We want to make our customers’ end product unique

Rahul Kumar (RK): What are the highlights of your product line?
Christophe Dujardin (CD): There is a growing desire to move away from plastic in search of more sustainable alternatives. However, eliminating plastic is not necessarily the best solution, as it can, in many cases, be the most effective choice for achieving the desired outcomes.

You may have heard of the 4R principles: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Recover. The most important aspect of this cycle is reduction. The more we reduce our usage, the better our sustainability efforts improve. Yet, people tend to focus primarily on recycling.

We have emphasised the first two principles, with reduction being our top priority. Within our lacquer packaging, there is limited scope for significant reduction, as our customers typically purchase liquid inks for use in their printing machines. They apply the ink, dry it, and repeat the process.

RK: How do you deploy these principles in your production line?
CD: In our production line, we adopt a different approach. Instead of applying ink to an end product, we apply it to a conductor, specifically a PET film, known as a foil. The lacquers we transfer are exceptionally thin, ranging from 0.15 to 0.3 microns. Within the range of 0.15 to 0.13 microns, there is a metalised layer measuring just 0.0002 millimetres—this is 6,000 times thinner than human hair.

If you look at the everyday products you use, such as when making coffee, you utilise a cup. Aluminium is used to transport that coffee, and the volume of aluminium required for a single cup allows us to decorate 1,400 boxes, as we essentially use minimal aluminium. Therefore, reducing the thickness of those lacquers is nearly impossible, and even a 30% reduction would not significantly improve sustainability. However, what we can reduce is how we transport those dry lacquers, specifically the thickness of the carrier material. This carrier material has been set at 12 microns for five or six decades.

RK: Why?
CD: There are two reasons for this. The first is that we are a German company committed to providing a robust product in the market. The second, and more crucial reason, is that 12 microns has become the standard in the production of PET material. When you consult producers of PET, they will affirm that the standard is indeed 12 microns. However, we do not require 12 microns to transport these dry lacquers; we can use a lower thickness.

Therefore, for hot stamping applications, Kurz is reducing the thickness of that carrier material from 12 to 10 microns. The rationale is straightforward: in hot stamping, there is physical contact between a heated die and the PET material. This is why we are making the transition gradually from 12 to 10 microns. In contrast, for cold transfer applications, there is no such physical contact; instead, there exists a nip roller that is either silicone-based or rubber-based, and we utilise UV lights to activate the blue layer that attracts the lacquer layer, thus eliminating the need for physical interaction. This is why we can reduce that thickness from 12 to 6 microns. This represents a 50% reduction, meaning the end customer will generate 50% less waste.

RK: How does this help label printers?
CD: For label printers, particularly those primarily using cold foil, this translates to a 50% reduction in waste. Additionally, they are able to achieve much longer runs on the roll. If a roll is 2,000 metres, the diameter will remain the same for a 4,000-metre roll, which leads to fewer machine stops.

By reducing the thickness from 12 to 6 microns, we achieve a 25% reduction in the CO2 footprint. Major brands like P&G, Nestlé, and L’Oreal are actively seeking ways to reduce their CO2 emissions, and this product offers them the potential for a 25% reduction.

Firstly, PET is 100% recyclable. Additionally, we have initiated a programme in Europe called Lacoses, where we reclaim the carrier material and recycle it into a new architectural application. This process is not downcycling; we maintain the same quality throughout. We aim to replicate this initiative in other countries in the coming years.

To summarise, we are a producer of dry lacquers, and we are making significant changes to our transportation methods. We will be reducing the thickness of the carriers used to transport these dry lacquers, which will enhance efficiency in our distribution process.

RK: What is the impact of reducing the thickness of the film by 50% on Kurz’s business?
CD: It secures our business. As everyone is focusing on plastic reduction, there is a scrutiny of technologies that utilise plastic, with a keen interest in what solutions they are offering. Our solution is indeed the most important one we can provide — it helps to secure our own technology in the process.

RK: You mentioned BAS. Please explain.
Michael Brocher (MB):  BAS stands for Business Area Security and includes high security features for banknotes, government documents, tax stamps, credit cards as well as commercial brand protection which is in focus at Labelexpo in India. The high security part is more driven by OVD Kinegram in Switzerland. Our production facility is in Germany which is dedicated for security features for all business cases. From this plant we provide worldwide the same high-quality standards.

But also, the customised product decoration is a strong part of the BAS as you could see at our booth. With customised transfer products from Kurz, the brand owner can develop their unique design, making it exclusive and unavailable for others to purchase from Kurz because the brand is the owner of the design…

RK: How does this work?
MB: Holograms have been in the market for the last 20 to 30 years and they are still effective. What we’ve done is combine the physical with the digital world. Holograms serve as the first line of verification and to combine it with an online QR check you have the opportunity for the track and trace the process and to collect important figures which you could use for analyse and marketing reasons.

We are using the Kurz patented Trustseal which gives as an USP in the market.

Kurz developed an optical variable device called diffractive ValiGate which is the first holographic security feature in the market that you can easily verify with a smartphone – without an adapter, without an application and without training. The diffractive ValiGate structure is customised and unique for just a brand or different product categories. The unique combination of digital brand protection technology with high end holographic security elements in one product offer many advantages.

RK: What is the average cost of this solution?
MB: It’s not easy to define the costs upfront, as it depends on the size, volume, and underlying contracts, software requirements. For example, we divide in one time tooling and consumable transfer product cost with or without printed QR code.

With our customised transfer products from Kurz, beside the security aspect, the brand owners could develop their unique design, making it exclusive and unavailable for others. We are using our expertise in decorative areas to develop tailored decorative solutions. For instance, these customised decorative products are developed under the same stringent conditions as high security.

From a pricing perspective, this product like Trustseal SFX or Deep Lens is a bit lower than the high-end security solutions. However, if you consider items like cosmetics, food or beverage, there is market potential for this customised and unique decorative solution. This indicates that the price varies; it is a bespoke design owned by the brand. They can decide that all their products will feature this particular design, enabling immediate identification of authenticity. We have implemented this for various buyers. You will notice displays at our booth that simplify identification, as the designs are notably difficult to replicate.

RK: FMCG counterfeiting is one of the most pressing issues in India, particularly for products with the lowest market inputs. Adopting solutions in this context may not be the most cost-effective approach to bridging that gap, as effective solutions need to extend to these products. How do you plan to address this challenge?
MB: An alternative solution (direct print) could be a part of our collaboration with HP Indigo. A digital printed individual ValiGate structure which is nearly impossible to copy because it’s like a printed hologram structure with a unique ID in each code. Consumers can scan the ValiGate structure with their mobile devices. Furthermore, combining this with software integration is straightforward.

RK: What about branding?
MB: Many companies utilise our products for branding purposes. One significant advantage of our offerings is that, thanks to our various application processes — hot, cold and digital transfer — the branding remains consistent for the customer. For example, if a client has a label in a specific colour or featuring a particular security element, they can apply this in cold transfer. If that label is used on an end product and they wish to maintain that same branding across the product itself, we can employ a different application process, such as hot transfer, to achieve uniformity. This ensures that the label, packaging, and the product itself all present a cohesive appearance.

Consistency in branding is crucial for any corporate entity, and our technology facilitates this by ensuring that hot, cold and digital transfer all maintain the same look, further enhancing brand integrity across products in the market.

RK: Last but not least, what about the digital embellishment solution?
Eugen Janke (EJ): Back in 2008, we developed and manufactured the first ever commercial digital embellishment system. Since then, the Kurz Group has been at the forefront of developing and engineering digital embellishment technology, which today results into the most comprehensive equipment portfolio in the global digital embellishment market. With three primary technologies, one of which is patented by Kurz, we are now offering three different product platforms and eight different products in sheet- and web-fed applications.

We recognised that the market was shifting towards greater flexibility and the need for on-demand delivery without lengthy lead times for tooling.

RK: Is it commercially available?
EJ: Yes, absolutely. We currently offer three different technologies for digital embellishment. The reason for offering three technologies is to provide customers with options, allowing them to choose the printing press and embellishment system that best suits their needs.

The first technology is called transfer on toner. This is akin to what you mentioned regarding HP Indigo. Customers who are already printing digitally with toner on their substrate can use this digital embellishment machine to apply metallisation.

RK: Please continue.
EJ: The second technology, inkjet on transfer, is a patented process developed by Kurz. This is a cold foil technique where the desired decorative image is first printed on the back of the transfer foil with an inkjet module. Next, the transfer foil is flipped onto the substrate allowing the embellishment to be aligned precisely with the pre-printed image.

The final method is inkjet on a substrate. In this instance, we are also leveraging inkjet technology with high precision print heads that apply UV spot varnish directly onto the substrate to achieve spot and relief varnishing as well as metallisation in a single pass. The system enables dynamic effects with thicknesses ranging from 20 to 100 microns, tailored to individual job and production requirements.