Supplier Side
Saint-Gobain Calmar Acquires Microspray Delta
Saint-Gobain Calmar has acquired Microspray Delta, becoming what the company says is the second-largest European producer of pumps for the fragrance industry.
Located near Milan, Microspray Delta is an Italian manufacturer of pumps for the fragrance and cosmetics industries. With the acquisition, Saint-Gobain Calmar now employs more than 900 people in Europe and more than 2350 worldwide.
Airspray Expands
Airspray International has announced several new developments following its reported strong financial showing in the first half of 2005. The company plans to start its own U.S. molding operations during the first quarter of 2006. Airspray will begin molding high-volume parts that are currently imported from European suppliers. The firm also announced that it will increase the size of its U.S. operations in Florida to 24,000 sq ft, which is a 50% increase. Expansion will begin in January.
Diamond Gets Graphic
Diamond Packaging earned three awards in the 2005 Premier Print Awards Competition, a prestigious worldwide printing competition for the graphic arts industry. Now in their 56th year, the annual awards are sponsored by the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF). It recognizes excellence in print communications.
Diamond Packaging competed against more than 5200 entries from printing and graphic arts firms worldwide. It received two awards for its L’Oréal USA/Matrix 2004 holiday packaging and for its own 2005 corporate calendar.
For the L’Oréal USA/Matrix promotion, Diamond applied special graphic techniques to a standard tuck-style carton. The cartons were made from 0.022 solid-bleached-sulfate foilboard decorated with holographic foil stamping and embossing. Special-colored inks and a matte-UV coating were also used.
“We’re very proud of our winning team,” said Harry Voss, chairman of Diamond Packaging. Michael Makin, president and CEO of PIA/GATF, said, “Each year, the field of entries attracts impressive work from some of the best printers in the world. Only a very small number receive an award of recognition. Diamond’s craftsmanship and hard work enabled them to produce an award-winning piece in the face of some very tough competition.”
Axilone Tops Dior Homme
Axilone, a div. of Ileos, provided the cap for the new Christian Dior fragrance for men, Dior Homme. Produced from Surlyn resin and featuring a polyethylene inner piece, the cap has the luxurious look of glass, while being transparent, glossy, and chemical resistant.
The “CD” logo was engraved on top of the cap. To create the cap, Axilone used its Mold Flow computer-assisted flow simulation analysis.
Crown Holdings to Sell Plastic Closures Business
Crown Holdings Inc. announced an agreement to sell its global plastic closures business to a European private-equity firm. The global plastic closures business designs, manufactures, and sells plastic closures for consumer packaging worldwide to the personal care and other industries.
Net proceeds from the sale will be used for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of debt.
FiberMark Softens Image
Supplier FiberMark announced it has introduced the next generation of Touché, which the company describes as a cover stock with a rose-petal-soft finish and sensual appeal. Now featuring new colors, the material can be used for various packaging applications.
According to the company, Touché appeals to designers for its luxurious matte finish and its soft, silky feel. The material accommodates offset printing, silk-screening, embossing, and stamping. New colors include white and cream, adding to existing colors gray, burgundy, slate blue, and black.
“We created the original Touché in response to designers who were looking for a material that was unique, tactile, and tangibly different,” says Jack Kondos, director of marketing and product development at FiberMark. “Our improved formulation makes Touché more supple than ever and provides enhanced performance characteristics.”
Avery Dennison Adopts RFID Technology
Avery Dennison Corp., a supplier of pressure-sensitive labeling materials, announced that it has joined Intermec Corp.’s Rapid Start intellectual property licensing program. The license agreement provides Avery Dennison with access to portfolios of Intermec’s current and future patented RFID technology, including applications for RFID-enabled tags and printers.
“We are committed to making it easier for our label converting customers and their end-user customers to proceed with adopting RFID technology,” says Stan Drobac, vice president of RFID strategy and planning at Avery Dennison. “This agreement addresses certain patent concerns that many of our customers have had and will allow us all to move forward with one less element of risk to worry about.”
Intermec, a UNOVA Inc. company, holds more than 145 RFID patents. The company develops, manufactures, and integrates technologies that identify, track, and manage supply-chain assets.
MPI Offers Online Proofing
MPI Label Systems (Sebring, OH) has introduced Insite, an on-line proofing tool designed to streamline the label proofing process. The new free service is meant to eliminate the hassles associated with e-mail attachments and hard-copy proofing.
“Many customers are wary of working with e-mail attachments because of the threat of computer viruses and the difficulties of cross-platform file sharing,” said MPI president Randy Kocher. “Insite offers a secure, easy-to-access Web-based workstation, and it eliminates the cost of returning hard-copy proofs in most cases.”
According to the company, Insite offers security through a user name and password given to each user that can then be used to log on to Insite to proof artwork. Insite can be used to approve all art with PMS colors and all noncolor critical process jobs.
New Shrink Sleeve by Ameri-Seal
Ameri-Seal Inc. produced the full-body PETG shrink sleeve for O.C. Overnight Celebrity indoor tanning cream. The label was rotogravure printed in seven colors on PETG shrink film. Two of the colors, gold and silver, reflect the metallic trend that Ameri-Seal says is becoming more popular for shrink sleeves.
PETG film was chosen over PVC for the shrink sleeves because it was more conformable to the square bottle, which features a very narrow neck.
Cone Head
Spain-based Laboratories RTB has launched a new shampoo in its Giorgi Fix Out hair care line, which targets young customers. The shampoo’s triangular bottle is topped with a distinctive closure supplied by Crown Zeller (Philadelphia), a div. of Crown Holdings Inc.
The conical push-pull closure features Giorgi Fix Out’s trademark colors of bright blue and yellow. “We selected the closure first and designed the bottle around it to highlight and complement the closure’s unique aesthetic properties,” says Giorgi’s marketing manager.
Silgan Serves Salad Bar
Silgan Plastics (Norcross, GA) announced it supplied its stock 250-ml Foamer Oval PET bottle for the Salad Bar self-foaming hand soap by Kiss My Face Co.
The Foamer Oval bottle was designed to accommodate Airspray International’s G3, T1, and WR-F3 foam pumps. The bottles are manufactured in Silgan’s facility in Penn Yan, NY.