology. The company provides cartons with two-sided flexographic printing, die-cutting, screen printing, foil stamping, film lamination, and UV and water-based inks and coatings for many uses. Cadmus Healthcare Packaging, Charlotte, NC; 704/583-6561; www.cadmuswhitehall.com.
 |
Heat-Shrinkable Labels
A variety of clear, printed, and colored heat-shrinkable labels and films come in rolls for automatic or high-speed machinery or can be converted into cut bands for manual applications. The labels and films are all composed of PVC, PETG, and OPS. These products are offered as full-body printed sleeves, 360Þ-decorated labels, neck bands, printed seals, and seamed or extruded tubing. All films and sleeves are available in hundreds of different sizes. They are designed to cover and to accommodate intricately shaped vials and bottles. Sample packets are available on request. Ameri-Seal Inc., Chatsworth, CA; 818/700-9036; www.ameri-seal.com.
RFID Labels
A range of preprinted and die-cut pressure-sensitive labels feature RFID tags. The labels are delivered ready to use for item-level products as well as case- and pallet-level applications. The label manufacturer offers support for RFID implementation. The labels are part of the manufacturer’s RxTrackNSecure protective packaging product line that incorporates antidiversion, anticounterfeiting, and antifraud printing methods. They are designed to be easy to apply. New Jersey Packaging, Fairfield, NJ; 973/808-8000; www.newjerseypackaging.com.
Tactile Coating
A tactile-coating technique is designed to provide another value-added decorative option to enhance packaging. The Nitty Gritty coating is created by adding particles to a UV-coating base through a silk-screen printing process. The coating mix can be opaque or transparent, allowing any color, graphic, or text to be printed visibly beneath the application. A spot application can be overprinted on an image to create a slightly raised and rough textured surface. The coating can be used with any design on any type of package. Shorewood Packaging, a business of International Paper, New York, NY; 212/371-1500; www.shorewoodpackaging.com.
 |
A company has completed testing of various RFID label frequencies in liquid nitrogen (LN2) with successful read results to temperatures below -196° C. Cryogenic freezing is used to preserve organic materials but can prove to be a difficult environment for radio frequency transmission. In all studies, both the chip and chip-mounting sustained complete immersion in liquid nitrogen, operated effectively just above the liquid nitrogen bath, and performed accurately just out of the liquid nitrogen tank. A complex adhesive configuration also ensured the label itself endured the extreme temperatures while also remaining affixed to the container. The test involved the preservation of biologicals for medical research, which were individually tagged and read in separate vials. The company plans to soon complete a system that will read an entire case of vials simultaneously with no reliance on human or print readables. Topflight Corp., Glen Rock, PA; 717/227-5211; www.topflight.com.
 |
PLA Cartons
A plastic carton is made from polylactide (PLA), a corn-based polymer, which is an environmentally beneficial, sustainable, and annually renewable resource. The NatureSource PLA carton was designed in a collaborative effort that teamed two companies to design a high-performance, value-added visual packaging application. The process included developing converting processes, ink, and adhesive systems tailored to the requirements of the new substrate. The clear, heat-stable PLA carton is designed to offer exceptional stiffness that creases to form clean, crisp shapes. It can be printed using offset, flexo, or silk-screen processes. It can also be embossed and hot- or cold-foil stamped. The basic raw material of the PLA is dextrose, a natural sugar derived from the starch in kernels of corn. The dextrose is fermented and distilled into lactic acid, which is transformed into PLA resin pellets. AGI/Klearfold, a MeadWestvaco Resource, New York, NY; 877/918-3023; www.agiklearfold.com; NatureWorks LLC, Minneapolis, MN; 952/742-0400; www.natureworksllc.com.
