Domestic injection mold label development is at the time
October 22, 2021
In the past, the demand for products focused on functions. With the improvement of living standards, the consumer market has gradually developed to high quality. Consumers have higher requirements for the appearance and even the texture of the products, which makes the appearance of packaging particularly important. . The in-mold labeling products are generally optimistic in the industry for their unique advantages in high definition, good three-dimensionality, scratch resistance on the surface, increased aesthetics of packaging containers, improved economic efficiency, environmental protection, and enhanced anti-counterfeiting.
In-mold labels are further divided into blow-molded in-mold labels and injection-molded in-mold labels. The former has been widely promoted in China, and the latter has also been used in China in the past two years. At present, with the development of related process technologies, more and more domestic manufacturers have provided injection molding in-mold labeling technology and equipment, and the high cost of plaguing users will be gradually solved, and the in-mold label will become the in-mold label industry. The chain has another new growth point.
Wide range of applications The use of domestic in-mold in-mold labels began six or seven years ago from the packaging of ice cream. Ice cream is sold in a freezer and needs to be stored in a cold air cycle below -20 °C, therefore, special requirements for the packaging process. The in-mold labeling process is an embedded labeling method, which can easily solve the problem that the self-adhesive label is easy to be curled and peeled off in a harsh environment, and the product has a good appearance image. Not only that, the in-mold label has a smooth, orange peel, transparent and diverse labeling effect, providing end users with a wealth of choices.
After the success of the application of the in-mold label on the ice cream packaging, it also extended to other products in the food field, including packaging containers such as milk, ice cream, coffee, milk tea, turtle paste, biscuits, candy, etc., and gradually began to use the injection mold label.
In addition, branded lunch boxes, disposable cups and spoons for export, due to the relevant regulations issued by the European Union, require new rules such as repeated washing, microwave heating, and refrigerator freezing. Common shrink film labels, silk screens and self-adhesive labels can not fully meet the above standards, only the internal standard can meet the requirements.
In the chemical industry, most of the labels for barrel coatings and paint products use thermal transfer technology. For example, a 20L vat has a transfer cycle time of 40.
-60 seconds between. Before the transfer, it must be transferred from the injection molding workshop to the thermal transfer workshop, which is not efficient and requires more labor. Also, the use of in-mold labels serves to increase the compressive strength of the container, thereby reducing the corresponding proportion of gram weight resin during production. Many paints, paints, and lubricant manufacturers have been actively considering the use of in-mold labels, especially for large-capacity coatings.
The right time for development The domestic in-mold label market has already passed the wait-and-see period and started to take off slowly. Due to the particularity of the Chinese market, in the middle and the market where the in-mold label can play an advantage, due to the pressure of the label price and equipment technology in the injection mold, some brands with small amount of activity and few orders are afraid to introduce the model. Labeling equipment, which has a certain resistance to the popularization and application of injection molding in-mold labels in the domestic market.
In fact, many users have been tempted by the high cost and deterred from the in-mold, mainly referring to the large investment in the entire production equipment. Because under normal circumstances, injection molding machine + robot arm + mold, add up to at least 1 million yuan of investment, if you buy a whole set of foreign equipment, the cost is higher. This is indeed a small investment for many users.
However, after several years of development, many injection molding manufacturers have emerged in China, and in-mold labeling robots have been added, and the market has been actively developed. As an important part of the in-mold label system, the robotic arm has begun to gradually shift to localization, which means that equipment costs may be reduced and the delivery time will be greatly accelerated. In addition, many of the user's existing robot arms can be used universally. If a male mold is used, the price/performance ratio of a single injection molded mold will be very high. For example: a PP cup with a capacity of 150g, the design mold is one out of four, the production cycle is 6 seconds, and the average price of the in-mold label is only about 0.12 yuan, which is very economical compared to other packaging processes.
On the other hand, as the current economic development is in a period of transformation, all walks of life are making adjustments, especially the demand for automation in the manufacturing industry will increase greatly. At the same time, the supply chain of injection mold internal standard production has begun to take shape. The supply chain from material suppliers to equipment manufacturers, manufacturers, and end users is not very mature, but people have already seen optimistic prospects. It can be said that the labels in the injection mold occupy the three advantageous forms of “time, location, and people”.
