Display and point of sale producer Holbox, based in The Netherlands, has become one of the first converters in Europe to use a ‘new generation’ topliner that combines a high brightness paper with containerboard that its manufacturer claims will help improve visual impact in retail environments.
Recently launched by Sappi Fine Paper Europe, Fusion is a premium quality, 100% virgin fibre based white liner that is also suitable for use in consumer packaging and shelf ready packaging applications.
Target markets include foods, drinks, cosmetics and perfumes, consumer electronics, home wares and toys.
The brand name was chosen to underline that the speciality paper can offer best possible convertibility with ‘outstanding appearance’ in retail environments, according to Sappi.
Fusion is said to guarantee a ‘spotless’ paper tailor-made for lamination to corrugated board and a smooth surface able to support ‘all’ finishing techniques. It is suitable for flexo and offset printing and litho-lamination, direct printed litho and flexo-preprint, adds Sappi.
By the end of April Holbox expects its switchover to Fusion to be ‘close to 100%’ when old contracts have expired, Martijn Hol, Director of Holbox, told Converting Today at the launch event in Brussels.
The company’s output of board is some 3 million sqm2/yr and between 40-50 orders/day. Customers include Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, Henkel, Grolsch, Unilever and GlaxoSmithKline.
“The brilliance of the paper is particularly noticeable with displays that feature a lot of white and bright colours. The brightness ‘splashes’ from the display," says Mr Hol. “It adds the extra visual punch that can really make a difference to a product’s shelf appeal.”
Thanks to Fusion’s better production efficiency and material savings, prices have not been raised for customers that switch from 230gsm GD2 Liner, or white lined chip (WLC), to 180gsm Fusion, confirms Mr Hol.
In addition to improved visual impact and no ‘cracking’, a lower grammage can result in lower user costs, says Sappi.
“In trialling Fusion, we had nothing to lose and everything to gain," says Mr Hol. Holbox says it conducted several trial runs, during which time the material was gradually refined. The first major truckload arrived in November 2010.
www.holbox.co.uk
External weblinksConverting Today is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.Sappi Holbox
