Raflatac on show at Labelexpo Europe

10/13/2003

Labelexpo Europe 2003, held in Brussels on September 24-27, was a success for Raflatac. This year's exhibition was the largest ever, attracting well over 20,000 visitors, with nearly 25 per cent attending from non-EU countries.

At this year’s stand, the Raflastudio program introduced seven industry experts, from suppliers to consultants, end-users and printers. The experts presented their views on past and current trends in the labelling industry as well as future developments and innovations.

New products and services

At the show, Raflatac introduced its new and upgraded products and services, including an improved mid-gloss product range. The latest introduction, Raflabrite, offers the highest level of whiteness for any mid-gloss paper on the market and is well suited for pure colour reproduction on high-quality product labels.

Duoface, the labelstock with two faces, was featured as part of Raflatac’s expanding product range. Released in August 2003, this patented product is ideal for industrial and logistics labelling as well as collectible sticker end-uses.

Also launched at this year’s show was Raflatac’s newly developed Personal Care Program, featuring products and services designed for applications in health, beauty and cosmetics labelling.

Collaboration and managing the value chain

At the press conference held on 25 September, Pentti Kallio, President of Raflatac Group, spoke about Raflatac’s future, strategic goals and recent organizational changes.

He emphasized the need for parties in the label industry to learn to work more closely together throughout the supply chain. “Only in this way is the label industry able to further drive down costs and improve
margins,” he said.

As part of a collaborative model of operation, Raflatac is developing its supply chain management, working with suppliers and end-users to optimize shipments throughout the Group.

“Our business has been based on people, and that will be our future. Cooperation between label converters, end-users, Raflatac and its own suppliers is of vital importance and the key to our success.”

Kallio concluded that new intelligent labelling solutions will be needed to meet the future demands of product authentication and online supply chain management. “Tracking and tracing are big challenges in variable information printing. One advantage of the smart label over the bar code is that it makes it possible to add information during the supply chain
process. In the course of the next ten years, smart labels might in some cases even replace conventional bar codes.”