The family-owned company is now offering its customers a new range of water-based printing inks for flexible plastic and aluminium packaging, paper or cardboard packaging, napkins, table decorations and hygiene products.
“We work tirelessly to constantly develop our products and make them even better – especially with regard to their sustainability. So we are very pleased to be able to offer our customers new water-based gravure and flexographic printing inks for a broad spectrum of uses,” says Roland Geiselhart, Director of the Print + Packaging Business Unit at Follmann.
Follmann’s new product range, which it originally intended to present at this year’s drupa, comprises optimised pigment concentrates that are universally suitable as basic components for a very wide range of applications. Coloured concentrates and system blends create a ready-toprint ink which can be customised to the intended field of application and printing conditions. The combination of specially produced binders with raw materials that are available on the market has led to a new level of product quality. Potential print speed is an ever-present critical issue in flexible packaging. “However, optimised machine parameters combined with our latest ink qualities can now enable production speeds which in almost all cases equal the usual or expected printing speed,” explains Roland Geiselhart.
Ready-to-print white grades are also available for flexible packaging, both for surface printing as well as lamination. Follmann also offers other specialities such as a solvent-free primer for aluminium applications that can be overprinted with either water-based or solvent-based Page 2 of 3 printing inks. The benefit of the primer is in being able to avoid solvents in the product and any emission during processing, even if solvent-based inks are used for further printing. Another new addition to our portfolio is a VOC-free white for shrink-sleeve applications, which can also be used in combination with water-based, solvent-based and UV curing inks. Follmann has also expanded and optimised its product range to include water-based printing inks for printing on paper and cardboard. This opens up a wide range of applications, such as printing bakery bags, gift wrapping paper or corrugated board using direct and preprint methods. Other paper-based products such as napkins, table decoration products and hygiene products can also be printed using inks from this new range. Naturally, they fully meet all current regulatory requirements.
Sustainable, toxin-free and cost-efficient
Follmann printing inks guarantee high colour quality and brilliance. Even so, they are much more environmentally friendly than conventional solvent-based ink ranges, as they are created without using VOCs. This means they contribute to reducing CO2 emissions. The user also no longer has to take explosion protection measures, obligatory when using solvent-based systems, as transporting water-based ink systems does not pose any risk of fire or explosion. Furthermore, the user is not exposed to solvent emissions on site. Eliminating solvent emissions means added value in terms of occupational health and safety at the workplace. It also means a drastic reduction in total costs, as there is no need for thermal exhaust air purification (afterburning) when processing water-based printing inks. No additional solvents are required to dilute and permanently adjust the required printing viscosity as this is done using water. As a member of the European Printing Ink Association (EuPiA), Follmann is bound by its policy of excluding hazardous products and therefore commits itself beyond minimum legal requirements to protect health and to the safe use of printing inks and printed products.
“Along with social responsibility, environmental protection and a resource-conserving production the responsible use of energy has the highest priority for us. This means that complying with high standards and continuously further developing our products in favour of sustainability is simply what we do as a matter of course”, says Dr. Joerg Seubert, Managing Director at Follmann. “We are well on track with this, as proved by our latest EcoVadis certification at the end of 2019. We achieved Gold status in the overall assessment, placing us among the top 10% of the companies assessed by EcoVadis in our industry.”
