Stamp of Approval

Hot stamping and embossing provides the packaging market with winning visuals for a wide variety of products.

by Chris Bauer

SUPPLIERS OF STAMPING and embossing equipment report a steep rise in the demand for their products. As converters are called on to create eye-catching packaging for a variety of products, they often look to stamping and embossing to give a package the visual edge over its competition. Suppliers explain the results are easy to see.

"The evidence is in the grocery store," says Doug Herr, national sales manager for the Bobst Group. "Walking down the aisles today versus five years ago, you see many more packages with hot foil stamping—and not only promotional packages, but other items which consistently use hot foil stamping."

Suppliers have noticed more consumer markets are now using hot stamping on their products—anything from auto parts to fish food. It is now being used across the packaging world. "It's not just for the cosmetic and personal care markets anymore," advises Peter Kuschnitzky, general manager of I.Kela. "It's basically a cheap way to get a better look for your packages," And when foil use starts in a product market, it can become contagious.

"When one company markets their product with hot foil stamping, it seems like the competition will also move in that direction," Herr notes. To meet these new demands for stamping, Bobst released several versions of its Foilmaster product. Available in 30˝, 40˝, and 50˝ formats, sheetfed Foilmaster Autoplaten presses for hot stamping, embossing, and hologram applications feature consistent speeds, simplified changeovers, and controlled costs by maximizing foil usage.

John Edgar, vice president of sales and marketing for Brandtjen & Kluge, confirms foil usage is an important consideration for printers. Foil on jobs involving packaging tends to be a high proportion of the total cost, Edgar contends, so foil savings, particularly on long runs, can be significant.

"From our experience, the rotary side of the business is growing in terms of use of foil stamping and it has been enhanced by the ability to meter foil on a web operation so waste is minimized," he says. From the sheetfed side, which Edgar calls the more traditional side, minimized foil waste is now obtained through more accurate foil metering devices, he says.

Brandtjen & Kluge offers the EHD stamping, embossing, and die cutting press, running sheet sizes of 15x243⁄4˝ at speeds of up to 3,300 iph. It features Kluge's Delayed Dwell, which allows users to double impression time with no loss of production speed. It can stamp or emboss on stocks up to .200 board. A new, free-standing mobile electronics console puts all press operations in one place for easy access and also serves as a work station and tool box.

Foiling trends

One market Kuschnitzky of I.Kela has noticed opening up is the use of hot stamping on unsupported film. He feels many printers think they cannot stamp unsupported film because it is too thin. He says it is actually quite easy and expects this market to boom in the near future. Another application Kuschnitzky sees rising is the use of hot stamping on beer labels. It was originally thought that the volumes were too large to hot stamp beer labels, he says, since the long runs were usually done on wide-web flexo presses. He confides I.Kela now has three customers screen printing beer labels in a combination press configuration which includes hot stamping. This is another market he is counting on to take off.

Joyce Porter, marketing director and regional sales manager for Independent Machinery adds that printers are demanding quicker set-up of stamping and embossing equipment due to shorter runs, more flexibility, one-pass operation for challenging work, and in-line converting systems that combine all packaging functions for fresh niches and less operation costs. This includes integration with higher speeds and tighter technical registers, she says.

Independent Machinery offers the Gietz Vacufeed Foil System. It is designed for long foil advances at very high speed using large rolls of foil (up to14˝), which eliminates the dilemma of reduced press speeds due to long pulls. This system also allows use of wide or narrow rolls of foil at the same time. Also available from Independent Machinery is the Web Foil Stamper (Rofo), a new web platen stamper using economical flat stamping dies. It accommodates a full range of label and board materials up to 34˝ wide and has a stamping width of 311⁄2˝.

Stamping and embossing suppliers also report a rise in the use of non-traditional foils to give packages special effects. Refractive foils, for example, are often used to give packages for products like computer software a holographic effect without having a true hologram.

According to Edgar of Brandtjen & Kluge, the customer base of stamping suppliers is also changing. "We are selling more of our machines to customers who we had not previously been involved with," Edgar reveals. In the past, Brandtjen & Kluge primarily sold units to trade finishers and specialty printers. That trend has ended. "We are seeing more business from packaging companies that are bringing foil stamping in-house," he says.

Die update

DMS has recently introduced segmented rotary dies, a new hot stamping die design that is aimed at saving converters money on tooling costs. "Until now, when a job only required hot stamping in limited areas, the customer still had to buy a solid die to match the entire width and repeat of the job," explains Renee Newman, manager of customer service. "With this new product, the customer only has to buy engraved segments matching the areas that are actually being stamped, reducing their tooling costs to a fraction of what it would be for a solid die."

The segments bolt onto an aluminum core that has hundreds of threaded holes machined into it to facilitate positioning segments as required. This core is mounted on the hot stamping system and positioned in the die station exactly as a solid die would be. Heat is transferred from the aluminum core to the solid brass segments. The unit performs exactly as a solid die, with no loss of efficiency or running speed, Newman says.

"This design is similar in concept to magnetic cutting dies, which have dramatically cut costs for rotary die cutting," she points out. This is illustrated by a current customer who has placed an order for 400 different jobs, Newman notes. The jobs fit into a limited number of repeats, all of which can fit on three die bases. Now, instead of having to buy 400 solid dies, this customer has slashed its tooling costs by buying segments. They are essentially getting in-line efficiency and rotary converting speed for the cost of an off-line flat-bed die.