Report on AWA Seminar: Label Release Liner Issues, Opportunities

Issues and innovations

Among its broad-ranging activities, UPM-Kymmene is the world's largest manufacturer of release base papers. Mikko Rissanen, product manager, Paper Business Group, examined the global trends impacting release liner, their implications for the business and its technology, and product and sustainability issues and innovations. The scarcity of some raw materials, particularly platinum, and the resultant high costs, he showed, continue to create problems across the value chain, as do the issues of sustainability, global competition, and market instability and volatility. Material innovation, renewability and recyclability, and a cost-efficient production process and supply chain are the key challenges for the future, he said.