Consumables

Fujifilm UVivid Flexo JD inks enhance colour consistency and efficiency at Skanem Durham

Thursday 17. January 2013 - One of three Skanem sites in the UK moves its ink consumption to Fujifilm and experiences new business opportunities

On the strength of having 16 production plants across 10 countries, Skanem is one of Europe’s largest suppliers of self-adhesive labels. Founded in 1905 in Norway, the company’s main objective is to supply high quality labelling solutions to large national and multinational brand owners.
In the UK, Skanem has three sites located in Liverpool, Cardiff and Durham. The latter is the smallest of the three, yet is very efficient and prides itself on its strong customer-focused approach. Skanem has a very diverse range of customers consisting of both blue chip companies and independent leading brands, and the Durham plant, established in 2003, specialises in the production of self-adhesive labels for the automotive, household and food markets.
Two years ago Simon Burge, operational manager at Skanem Durham, took the opportunity to review and improve the printer’s ink supply. This involved an intense research and testing period which culminated in the company switching to Fujifilm’s UVivid Flexo JD inks. Simon explains: “Our main goal was to enhance our quality standards to guarantee consistency on different kinds of applications. Our colleagues from Skanem Cardiff have been working with Fujifilm for a number of years, and suggested we see what Fujifilm had to offer.”
Fujifilm and Skanem worked closely together to trial Fujifilm’s inks, which included carrying out fingerprint tests. Skanem decided that Fujifilm’s flexo package, which comprises UVivid Flexo JD inks, High Opacity UVivid Flexo JD inks, Supernova White and a number of varnishes from its UVivid RV range, were the best choice for them.
UVivid Flexo JD is a high quality UV curing flexo ink system for narrow web printers, which has been developed to give the highest performance across a wide range of UV flexo machinery, complementary press products and substrates. It is suitable for a wide range of applications, including self-adhesive labels, sachets and pouches, unsupported films, low shrink sleeves and in-mould labels, and is available as Pantone mixing, process or metallic colours.
Fujifilm’s UVivid Flexo Supernova White is an ultra opaque flexo printable ink that can replace rotary screen white ink, and allows fine text and opaque solids to be combined on the same plate.
Steve Dunne, managing director of Skanem UK, continues: “Every plant has been developed to meet specific needs and has its own centre of excellence. We are pleased to feature all the major print technologies so we can apply them where appropriate. However, production alignment and flexibility are essential to remain competitive. By building a strong relationship with suppliers such as Fujifilm, and making the most of its offering in order to create integrated, cohesive production sites, helps us to be more efficient and provide customers with consistently high quality products.”
“In the last few years the market has changed dramatically. We used to fulfil orders within a week, while today we often need to comply with a turnaround time of just a couple of days. Just-in-time jobs have become common practice and relying on an up-to-speed, reliable and streamlined production workflow is a must to win deals.”
The employment of the right inks for the job is crucial to ensure efficiency. The colour repeatability and stability offered by Fujifilm UVivid Flexo inks are the key benefits that persuaded Skanem Durham to commit to Fujifilm and therefore reduce its time to market.
Simon continues: “We are committed to keeping a tight rein on all variables which might affect the print process, and ink is a crucial product. Our colour discrepancy tolerance is minimal. Ink must be consistent in shade and flow properties from batch to batch: to fail in this area would put a stop to the whole process which would mean a time consuming and expensive delay in production. Since we have been working with Fujifilm, we have achieved top quality and excellent colour matching along the entire workflow. Because of this, we decided to move to Fujifilm as a majority supplier.”
Skanem Durham is definitely more than a self-adhesive labels printer. The company invests a lot of energy into product research and development to anticipate customers’ needs and create innovative and outstanding applications. On this basis, a few months ago Simon Burge decided to start working with the Fujifilm High Opacity UVivid Flexo JD inks, which can produce opaque prints on clear filmic materials without the need for a backing white.
“Being innovative is our ethos. We tend to look beyond common applications and find novel ways to surprise customers. Fujifilm products, such as the High Opacity UVivid Flexo JD inks, effectively complement our creativity,” explains Simon. He adds “We aim to be surrounded by innovative suppliers, as through their knowledge and solutions we can develop value-added and cost effective products which allow us to increase our market proposition.”
This continuous drive to stand out from the crowd has recently turned into a global success for the company as Skanem Durham recently won a label award in the 2012 competition promoted by Finat, the worldwide association representing the interests of the self-adhesive labelling industry. The competition attracted 325 entries for its 32nd label edition, with Skanem Durham gaining the podium in the Printing Processes Group category, thanks to the flexo technology used to produce the Comma Profile label. This unique application was printed with Fujifilm UVivid JD inks and applied to oil bottles sold by leading UK suppliers of the automotive sector Comma.
“We are delighted to have achieved this international acknowledgment and we are pleased that in a way Fujifilm won it with us. We truly value this leading print manufacturer as an extension of our operation plant. Fujifilm has provided us with great support throughout the changeover process, assisted us in developing the perfect colour matching formulation and continues to share its expertise with us,” concludes Simon.