Pulse Roll Label products On a roll to reduce waste

Gary Seward, Managing Director at Pulse Roll Label Products, talked to SPN about the latest labelling waste reduction solutions. The key is that it is possible to reduce waste significantly by using fixed Anilox printing.

Seward told SPN: In a world of reducing lead times and short print runs, it’s becoming more important than ever to find new sources of efficiency. Combined with the growing demand for sustainability among brands and consumers alike, it’s no surprise that in 2023, many label printers are thinking about how they can reduce waste in their workflow operations.

Let’s go back. These days, we are all aware of how important it is to minimise our packaging and labels’ impact on the planet. From cutting emissions to using more recycled content, the tried-and-tested environmental strategies in printing are largely established throughout the industry. However, if we want to take sustainable labelling even further in this age of tight margins and compressed lead times, we need to start looking for new solutions.

Growing complexity

The growing complexity of label designs mean that many jobs now need multiple spot colours or half tones, which in turn leads to regular anilox changes. Each change eats up time and resources, as well as increasing the potential for waste.

From printing control patches to excessive ink consumption, there are a myriad of ways in which resources used in flexo can go to waste – and every little bit adds up to a create a bigger environmental problem. The solution to this seems simple on paper: reduce your waste to improve your environmental impact.

However, doing so, while remaining at the level of quality that is expected, is a more complicated challenge. The answer could lie in Fixed Anilox Printing. The idea behind Fixed Anilox Printing is simple. This process takes manual steps out of the print workflow to standardise production, increase capacity, reduce waste, and ultimately save time and money. In essence, it enables the production of any spot colour using just one anilox volume – thus removing the need to change anilox between jobs.

Unique chemistry

The secret to Fixed Anilox Printing is the PureTone® ink range, which has been specially formulated for strength and balance levels that let it produce all colours using one anilox. Its unique chemistry, with high-strength single-pigment bases, means less ink is needed to achieve the vibrant colours that are currently in fashion.

This strength also makes colour matching simple. When combined with the Pulse bespoke mixing database, the reduced pigment content in the ink leads to cleaner colours with less risk of metamerism occurring. This makes it easy to achieve a Delta E of less than two.

What it means for sustainability

Using Fixed Anilox Printing, it is simple to achieve lower film coating weights, using less ink to achieve the outstanding results you expect. The high strength of the ink means less is needed to achieve the bold, vibrant tones so popular with brands – in fact, Fixed Anilox Printing can reduce ink consumption by up to 30%, helping to minimise waste, conserve resources, and reduce the emissions footprint of ink production and transportation, with the net result of lowering your environmental impact.

Taking action on sustainability might not be the number one priority for printers in today’s market. But with the right systems in place, it’s becoming easier than ever to reduce waste whilst also making businesses more efficient.