Overcoming sticky points

From paper mills to laminating applications, cartons, boxes, bags and sacks, tube winding and corrugating – paper converting covers a diverse range of market segments. Despite this, there’s no denying that manufacturers face the same challenges - to ensure that their production lines run at optimum capacity. Downtime can be disastrous. With additional issues such as sustainability, as well as brand and package integrity at an all-time high, converters increasingly look to their suppliers for innovative solutions to meet shifting market concerns.

“Converters look for products which will give them a competitive edge, in terms of cost, quality or increased productivity,” explains Andrew Purdy, National Adhesives converting marketing manager. “Any good adhesive supplier has to consider that its products can’t be all things to all converters, but this doesn’t mean that lessons can’t be learned from other successful areas of the business.

“We are committed to boosting customer profitability and understand that factors such as total cost per unit and machine downtime significantly affect profit margins. Therefore, an extensive research and development process needs to focus on the entire production line.

“Innovation is essentially the result of placing a great deal of time and energy into determining the needs of the end user, researching the market thoroughly and developing new products,” he says.

The most appropriate way to generate product ideas is by working with customers. For example, when developing a corrugating board adhesive additive, National conducted extensive laboratory tests and worked closely with a number of converting plants in the US, analysing how the starch additive performed.

At the same time as perfecting the product, customer feedback identified a need for a similar adhesive combined with water resistance, and so a sister product was also born.

“Any way of further enhancing our customers’ offerings makes good business sense to all parties concerned,” says Andrew Purdy.

A commitment to product innovation also means taking into account the long-term impact and recyclability of materials used, including the adhesive. As the demand for sustainable products gains momentum, the industry continues to develop solutions that boost customer profitability and address changing market trends.

“There is no doubt that demand for sustainable and eco-friendly products is affecting the way adhesives are manufactured,” he explains. “Helping to reduce end users’ carbon footprints is a major concern. Increased environmental awareness has in turn led to converters changing the way they operate

and the products they choose to use.”

Although there is no specific industry legislation in place for converting adhesive manufacturers, there have been a number of general directives highlighting the importance of recycling and lowering of carbon emissions.

“If given the choice to use a product which performs well against the traditional demands of the converter and one which does all this plus boosts the converter’s green credentials, the customer is inevitably going to choose the latter,” he asserts.

While National has produced solvent-free products for over a decade, research and development teams increasingly look at successes from other areas of the business in order to optimise solutions and share best practice. For example, one particular hotmelt adhesive innovation already established in the tissue and towel market is now used in the manufacture of paper reels. This hotmelt technology is totally re-dispersible in water and can be put back into a paper/tissue making process and re-pulped without causing stickies, comparing favourably to other materials that either can’t be put back into the paper making process or have to be removed first. Other products are engineered to be plasticizer and biocide free, eliminating chemicals that make their way back into the environment.

“As converting diversifies, every effort must be made to keep pace with end-user needs,” says Andrew Purdy. “Moreover, companies providing adhesive solutions need to make a time investment in understanding the challenges and opportunities from a wider perspective.”