At Labelexpo India 2016, Henkel displayed its range of products which received great response from visitors. “It was a great show and we saw quality customers stepping in,” says Vijay Ramachandran, regional business head – tapes and labels, Henkel Adhesive Technologies, UAE. “Our main objective of participation at Labelexpo was to showcase our entire range of products as well as to communicate the message that in the tapes and labels market, Henkel has the most corporates and portfolio. We are the only company to
offer solvent- and water-based hot-melt glue solutions. We are launching our UV acrylic hot-melt solution for the Indian market as well.”
Speaking about the advantage of UV acrylic hot-melt solution, Ramachandran says, “There is a growing demand for speciality applications like clear labels, removable and re-closable labels for wet wipes, etc. This is a new area for the labels market. In this kind of application, traditional hot-melt solution has always had some limitations; the other alternative is to go to water-based or solvent-based acrylics. But these also have some concerns in terms of applications or applying. So UV hot-melt solution offers the quality of acrylic but with the ease of application like a hot-melt. This is the main advantage of UV acrylic hot-melt solution.”
Speaking about the current trends in the label industry, Ramachandran says, “The significant trend is clearly digital. In fact, it is no longer a trend: it is a reality. But sustainability is also very important. So for concepts like liner-less labels, UV hot-melt sustainability is becoming an important subject in every industry and the label industry is not excluded from that. The other trends that are visible are short runs, variable printing and applications. Earlier we used general purpose labels; now every segment is growing and we are slowly reaching a point where each segment is getting specialized and focussed. So in India, what we are witnessing is a rising number of enquiries for speciality applications instead of generic ones. People are not buying general-purpose labels and applying them to everything.
