Khroma Labels: Technology, quality and service

As we address a market where image is everything, there are many production details that influence label quality.
Belinda Durán, manager of Khroma.

Understanding the need to meet strict requirements of specifications, safety, quality control, HD printing, presentation and control in the production of shrink sleeves and wrap around labels (WA), as Plastilene Group, we decided to create a specialized business unit (under Khroma brand) with state-of-the-art technology and the selection of the best film suppliers in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Today Khroma is perceived in the market as a triple A quality supplier because of:

• Status level
• The way in which it develops its products
• Offering 100% conformity guarantee on its products.

Thus, meeting customers’ requirements with the use and application of our labels on high speed machines, which improve and allow the highest productivity in their company´s sleeving and labeling machines. This experience has also allowed us to replicate the model in other business units of Plastilene Group.

Why shrink labels?

Khroma was born in 2009 from the Group’s interest in complementing the packaging business; that is, to the production of packaging we added the “dressing” of rigid containers (square, round, irregular, etc.). Something that is completely new for us.

Unlike the other business units, these films are not extruded by the Group, they are imported.
At Khroma, we convert the extruded film, which can be shrunk up to 75%.The heat-shrinkable labels manage to “decorate” a rigid container, covering it totally or partially, delivering besides the legal information, a design and sensory concept for the final consumer; therefore a customer can, with the same container, give a different personality to countless products changing only its “dress” and decorating it in a particular way.

Due printing quality, special developments in finishing and production control of these labels, we have had the opportunity to participate in various competitions. In 2012 we obtained our first prize associated with the use of Prinergy in a multi-montage, 8 different references printed simultaneously. We did this for our client Industrias Groza. Another prize was awarded to Agua Oasis from Postobón, with a double-sided printed label.

We are proud to have participated and obtained several awards with special emphasis on the high resolution and quality of the printed material, which also extends to the other business units, where we have also obtained awards in their respective categories.
We continue to grow and consolidate our position in this market by offering a capacity of 200 tons from Tocancipá (Colombia).

Customer requirements

At Khroma we acquire the TE films for labels considering the particular characteristics of the rigid container and the machinery in which it will be applied, that is to say, we sell Khroma’s customers the material tailored to their needs.
There is special software where there is a process of distortion of the design so that at the moment of shrink wrapping it remains in its original size.

The quality of these labels is given by the calculations on the percentage of shrinkage and the maximum and minimum dimensions of the container. Also, the prepress and printing technology must offer the possibility of working with distorted images at very high resolution.
The demand is high because packaging is usually for personal presentations, many of them for beverages that, in addition to being used very close to the consumer, must offer a high impact of the product as a whole and transmit guaranteed quality in the same way.

Sustainable development

Facilitating cycle closure

Over the years, we have expanded Khroma’s portfolio to include wrap around labels (transparent or white) and a film extruded by us (WAMDO) that can be recycled. This material is a substitute for BOPP, and can also be used for packaging requiring low shrinkage. Being a technically recyclable material, it can be recovered like industrial material, thus allowing brands to promote and communicate to the consumer that the label can be disposed of in the white bag of recyclable materials.

Eco-design in shrink labels

Shrink labels can now be offered in films that are 100% recyclable with the bottle or with films that use up to 30% recovered PET. However, it is important to consider costs and availability worldwide.
Progress in sustainability can only be achieved through the articulation of all the actors in the chain. It is not as simple as it may seem, it requires development, it can be costly and it depends a lot on culture, but Khroma is already underway.