SOME INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

When you want your customers to consume your product at its optimum temperature, how do you visually convey this?

Thermo-chromatic Ink!

The challenge was to source and print an ink on to a shrink sleeve that would change colour when the temperature of the drink was between 4-8 deg C. The key factors that made this project more complex was that the ink was different in formulation to the rest of our printing inks, it was to be printed in a location on the sleeve that was subject to greater shrinkage, the ink had a lower adhesion property than our standard inks & the strength on the ink, once mixed with a base, affected the colour, so our mixing ratio needed to be consistent.

The result is still on sale at outlets around New Zealand.

Frucor Beverages, with an independent New Zealand Company, has developed what is thought to be a New Zealand innovation first product - Moccona premium quality coffee drink in a glass bottle format. To achieve a well preserved and high quality product Frucor required a shrink sleeve that would block out UV light. UV light is responsible for photo oxidation of the unprotected milk ingredients thereby degrading both the flavour and quality of the finished product. That’s where GPL plays a part.

The challenge was to produce a shrink sleeve that blocks a vast majority of light from passing through it. Shrink sleeve material is clear so a lot of thought had to go in to how to print an 8 colour design on to a clear material and not allow light to pass through it. Gravure printing utilises high opacity inks so in a combination of up to 10 colours GPL were able to not only prevent light passing through the material but also produce a vibrant design which conveys a premium product.

The result is not only a sleeve that looks great but also blocks light from permeating through it. As an added bonus the product tastes great for longer too!