Across the world a change in consumer behavior is visible. The expectations towards corporate responsibility increase, and transparency of a product’s entire value chain becomes more important.
Embracing the topic of sustainability in everyday business creates long-term value and consumer trust.
Get excited to watch our "tesa Expert talk" at virtual.drupa 2021, including interviews with brand owner Beiersdorf and the packaging printers Mondi and Oerlemans.
Beiersdorf as a market-leading consumer product company and brand owner of trusted skin-care brands Nivea, Eucerin, and La Prairie, adds requirements for flexible packaging printers as part of their corporate strategies for sustainability and the company’s purpose statement “CARE BEYOND SKIN”.
Well-known packaging printers Mondi and Oerlemans have also defined clear sustainability targets and fully support the idea of creating solutions cooperatively across the value chain.
Driving sustainability is a team effort
Learn how to achieve sustainability targets with tesa® Twinlock
Mar 30, 2021
virtual.drupa 2021 – we were there!
Our “tesa Expert Talk“ is still available in our virtual.drupa showroom until the end of the year. Join us to learn how brand owner Beiersdorf drives sustainable packaging solutions, listen to packaging printers talk about their experience with tesa® Twinlock, and understand tesa® Twinlock’s overall concept and ease of use.
In case you missed our live Q&A sessions you can find the answers to the most frequently asked questions below.
The driver for sustainability is all of us!
How to fulfill brand owners’ requirements and become a more sustainable flexographic printer
Sustainability targets can only be achieved when not only printers and brand owners, but also printers and their suppliers team up and work closely together.
We at tesa greatly value the topic of sustainability and want to contribute to your efforts in this journey of becoming a more sustainable flexographic printer.
Simply put, sustainability can be achieved by prevention.
The key driver is to re-think the print production process and to implement solutions that help to prevent waste in order to improve carbon footprint. With the concept of tesa® Twinlock we provide a re-usable plate mounting solution, thus eliminating waste caused by the alternative use of self-adhesive plate mounting tapes.
tesa® Twinlock features a base sleeve equipped with a self-adhesive layer which remains tacky and maintains its adhesion properties when handled with care - allowing for repeated usage for years to come.
The impact of tesa® Twinlock on sustainability
For a standard plate mounting process, you will use a sleeve, a plate mounting tape, and a printing plate.
When using tesa® Twinlock, the plate mounting tape can be removed from this equation. This obviously reduces cost, it saves time during the mounting process, and most importantly it eliminates an important source of waste.
A simplified calculation shows that for 200 print jobs an average of 500 kilograms of waste is caused by self-adhesive tape. And if this is true for only 200 print jobs, can you imagine how much non-recyclable waste is produced in the entire flexo printing industry?
With our re-usable tesa® Twinlock sleeve we can dramatically decrease waste generation and contribute a great deal to your sustainability target!
But in addition to waste reduction there is also a second factor, namely the influence of reduced transportation. Nowadays, transportation accounts for more than 20 % of global carbon dioxide emissions
Just-in-time supply became standard and weekly tape deliveries to printers are common around the world. When using tesa® Twinlock, you could be looking at one annual delivery instead of approximately 50 separate tape deliveries per year. And less transportation leads to fewer trucks emitting carbon dioxide, improving the carbon footprint of your product’s value chain.
Frequently Asked Questions
> Can my currently used sleeves be coated with a tesa® Twinlock layer?
For the best performance we recommend to start with brand-new sleeves, because the tesa® Twinlock coating layer has a different thickness than the typical plate mounting tape. This leads to a different outer diameter and therefore a different repeat.
> Which base sleeve can I use for my tesa® Twinlock sleeves?
You can freely select your base sleeve, most customers stick to the sleeve brand and type that they are used to.
> What is the maximum run time of tesa® Twinlock?
Our experience shows that a lifetime longer than ten years is easily possible for the tesa® Twinlock foam and self-adhesive layer. Of course, this may vary depending on the number of printed jobs and the handling of the sleeves. In general, we have seen that the base sleeve is a weak point over time. We recommend to follow the standard operating procedures we provide and a regular quality check supported by our Flexo Experts.
> Will tesa® Twinlock help with bounce?
Yes - our specially designed PU foam compensates for vibrations occurring on press and smoothens out the effects of unbalance within the printing press.
> What if the tesa® Twinlock surface is damaged?
tesa® Twinlock is a repairable and thus sustainable and long-lasting product. As long as the base sleeve is not damaged and in a good condition, we can recoat the sleeve with a new top layer.
> What is my return on investment (ROI) with tesa® Twinlock?
One advantage of tesa® Twinlock is its reusability, which allows you to reach the breakeven point of this investment - compared to recurring expenses you face with plate mounting tape - pretty fast. Of course, this depends on your specific production parameters and requirements. Our sales experts provide consultation and can help you evaluate your current production setup.