An innovation matched to its time: at the interpack, Krones is premiering a new type of labeller, called the Sleevematic ES, designed for handling stretch-sleeve films. These allow an extremely high stretch rate on beverage containers of up to 55 per cent. Based on LDPE (low-density polyethylene), these films constitute an attractive alternative to sleeves made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride). The recyclable LDPE films are a far eco-friendlier product. And with their inherent characteristics, they give those responsible for the product concerned an excellent marketing tool permitting superlative dress options. Thanks to its high stretching capability, this new kind of sleeve is smaller, and consequently requires less material.
Since these innovative stretch-sleeves are more than twice as elastic as conventional stretch-sleeves, they are particularly well suited for customised containers featuring very prominent contours. They require neither a shrink tunnel nor a container drier, with concomitant savings in energy consumption. In other words, they look like shrink-sleeves, but manage without any energy-intensive shrink-on process.
Two rating variants
With two machine variants, each with a different rating, Krones has come up with a rapid response to the beverage industry’s demands for eco-friendlier and nonetheless more affordable sleeving films: the Sleevematic ES single-carousel variant, rated at a maximum of 27,500 containers an hour, and its twin-carousel counterpart, rated at a maximum of 55,000 containers an hour. The newly developed Sleevematic ES is ideally suited to a time of increased demand for eco-friendly, sustainable, but also attention-grabbing and affordable dress options for beverage containers.
