Labellers can quickly be reprogrammed to print the appropriate warnings on products that contain chemicals, thanks to new guidelines from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

Published in mid-February, the EU Classification and Labelling Inventory incorporates more than three million notifications about 100,000 chemicals, giving companies the information they need to correctly classify and label chemical products.

Janez Potocnik, European commissioner for environment, says: “This inventory will increase transparency and improve safety for all those handling chemicals.”

For manufacturers of all sizes, the publication aims to make it easier to ensure labellers are affixing the correct warnings to chemical containers.

The European Commission says accurate classification is “essential” for several different reasons, leading to the need for labellers to put the appropriate warnings in place on containers.

As well as the potential risks to EU employees if warnings are not clearly visible, there are also associated effects if chemicals are able to pollute the environment – making warning notices an important way to make sure harmful substances are handled and disposed of in the appropriate way.

Polyethylene labelling machines can help to raise the overall quality of a product, without needing to improve the product itself.

Packaging is an important part of the retail experience, and your choice of labellers can have a huge impact on how your product is perceived.

While many suppliers still use paper labels, polyethylene labelling machines can deliver several different benefits.

For instance, polyethylene labels can simply be more aesthetically appealing when affixed to your packaging, blending in more successfully with the rest of the wrapping.

They also offer better adhesion than paper equivalents, generally speaking, preventing unsightly peeling before purchase and making sure essential information such as use-by dates are not lost during transit.

At throughput of up to 200 packs per minute with our Eurokett Matrix 50 labellers, for instance, you can obtain high levels of aesthetics and adhesion without compromising on output speed.

The Eurokett Matrix 50 is part of our range of equipment for the food industry, which can label the front and back of products, and also includes options for wraparound labels if needed.

Labelling machines need to be particularly accurate when packaging fresh herbs, due to the air holes in the outer wrapper.

These perforations allow herbs and spices to breathe while on the shelf in the store, but they put a specific need for accuracy on the labelling machines used in the production process.

A misplaced label can land directly over one of the holes – potentially contaminating the ingredient inside.

However, it’s not just the positioning of the label that matters, as labelling machines must still stick it firmly into place.

With loose-fitting plastic wrappers, there is a heightened risk that the label will be rubbed off or subjected to rough handling.

Advanced Dynamics’ Eurokett Junior 115 is an ideal option to meet all of the needs of herb labelling – excellent adhesion, resistance to rubbing and accuracy of application.

We can provide bespoke labelling machines to suit specific uses – from labelling fresh produce, to specialist print purposes.

At a stated accuracy of within 0.5mm either way, the Eurokett family of top and base labelling systems could be the solution to your labelling problems.

Bottle labelling can help you to cater for your customers’ ethical concerns, by letting them know how to dispose of the container once it is empty.

We’ve talked recently about how labelling machines can allow you to display the environmental credentials of a product – or, instead, to provide a QR code that the customer can scan to find out more about your ecological commitment.

However, it’s not just what’s inside the bottle that matters, but also the packaging itself.

According to Mintel, 87% of Brits recycle everything they can, and 69% try to cut down on the amount of packaging they throw away.

Bottle labelling can help your products to meet the needs of those customers, by clearly displaying what type of plastic is used, and whether it can be recycled.

What’s more, there’s a growing trend for drinks producers to treat the bottle and the label separately in their recycling instructions.

Use the right labelling machines, and you can give similarly detailed information, so that ethical consumers know whether or not they should remove the label before recycling.

Labelling machines can help retailers to create order where once there was apparent chaos.

Simply streamlining your packaging processes can help to give the appearance of an organised environment – particularly if you have a lot of products that are made in-house.

Investing in labelling machines to help you to achieve this is not just an indulgence, either – an organised retail environment can encourage shoppers to buy a wider variety of goods.

Research published in the Journal of Consumer Research looks at the impact of messiness on buying decisions, and finds that, while shoppers are willing to pay more for a simple product in a messy store, they are less likely to consider a wide range of items.

Test subjects “categorised products in a simpler manner, were willing to pay more for a T-shirt that depicted a simple-looking picture, and sought less variety in their choices” in a messy store, the researchers write.

By investing in labelling machines that can clearly show which department a product belongs to, its price, and even simply what it is, you can help to tidy up your shop floor.

If the research is correct, you should see an increase in the variety of goods you sell as a direct result.

Labellers capable of adding QR codes to product packaging are already growing in popularity, but could soon become the mainstream option.

Organic Monitor specialises in tracking trends in organic and natural goods – including cosmetics and food.

The analyst claims that eco-labels, which carry claims of meeting various environmental standards, could ultimately be replaced completely by QR codes.

This is because of confusion among customers about different eco-standards, such as organic, Fairtrade, and other certifications.

By using labellers to add QR codes to products, those same customers can be sent to a website on their smartphone, with full details of how the food, drink or cosmetic is kind to the environment.

“With over 500 symbols and logos representing sustainable food products, many consumers are getting lost in the maze of eco-labels,” Organic Monitor warns.

But by using labellers with QR code support, manufacturers can give full environmental information, along with other details.

For foodstuffs, that may mean the country, region or even the specific farm or factory of origin, helping shoppers to cut down on the ‘food miles’ their purchases have clocked up during delivery.

In cosmetics, meanwhile, QR codes could ultimately lead to more transparent ingredient information, not just helping eco-friendly customers, but also shoppers with specific allergies to deal with.

Counting sheets into reams more efficiently could help paper producers to raise their profits and, ultimately, to replace energy-hungry equipment elsewhere in their operations.

According to a report from the European Commission’s Strategic Energy Technologies Information System (SETIS) Technology Map, much of the energy consumed in the paper production process is in the drying stage.

However, many companies simply cannot afford to replace their boilers and other drying systems with modern, eco-friendly alternatives.

Focusing instead on the efficiency of counting sheets could be the first step towards saving enough money to tackle inefficient boilers.

By installing modern, fast and accurate machinery for counting sheets into reams of the desired size, paper producers can speed up their manufacturing process, saving both time and money.

The funds saved here can soon accumulate into substantial additional profits, paying not only for the sheet-counting machinery, but also for upgrades elsewhere in the facility.

Regardless of the total amount of energy used, SETIS found the paper industry as a whole is relatively eco-friendly, thanks to its incorporation of renewable sources such as biomass.

In 2008, the most recent year for which figures are cited, 54.4% of the pulp and paper industry’s consumed energy was from biomass, while 38% came from natural gas.

Sheetfeeders can help to make sure companies with large quantities of printing to handle can maintain substantial workloads effectively.

Regardless of whether sheetfeeders are used to deliver paper, card or envelopes into a printer, they are an efficient method to keep processing speeds up, without risking human error by manually feeding the print medium into the machinery.

With 18 football pitches’ worth of printing taking place every minute in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, keeping things flowing quickly and smoothly could be a key part in maintaining profitability for many organisations.

Ilona Stankeova, research director for imaging and hardcopy devices research and document solutions at IDC CEMA (Central Europe, Middle East and Africa), says 2010 saw over three trillion pages printed worldwide.

She adds: “In total, almost three billion pages were printed every day in EMEA. If we lay down the pages printed daily in EMEA one after another, they would reach the moon and back.”

Laser printers – and particularly those capable of printing A3 page sizes – constituted a disproportionate number of the total pages produced, compared with their share of the installed machine base.

This is because many inkjet and multifunction printers are in domestic or small business settings, IDC adds, which may make sheetfeeders of particular importance for larger companies with greater hardcopy output to handle.