Shrink Sleeve Application - Everything You Need to Know

You&#;ve likely witnessed the explosion of shrink sleeve packaging on the marketplace in the last decade. From craft beer cans to tamper-evident pharmaceuticals to personal care products, shrink sleeve packaging is hot &#; and all indicators point to continued growth.

If you&#;re interested in expanding your services to include shrink sleeve application or would like to incorporate shrink sleeve labels into your existing production lines, we&#;ll cover everything you need to know. Learn about the benefits of shrink sleeve packaging, types of shrink sleeves, how the application process works, and what machinery you&#;ll need.

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Benefits of Shrink Sleeve Packaging

According to Flexible Packaging, &#;the heat shrink sleeve format in North America is clipping along at a seven percent growth rate, as it branches beyond food and beverage, nutraceuticals and household chemicals, and makes inroads into new categories like health and beauty.&#; Here are a few of the reasons why.

Branding &#; Shrink sleeves offer full-color images that completely wrap around the container, providing more real estate for messaging. Companies can deliver their products in unique shaped containers to stand out from the competition. Colors and shape matter &#; they have a major influence on consumer behavior.

Flexibility &#; Companies can save money by purchasing &#;blank&#; bottles or cans and applying shrink sleeves for short runs like promotions, seasonal offerings or new products. By stocking rolls of shrink sleeves, they can respond more quickly to market shifts, reducing waste when a product isn&#;t selling.

Tamper Evident &#; By adding a tamper-evident band on the outside of the cap or container, consumers don&#;t have to open the package to confirm the contents are safe prior to purchase. Food and drug safety is a high priority for consumers today.

Durability &#; Shrink sleeve labels are reverse printed, sealing the inks safely behind a clear film. The graphics won&#;t be scuffed or torn during transport with their tight shrinkage to the container.

Sustainability &#; Shrink sleeves can be removed for recycling. The sleeves also provide support to the container, allowing processors to reduce the weight of the container itself. Plus, engineers have been creating thinner sleeves to reduce the amount of plastic and new biodegradable films are now coming on the market.

Shrink sleeves give beverage manufacturers the option of creating smaller run specialty packaging.

Types of Shrink Sleeves

Depending on your project, there are several types of shrink sleeves.

Standard Shrink Sleeve &#; A portion or most of the container is covered but the sleeve doesn&#;t cover the neck and cap/lid.

Full-body shrink sleeves are great for preventing contamination and providing a tamper evident seal.

Full-Body Shrink Sleeve &#; The entire container is covered with the sleeve from top to bottom, creating 360-degree coverage. The portion of the sleeve covering the cap or lid acts as a tamper-evident seal and can be perforated for easier removal.

Shrink bands provide a safety seal so that consumers know that their product has been untouched.

Shrink Bands &#; Often used as a tamper evident band or safety seal, shrink bands are small strips of film that are shrunk around the container&#;s cap. They can be clear, colored, or custom printed with a design like a logo or symbol.

Combination packages are commonly used to contain and deliver beverages in bulk quantities.

Combination Packaging &#; Combines multiple containers together to offer as one product unit.

Shrink Sleeve Conversion Process

Before we get into the application process, let&#;s talk about shrink sleeve conversion. For an in-depth look at the conversion process, check out our last blog Everything You Need to Know About Shrink Sleeve Conversion. Here&#;s a brief summary of the steps (and shrink sleeve machines) involved in the printing, seaming, inspection, and cutting processes.

Printing Shrink Sleeves &#; Flexography, gravure, offset or digital printing processes all work for printing shrink sleeves. Printers can use solvent, water-based, UV or digital inks.

Seaming the Sleeves &#; Once printed, the seaming machine applies a solvent to one edge of the roll. The seam is where the edges of the shrink material are glued together to make sleeves. There are several machines available depending on your needs. Karlville offers seven types of seaming machines ranging from entry-level to high production

Inspecting the Sleeves &#; After seaming, you can use an inspection machine to analyze the sleeving construction and search for imperfections. After detecting defective material, it can also doctor issues before shipping. Karlville&#;s three seaming inspection machines come standard with ACCUWEB EPC systems on the Rewind, oscillation on Rewind tied to EPC, automatic tension control via load cells on Unwind & Rewind as well as additional taper tension control module via PLC.

Cutting the Sleeves &#; If you plan to use an automatic applicator machine, cutting the sleeves isn&#;t necessary. However, a cutting machine can cut the rolls into individual pieces, if your customer would like to apply them manually. Karlville&#;s C1 series, for example, allows converters to offer end users cut sleeves for manual sleeve application.

Shrink Sleeve Application Process

Once the shrink sleeves have been produced, you have two options for applying them to your product &#; using an automatic machine or manually placing them over the product. Naturally, the option you choose will depend on the size of your production and whether it&#;s a prototype.

Automatic Shrink Sleeve Applicators

The Karlville Automatic Shrink Sleeve Applicator SLEEVEPRO line applies shrink sleeves on most container shapes, materials (glass, plastic, metal), conditions (filled or empty) at speeds that range from 50 to 800 bpm. You can configure each model to apply full body shrink sleeves, partial labels or combined shrink sleeve labels. There are five models to accommodate small to large volume.

Karlville&#;s SP800 fits large speed applications. It processes about 800 containers per minute.

Automatic Tamper Evident Applicators

If you want to offer your customers a tamper-evident cap, Karlville&#;s Tamper Evident Line is the most reliable application in the market. The tamper-evident line can be used as an integrated system on your existing label application or as a stand-alone system. This line includes the COMBITEC, which includes both the tamper applicator and an infrared electric tunnel. It&#;s a servo motorized machine that&#;s compact with an easy and accurate set-up.

Heat Shrink Tunnels

Shrink tunnels are the final critical element of the shrink sleeve process. After passing through the heat tunnel, the sleeve will shrink and affix to the container for a tight seal. Each kind of tunnel is suited for certain applications and materials. Karlville offers the widest range of shrink sleeve tunnels found on the market today.

Steam Tunnels

For full body, high-quality applications with distortion-free graphics, steam tunnels are best. Steam is also good for pressurized containers or products with high flammability. Karlville steam tunnels offer a 360-degree uniform shrink. Machine nozzles and steam pressure can be adjusted to meet container size and shape. They&#;re ideal for after-fill application.

Electric Shrink Tunnels

Karlville also offers a complete line of high-quality electric shrink tunnels for different applications. Our four main lines offer different benefits to adjust to our customer&#;s needs: HEATPRO (ideal for pre-heating section), TORNADO (sophisticated technology offering 360-degree uniform shrink), TAMPERHEAT (ideal for tamper applications), and RADIANTEC (ideal for pre-heating section in full line of conical and empty containers).

Prototypes

The Steambox is Karlville&#;s prototype for sample making. It&#;s the first complete shrinking system that fits in a portable case. This prototype can help you evaluate new material and print distortion, make small productions to test your material and improve reactivity. The Steambox is designed to ensure the feasibility of shrink-sleeve projects by simulating the shrinkage process of full-size steam tunnels.

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If your company wants to get into the shrink sleeve market, contact Karlville for more information on getting started. Hopefully, this article has given you a sense of what shrink sleeve application involves and how you might explore the options.

When you want to brand your product from top to bottom, shrink sleeve labels give you a way to create 360-degree coverage for your products. Shrink sleeves have grown in popularity over the past few decades after making an initial splash when Tylenol used them to combine attractive labeling with tamper-evident sealing.

Are you interested in learning more about pet shrink sleeves? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

Shrink sleeves are now growing in popularity for cans, bottles, and other containers, but there are still many people in need of quality product packaging who don&#;t know how these labels work. Here&#;s a quick breakdown of what a shrink sleeve label is and what makes it different from other labeling solutions.

What is a Shrink Sleeve?

Shrink sleeve labels are full-color, 360-degree printed labels that utilize heat in the application process to conform the label to the shape of the container. The labels are typically printed on either plastic or polyester film material and are commonly used on aluminum cans and glass or plastic bottles.

Looking for Custom Shrink Sleeves?

Custom shrink sleeve labels allow you to add a &#;second skin&#; to your containers. When the film sleeve is placed around your container and heat is applied, it conforms to the shape of the container to create a look like it&#;s truly part of your product.

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Benefits of Shrink Sleeves

One of the greatest advantages of using shrink sleeves is that it allows you a 150 percent increase in label real estate compared to pressure sensitive labels. This additional space can be used to help tell your brand story, add more imagery, or make room for all of the regulatory information that needs to go on your label.

Beyond branding, shrink sleeves can function as more than just a label. Like in the Tylenol example, shrink sleeves can double as tamper-evident sealing to give your products the extra security they need with a perforated shrink cap. Shrink sleeves can also be used to package multiple items together for the purpose of offering it as one product. Because shrink sleeves are form-fitting, you can package different sized and shaped containers, like free samples or two-for-one deals, together easily.

Another benefit of using shrink sleeves is that they are very made of very durable materials. This makes them an excellent labeling option for products like hair care products and beer that are often in humid or moisture-heavy environments like showers and refrigerators.

How Do Shrink Sleeves Work?

Like regular labels, shrink sleeves give you a means to add branding and product information on a container. The process of applying a shrink sleeve involves shrinking a film sleeve with steam or heat so that it conforms to the shape of your container instead of laying on the surface with an adhesive. However, before you can apply the shrink sleeve there are a few different steps that have to happen.

Creating the sleeve

As the name suggests, one of the key differences between shrink sleeves and pressure sensitive labels (i.e. sticker-like labels) is that they come in &#;sleeves.&#; Like pressure-sensitive labels, shrink sleeves can be printed on flexographic or digital printing presses. Unlike traditional labels, the ink is printed on the inside of the sleeve instead of on top of the label material. This allows the film to naturally protect the ink as it adheres to the container.

Once the sheets are printed, they need to be converted into sleeves. Some print shops, like Blue Label, do this step in-house to limit the number of times people handle these delicate products before they are applied. Other printers may need to send the sheets to shrink sleeve converters, which results in more opportunities for someone to mishandle the shrink sleeves, obstruct the ink, or cause some form of damage to these labels.

Regardless of who completes the process, the converter will seam the ends of the sheets together to leave openings at the top and bottom of the newly created sleeve. This is done by taking the ends of the film and sealing them together with a specific type of glue to create a loose cylinder. These seams are then inspected to ensure that the sleeves won&#;t break open as they&#;re applied. Once done, the film is inspected and shipped as either rolls or individual sheets depending on your application needs.

Adjusting the design to the sleeve

One of the big draws of shrink sleeves is that it conforms to the shape of your container: every angle, curve, or unique shape. However, this also means that your label design needs to be properly prepared to conform to this shape as well.

Due to the shrinking process, your label design will warp as the sleeve is heated and conforms to your container. Similar to how you need to adjust your design for tapered pressure-sensitive labels, you&#;ll need to pre-distort your design based on the shape of your container. As such, you&#;ll want to work with a label designer and label printer who can pre-distort designs for custom container shapes before your sleeves are printed.

Applying the sleeve

Once your sleeves are ready, it&#;s time to apply them to your containers. In addition to printers &#; and sometimes converters &#; you may also require an applicator if you don&#;t have the right equipment in house. Either way, the sleeves are slipped over your containers and sent through a heat or steam tunnel, where the intense heat will shrink the film around the container.

It&#;s important to note that since the film is made to react when exposed to heat, it&#;s vital that they don&#;t get too hot or cold before they&#;re applied to your containers. Excess temperature in either direction can cause pre-shrinkage or affect the ink on the labels, which can impact the quality of the label and even render them unusable. As such, proper storage and shipping is a must, especially since you may require multiple locations to create and apply shrink sleeves.

How Do I Work with a Shrink Sleeve Label Company?

Ready to cover your containers with quality shrink sleeves? First, you&#;ll need a good designer if you don&#;t have one already. Check out our designer directory to find a professional that can help you achieve the perfect look for your products.

Once your design is ready, you&#;ll need to find the right shrink sleeve label company. At Blue Label, we have the experts and equipment to guide you through the shrink sleeve printing and converting process. Our hands-on team will work with you to identify opportunities, such as testing barcodes that may be skewed from the shrinking process. We can then carefully ship your shrink sleeves to your applicator of choice to help you get your products to market.

Contact Blue Label today to talk to one of our experts about investing in shrink sleeves for your products.

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