RELIEVES EGARA EXPLORES A NEW WORLD OF NON-ADHESIVE NICHES WITH FASSON RAPID-ROLL

Leiden, The Netherlands, The Spanish label converter Relieves Egara successfully broadens out into the growing market for tags and pouches with the support of Fasson Rapid-Roll, the fast, flexible non-adhesive materials business.

With tough competition for business and price pressure, label suppliers are increasingly driven to move away from offering the ‘standard’ label and diversify into other niches. There is also a good market incentive to do so: end users nowadays look for a decorative – rather than just a labelling - solution, a move that’s fuelling fast growth in alternatives like pouches, tags and flexible packages. With their highly advanced presses, and experience in offering fast, flexible service, roll label suppliers are well placed to succeed in these markets. The one problem is finding a regular supplier of raw materials that can offer a service that matches the quantity and lead-time requirements of a packaging user.

Relieves Egara, of Terrassa (Catalunya, Spain), is one such forward-thinking label business that throughout its 55-year history, has thrived by adapting its business to changes in the market. It produces some four million m² a year, a large share of which is for cosmetics, textiles and industrial end-uses. It was one of the firsts to offer self-adhesive labels, in 1958, for instance. Francesc Alemany, head of purchasing at Egara, says: “We saw a strong business case for offering a service of non-label narrow-web products. They offered relatively good margins and kept our productivity levels high. Our Gallus Arsoma and Mark Andy presses are able to print and finish the material in-line – in one pass – just as easily as the labels we produce.”

Egara’s foray into non-adhesive materials began in 1998. Francesc continues: “Originally we had to use a paper mill for the board, and a flexible packaging supplier. The service was anything but flexible: lead times of weeks, and minimum orders of two tons. And in our business, we don’t even think in weight!”

Egara, meanwhile were expected to deliver in relatively small quantities, usually a few thousand square meters at a time. To deliver on time and thus keep the business, the company had to hold large quantities of stock in advance. Not only was it a significant cost, it rendered a good proportion of the factory space unproductive.

Mindful of the converters’ dilemma, Avery Dennison’s Roll Materials division launched a business dedicated to non-adhesive products, in 2001, called Fasson Rapid-Roll. It is a ‘one-stop-shop’ for papers, cards, films and release liners. Customers can place orders as low as 1,000m² in quantity, and benefit from considerably improved lead-times.

“When we heard about Rapid-Roll from our Fasson representative, we had little hesitation in signing up,” added Francesc. “The service has made it viable for narrow-web industry players like us to explore numerous avenues of growing market niches, and keep offering the highly flexible, responsive service that our label customers have always been accustomed to.”

Relieves Egara is using Fasson Rapid-Roll to order two essential raw materials on a regular basis. It uses MC 300 gsm solid board for conversion into retail tags for leading sports brands, including Nike and Velcor, and metallised Polyart PET material for pouches that are used to package gardening and agricultural produce such as plant seeds.

To support converters, Fasson offers many of its non-adhesive products directly from its regional distribution centres. This is the case with the MC solid board that Egara purchases. It is delivered direct from the local Fasson branch in Barcelona, with lead-times being just 48 hours. Special products like Polyart are available from Fasson Rapid-Roll’s production centre in Luxembourg, at about five days’ notice. With both delivery terms, Egara are easily able to meet the end-users orders, which are usually placed at 15 days’ notice.

Pouches are one of the fastest forms of packaging on the market, acting as both a barrier and decorative solution. They

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