Sealing the market Avery Dennison

SEALING THE MARKET

US-based Avery Dennison Corporation is a global manufacturer and distributor of pressure-sensitive adhesive materials, apparel branding labels and tags, RFID inlays, and specialty medical products. Not surprisingly, sustainability is one of the key topics in line with current market trends, and the company has strived to lead the way in introducing environmentally friendly products. Romana Moares reports.

Avery Dennison is a worldwide leader in adhesive technologies, display graphics and packaging materials used to engage customers and manage inventories. The company’s products, which are used in nearly every major industry, include pressure-sensitive materials for labels and graphic applications; tapes and other bonding solutions for industrial, medical and retail applications; tags, labels and embellishments for apparel; and radio-frequency identification (RFID) solutions serving retail apparel and other markets.

Headquartered in Glendale, California, the company employs approximately 30,000 people in more than 50 countries. Reported sales in 2018 were USD 7.2 billion.

Towards a cleaner future

As a forerunner in its sector, the company has assumed a leading role in making sure its operations as well as solutions meet the environmental challenge. In 2015, Avery Dennison announced eight sustainability goals for 2025 and four years later, the company is building momentum towards them all and driving change, both internally, and in its industry and communities.

“We have set our sights on achieving our 2025 sustainability goals and are implementing action plans that will make those goals a reality. Through sustainability, Avery Dennison has the opportunity to unlock a new level of leadership for our industry, and value for our enterprise,” says Mitch Butler, President and CEO of Avery Dennison.

Just recently, the company’s progressive stance has been recognised at the international level. In September 2019, Avery Dennison won the Environmental and Sustainability Award for its recycled PET (rPET) liner at the 2019 Label Industry Global Awards ceremony held in Brussels, Belgium. This is the second consecutive year Avery Dennison has been recognised with this prestigious award for its advances in sustainable labelling products and services.

Real-world sustainability solutions

“Avery Dennison is honoured to be recognised for this advance in sustainable label materials,” said Jeroen Diderich, vice president and general manager for Label and Graphic Materials EMEA. The liner, which uses 30 per cent PET post-consumer waste (PCW), meets technical qualifications while maintaining quality and performance for label design, printing, and application. The post-consumer waste liner portfolio is the latest in a broad range of sustainable labelling solutions aimed at reducing waste, not only throughout the company’s operations, but across the entire label and packaging materials value chain.

Mr Diderich explained that the company is focused on creating real-world sustainability solutions, which includes ‘closing the loop’ by using post-consumer waste to create new products. The rPET portfolio offers four constructions, including one that uses ‘switchable’ CleanFlake™ Adhesive Technology, designed to enable label materials to separate cleanly from the PET bottle during the recycling process. This ultimately helps avoid contamination in the recycling process to ensure the PET can be converted into usable material.

“We’re integrating our sustainability goals within all our operations and engaging employees at all levels,” affirmed Mr Butler. “Across the company, we’re harnessing our core strengths, applying to sustainability the same creativity, determination and passion for

Ahlstrom-Munksjö. Sustainable release liners.

Fibers are one of the wonders of nature, and expanding their role by developing sustainable everyday products is the mission driving the growth of Ahlstrom-Munksjö, a global leader in fiber-based materials, supplying innovative and sustainable solutions to customers worldwide.

In the release liner business, the company aims at strengthening long term relationships, delivering customer value through product, service, innovation and sustainability. With diverse technologies, Ahlstrom-Munksjö offers the most comprehensive range of paper substrates, matching the needs of all liner segments, from PSA labeling to specialty tapes, medical or PSA graphics. “Our customers need liners that run perfectly on highest speed coaters and which can be trusted in the most demanding applications. For this reason, we work closely with them, and we continuously invest in asset upgrades that will advance product quality levels”, says Marco Troglia, Vice President, Release Liners.

Multiple manufacturing sites in Europe and the Americas also put the company in a better position to further lift service levels. Moreover, growing bigger means a broader array of competences and R&D capabilities, with new opportunities of cross-fertilization between businesses or geographies. Sustainability is always a key driver: an expanded eco-design methodology is imbedded in the innovation process, and all product development projects are assessed to determine if and how they will provide a more sustainable solution than the existing ones. For three consecutive years, AhlstromMunksjö was awarded with the Gold rating from Ecovadis, a platform designed to evaluate supplier CSR performance in global supply chains. Ecovadis methodology, already adopted by thousand of companies, placed Ahlstrom-Munksjö among the top 1% most sustainable companies assessed.

problem-solving that we bring to our customers. And, beyond our walls, we’re tackling industry-wide challenges by collaborating with customers and partners to develop new systems and solutions.”

Recognising suppliers’ efforts

To achieve its own sustainability goals while also reducing the environmental impact of the supply chains the company encourages its suppliers to align their operations with the company’s environmental goals, standards and guiding principles. The company has programmes in place to identify suppliers that go above and beyond to improve the supply chain; and works with those in need of improving their operations and the environmental impact of the supply chain overall.

In April 2019, Avery Dennison Label and Graphic Materials honoured 18 pressure-sensitive industry suppliers during the company’s annual supplier recognition ceremony, held in Noordwijk, Netherlands. The Avery Dennison Supplier Distinction Award Programme considers four areas of excellence required to maintain a competitive advantage in an increasingly demanding industry: Sustainability, Quality, Service, and Growth. To be considered eligible for recognition, a supplier must have met key metrics in each of the four areas. Three suppliers were also honoured with a ‘Special Recognition’ designation for helping the company ensure uninterrupted service to its customers.

The 2019 Avery Dennison Supplier Distinction Award Winners were: Ahlstrom-Munksjö; Mondi Release Liners; Pallet Alliance Inc.; Eternal Materials Co Ltd; Randstad; Filmax; Ricoh Co. Ltd.; Heritage Interactive Services; Sappi; Manucor; Synthomer; Mexichem; Wacker; Mondi Technical Film; Wampolet.

“The Avery Dennison Supplier Distinction Award Programme is our opportunity to celebrate suppliers from around the world that meet or exceed our standards for customer satisfaction and performance,” said Garrett Gabel, Vice President, Global Finance and Procurement, Label and Graphic Materials. “Thanks to their dedication to the values highlighted in this programme, we are able to continue to collaborate, innovate, and ultimately grow with our customers.” n