Corey Reardon

The label market is in good shape. Although the recent recession has affected every segment of package printing, the label industry is still well positioned for the medium to the long term, according to Corey Reardon, president and CEO of AWA. "Unfortunately in the short term, the impact has been negative with plenty of casualties in job losses and business performance, even company and plant closures," he says.

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands—According to AWA Alexander Watson Associates, linerless labeling is experiencing a revival of interest in the light of the packaging industry’s focus on sustainability and reduced costs.

At a conference on release liners held last year, Corey Reardon, CEO of industry consultant AWA Alexander Watson Associates (www.awa-bv.com), commented, “We must not forget that the release liner industry is a producer of waste material after a self-adhesive application is completed. As it positions itself for the future, this becomes more and more of a critical issue.”

What goes up, must come down—so the saying goes. This could be used to describe the business climate during 2008 in any number of ways. In one way, both the going up and the coming down had significant negative effects.

Times are tough; there’s no doubt about it. Costs are rising, competition is fierce, and the economy is in a tail spin (or nose dive, depending on your perspective) but heading down just the same. “This was a difficult year for the [tag and label] business due not only to macro economic issues including high energy costs and continuing high raw material inflation, but also because of growing competition to labels and tags in the packaging industry itself,” notes Corey Reardon, president and CEO of AWA Alexander Watson Associates. The rising costs of materials—across the board—are at the top of most printers’ lists of

Innovation and embracing change is the name of the game when it comes to release liners; at least that was the word at the Global Release Liner Industry Conference in Chicago, March 28-30, organized by AWA Conferences and Events. At the conference, Todd Schweigert, director of marketing for Loparex, explained how films are driving release liner opportunities—growing at 5-6 percent annually. He also discussed which films represent the “right substrates” for liners in labelstock, composite, industrial, tape, graphic arts, medical, and hygiene markets; choosing coatings; and features of silicone adhesives. Derrick MacDonald, director of films product management for Avery Dennison Fasson Roll North America