Technologies
The foam hardness category of a plate mounting tape significantly influences print quality. Depending on your print motif, it is essential to select a corresponding foam category.
With this in mind, we have further developed our assortment of 380 µm (15 mil) plate mounting tapes, to cater for all specific print quality needs.
Both global and local brands strive to place their products in a way that optimally conveys their desired message. A self-adhesive label must provide information to the end user, but perhaps even more importantly, it must support good first impressions of the product’s quality and corresponding brand image.
There is currently a trend towards “no-label-look” packaging concepts, meaning that the printed information looks as if it was directly printed on the packaging instead of on a label. This trend can be found in many industries – for example, labels on transparent beverage bottles or opaque cosmetic containers.
The effect of a label-free appearance is achieved by printing on “clear-on-clear” label stock, consisting of a thin high clarity face material, combined with an optically clear adhesive on a smooth film liner.
The area of the printed image normally has a white background, which is printed during the first step. The actual design then follows on top of the white background. This procedure ensures high opacity of the final print and a smooth laydown of the different inks.
The specific foam hardness category of the plate mounting tape in use has an essential influence on the print quality.
We have developed the ideal solution for printing "no-label-look" self-adhesive labels.
A certain level of compressibility in combination with outstanding resilience characteristics of the foam cells are required to achieve the perfect result in printing solids.
During the introduction of our green foam hardness, extensive testing was conducted at various printing plants.
The target was to achieve reproducible and high-quality print designs with our plate mounting tapes especially developed for white background solids. All trials were successfully completed and resulted in smooth ink surfaces without any pinholes – the perfect basis for “no-label-look” print designs.
“no-label-look” Nivea print sample
The market of self-adhesive labels is characterized by a high degree of innovation and diversity. New ideas for label materials and designs are constantly generated by brand owners and their advertising agencies to influence consumers’ first impressions at the point of sale.
Label printing companies need to react to changing demands of their clients with a high degree of flexibility and efficient production processes to keep their costs under control.
High flexibility for quickly changing print jobs and volatile requirements can be achieved by standardized processes and a streamlined stock of consumables.
Our “Medium” foam hardness of our tesa Softprint® assortment for flexographic label printers offers the perfect compromise to print solids, screens, and line work with just one single tape.
Excellent print quality is supported by our smart tape production process – leaving all foam cells intact for better cushioning and resilience over time.
During the introduction of our purple foam hardness, extensive tests were carried out at various printing plants.
The goal was to demonstrate that a print design featuring a combination of solids, screens, and linework could be printed with only one foam hardness without sacrificing the essence of print quality.
All trials were successfully completed and showed that complexity, waste, and time could be reduced and that the streamlined processes could result in an overall cost reduction.
To cater for all different customer requirements and individual process needs, three different adhesive lines are available for each of our foam hardness categories.
For further information on our comprehensive tesa Softprint® assortment fulfilling all requirements of flexographic label printing, please contact your tesa sales representative today.
