Raflatac has released OptiCut Direct Thermal Linerless label materials to enable hospitality businesses and retailers to respond to the latest trends to improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact.
For quick-service restaurants in the hospitality sector, efficiency and order accuracy are key to business success. Due to the pandemic, consumers now have heightened expectations of the experience. This means that improving and securing order accuracy is more important than ever.
In the grocery and retail sectors, lengthening the service cycle of weighing scales is crucial to business success. Weighing scales enable consumers to help themselves during grocery or retail shopping, so ensuring these are not susceptible to unexpected breakdowns is essential.
As well, consumers, governments and the industry have increased expectations of companies’ environmental impacts. This means companies must take tangible actions to transition to more sustainable use of materials and reduce waste.
Efficiency, accuracy and minimum adhesive accumulation
OptiCut products are designed to improve process efficiency and order accuracy and perform in various conditions such as hot, humid and moist environments. They offer print clarity and low adhesive build-up in liner-free printers. Additionally, UPM Raflatac developed OptiCut to stick, peel, and re-label on different substrates, including many packaging types used in restaurants.
“We developed OptiCut to meet the needs of companies that use a variety of packaging types in a fast-paced hospitality environment, as well as weighing scales, commonly seen in supermarkets,” says Nasuf Culha, Area Sales Director, Oceania, UPM Raflatac. “We recognised the need for a linerless solution where the adhesive will not jam up the liner-free printer, and the label will perform in diverse environments.”
OEM-tested and compatible
OptiCut products offer many improvements over standard DT linerless labels. They increase efficiency because the material causes less adhesive build-up on the printer’s cutting knife. This reduces printer jams, improves printability, and extends the printer’s service cycle.
The performance of OptiCut has been tested with many OEM printers. For example, Epson has qualified OptiCut Linerless products on its liner-free compatible thermal label printer. Recently, the collaboration with OEM printers is pushed to a new level and to another end use. The system provider for industrial labelling Logopak has collaborated with UPM Raflatac to provide customers with the first robust linerless solution in print and apply labelling. This innovative solution increases the running length and capacity of the label rolls, saves costs and benefits the environment by reducing the CO₂ footprint in production and logistics.
“We have been determined to develop linerless labelling to new heights to drive both sustainability and efficiency. By joining forces with Logopak and other OEM printers we can accelerate these advancements and offer first-class solutions to our customers,” adds Nasuf Culha.
Credible sustainable impact
For anyone switching from linered DT labels, the sustainability impact is significant. Using linerless brings up to a 40% reduction in material usage compared to traditional DT labels, which means significant carbon reduction. Now companies using OptiCut materials can obtain reliable calculations verified by the Carbon Trust showing their reduction in carbon footprint compared to linered DT label alternatives.
Moreover, OptiCut materials carry the CarbonNeutral product certification by Climate Impact Partners. As Nasuf Culha explains: “We have measured and reduced our carbon impact and committed to UN Business Ambition to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Now, we have compensated for the Linerless range’s cradle-to-customer greenhouse gas emissions which we could not avoid until today through projects that reduce or avoid carbon emissions.
“Regardless of the size of your business, UPM Raflatac can support your transition to linerless. There is no comparison in our linerless capacity, which exceeds 100 million metres,” he concludes. “We support our customers through a global distribution network, enabling them to transition to DT linerless solutions smoothly and at their pace.”
Read more about UPM Raflatac OptiCut DT Linerless at Direct thermal linerless labels | UPM Raflatac or reach out to apac.marketing@upmraflatac.com for any inquiries.
Caption:
Raflatac Linerless OptiCut labels on take-away coffee cups
