Tamar Packaging Solutions Revolutionizes Folding Carton Market with In-line Flexo Technology

Tamar Packaging Solutions Gave a New Approach to the Folding Carton Market

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Tamar Packaging Solutions, a privately owned UK-based company, has introduced a new approach to folding cartons. The company, located in the wonderful Tamar Valley in southwest England, has carved out a progressive niche with the help of Edale in-line flexo technology. The company is known for its specialization in direct food contact carton board products for the FMCG market, including folded/glued cartons, sleeves, printed U-cards, tray inserts, and base cards, primarily for the bakery sector.

Tamar Packagings current procurement includes the Edale FL5, in addition to in-line flatbed die-cutting/creasing. The new FL5 has a vast web width of 530mm and holds a capacity to deal with thicker board materials of over 700 microns. Technical operations manager, Paul Baker, explained, “One issue we had with rotary tooling was receiving the highest amount of crease.”

The finding a niche operation projects excellent for the folding carton market. The market is dominated by a popular, consolidated group of people who consider multi-stage finishing and sheet-fed offset technology. Tamar Packaging Solutions has been working to determine how the in-line flexo may compete.

Baker said, “Its a learning thing for us. Previously, we were defining everything in a quote format. We then realized that if this is so, then we couldnt compete on the larger blank sizes to perform best against the litho guys. We are left with only two to three blanks on one repeat. But if you focus on the positive side, where the format sizes are suitably fit and where we can print, then we can regain the edge. It took a long way to reach there.”

He further added, “Working with customer prediction, we can send forward the intended raw materials 3 to 4 months ahead, while normally managing to deal with 1-2 weeks of finished stock. This helped me adapt faster to changes in need or demand for promotional designs without delaying work by waiting for a large number of old designs to be used up. With our vast number of customers, they place forward orders that we take to print when it makes ideal sense for us. After that, we keep the stock ready so that they can claim at 48 hours notice. We work in a kind of similar way with our board suppliers as well, so we could claim involving mixed loads.”