Unlike direct style printing, which requires cans to be produced in batches of over 100,000, adhesive labelling also enables companies to produce smaller batches. Adhesive labelling improves a company’s ability to cater to the individual wishes of their customers, and allows them to test new products without fear of a massive surplus. This aspect is crucial for Pyynikin Craft Brewery, as they find it difficult to predict product sales in advance. Adhesive labelling has turned out to be a more cost-efficient alternative to direct style printing, especially for microbreweries wanting to experiment with new products.
"As a microbrewery, we want to create a wide variety of different products. We have hundreds of registered products under our belt, and new ones are being launched all the time," says Rauno Pere, Administrative Coordinator of Pyynikin Craft Brewery. "Adhesive labels also provide excellent opportunities for localising our products, as we are becoming more and more geared towards the foreign market."
In addition to the smaller production batches, another benefit cherished by Pyynikin Craft Brewery has been the versatility of the design and printing opportunities presented by the VANISH™ label. Pere notes that the greater colour depth of the adhesive label makes different colours more pronounced. The label is also compatible with techniques like gradient printing. Furthermore, the thin design of the VANISH™ label provides the can with a clean and seamless look.
Adhesive labels pave the way for aluminium cans
For Pyynikin Craft Brewery, the idea of adopting adhesive labels became more concrete after Palpa, the entity maintaining the largest beverage package recovery system in Finland, approved the VANISH™ label for its recovery system. Labelled cans had not been approved for recycling in the past, as the proportion of plastic in the label was too high compared to the total weight of the can. The VANISH™ label, however, is too thin to have any effect on the recyclability of the cans.
As an initial investment, the brewery rented a labelling machine because the thin adhesive label requires the right kind of machinery. According to Pere, the labelling process itself is as fast as the beer canning process.
"The line produces approximately 1.200 labelled cans per hour. Before this, we used to bottle our beer using glass bottles, because labelled cans had not been approved for the recovery system. When adhesive labelling made it possible for aluminium cans to be recycled, we decided to move to canning. Canned beer keeps better, and the can is also a more practical and affordable form of packaging compared to the bottle," Pere says.
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