Courtesy of Bobst Mex SA
Printing Machine Suppliers Unfazed by Plain Packaging Drive
One of Komori-Chambon’s best-selling printing machines, the GRS 830 Mark I, a servo-driven gravure press dedicated to the production of tobacco packaging. Several such lines are currently installed in Asia.
The introduction of plain cigarette packaging in a number of countries has affected many tobacco industry players and suppliers to a smaller or larger extent. But how about the manufacturers of printing machinery? Tobacco Asia talked to two of the leading companies.
By Thomas Schmid
Much hype has lately swept through the tobacco industry and its myriad suppliers regarding the implementation of plain cigarette packaging laws which – so it seems – is happening in more and more countries in a sort of domino effect.
The latest nations to have put their respective legislations into effect were France in January and the United Kingdom in May this year (also see our correction box on that on page 50). And with more countries cueing up, plain packaging is probably bound to become a rather common phenomenon around the world soon.
For example, New Zealand and Norway plan an implementation by June and July 2018, respectively, while Ireland is expected to follow suit in October of the same year. Tiny Slovenia is slated to join the merry band sometime in 2020; and although the Black Sea country of Georgia has already passed its own law in May last year, the government has yet to announce when exactly it intends to enact it. A slew of further countries are currently deliberating whether to adopt similar legislations or not.
Who is affected – and who isn’t?
Multinational tobacco companies certainly had to adapt their strategies in countries where plain packaging was launched. Although there was plenty of forewarning, it can nevertheless be safely assumed that they were left with substantial, now suddenly deemed “law-breaking” stocks that had to be either destroyed or re-packaged to comply with the new rules. But the changes may have hit smaller cigarette manufacturers, who rely on exporting their less well-known brands to places that have transformed into “plain packaging countries”, considerably harder. To them, stock that could no longer be shipped to those territories meant a potentially heavy financial loss.
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Yet printing companies supplying both the multinationals and smaller cigarette manufacturers alike were perhaps the biggest losers. Their packaging stocks – pre-produced at great quantities to ensure continuous supply – were now entirely useless and had to be discarded. But how did the manufacturers of actual printing presses fare in the face of all this mayhem and upheaval? Didn’t already installed printing lines have to undergo considerable adjustments? Were special spare parts or components needed to hone machinery for the dawning of the “plain packaging age”? Were customers experiencing technical problems?
Courtesy of Bobst Mex SA
Printing Machine Suppliers Unfazed by Plain Packaging Drive
Bobst’s Lemanic Delta
Bobst: Few Adaptations Necessary
Based in Lausanne/Switzerland and established in 1890, Bobst Mex SA is today one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of sophisticated printing presses to the tobacco industry. Confronted with the topic, Alfred Ulli, the company’s marketing and sales director for web-fed solutions, related that with regards to printing capacity Bobst’s machinery didn’t register any substantial problems from printing company customers “because most of them [already] have the necessary equipment at hand to comply with plain packaging requirements.” However, he conceded that “small adaptations may be necessary, such as the installation of additional ESA units.”
On the converting side, adaptations may also be required, but primarily due to economic considerations. Although plain packaging basically has the same unified form and shape for all brands across the market, companies still may need to look at how to optimize their overall production cost to adjust to the new situation, he said, adding that “according to lot sizes and overall yearly production run, a converter may have to consider changing to a more economical model by using rotary die-cutting.”
Courtesy of Bobst Mex SA
Printing Machine Suppliers Unfazed by Plain Packaging Drive
Alfred Ulli, marketing and sales director, web fed solutions at Bobst Mex SA
Anticipating changes = smooth operation
Still, Ulli made it clear that only a small number of Bobst customers have been affected by the above issues, because “plain packaging has not yet been introduced on a large scale [around the world].”
But he also admitted that “only in the very beginning, when plain packaging was introduced in Australia [in December of 2012], we experienced some difficulties due to unclear specifications and the time frame given for its introduction.”
“Some areas” were more affected than others, he said without going into specifics. But when anticipating changes, there usually are no issues with availability of Bobst technicians or equipment. “If a customer needs urgent assistance due to unforeseen circumstances or lack of preparation, technical personnel can be swiftly dispatched utilizing Bobst’s worldwide service network,” Ulli concluded.
Komori-Chambon: French-Japanese Quality Machinery
Another leading company, Komori-Chambon SAS in Orléans, France, is the result of Japan’s Komori Corporation taking over French printing machinery manufacturer Machines Chambon in 1989.
To honor the long history of Machines Chambon, which was established in 1897, “Komori decided to keep the famous Chambon name alive by incorporating it into the new company name, Komori-Chambon,” according to area sales manager, Frederick Tucker.
He pretty much echoed what Bobst’s Ulli had explained, namely that issues revolving around the introduction of plain packaging have not subjected Komori-Chambon to unsurmountable difficulties. Tucker nevertheless readily pointed out some problems printing companies or tobacco firms running their own packaging printing units may encounter, although he also said that all of these were rather easy to tackle.
For example, to accommodate the new design of plain packaging, gravure cylinders could be simply exchanged for compliant ones. Where the box shape must be adjusted to the required plain packaging dimensions, new creasing or cutting tools would accomplish the trick. And where color hues are concerned, new ink sets were readily available.
Few concerns and worries
The only marginal impact that Komori-Chambon had to attend to was in cases where customers were insufficiently equipped. “For customers who have a limited number of printing units in operation, we supplied additional units for health warnings,” Tucker disclosed. Additionally, the fact that Komori-Chambon’s ranges of modern printing machinery are highly evolved and feature a variety of functionalities apparently posed some application issues on the customer side. “Those among our customers who have very elaborate machines installed have seen many functions now becoming idle, for instance hot foil stamping, tactile varnishing, embossing, debossing, and similar [as they have all largely become obsolete under plain packaging regulations],” he remarked, adding, “But of course they still can run them for markets where no plain packaging is enforced yet.”
Surprising observations
However, Tucker did identify a quite surprising area where his company – and by extension other leading manufacturers – might potentially have to deal with some negative fallout from the introduction of plain packaging in a slowly but steadily increasing number of countries. “The [simpler] plain packaging shape and printed elements open the door [to the tobacco industry] for every supplier with less complicated [printing] tools, which could result in much fiercer competition for the established suppliers,” he speculated.
Meanwhile, Bobst’s Ulli highlighted a completely different aspect concerning the less sophisticated print design of plain packaging, now devoid of metallic, holographic, fluorescent, embossed, debossed and what not elements and coupled with the fact that it can be easily produced using less complicated machinery. “Due to the relatively simple and repetitive art work on plain packaging, access is given to many printers and converters and it also opens the door wide to counterfeiters,” he cautioned.
And talking about future market growth opportunities for suppliers of highly advance printing machinery like Bobst, Komori-Chambon and others, he pointed in a rather surprising direction: “Plain packaging is not much influencing a press manufacturer. But the introduction of heat-not-burn products has a much greater impact both on the packaging industry and printing press companies.” Food for thought.