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AB InBev teams with Core Linerless Solutions® and ILTI for its environmental-friendly turnaround.

South African Breweries in Johannesburg successfully introduces linerless labels for its product packaging.

 

 

 

Johannesburg, 22 November 2019. SAB pioneers the switch to linerless labels on its Flying Fish flavored beer.

 

ILTI’s special linerless labelling heads have been installed in SAB’s production line to apply a linerless back-label as the opening trial for a wider, groundbreaking plan.  

The new Core Linerless Solutions® labels eliminate release liner and considerably cut down on waste as an efficient alternative to traditional self-adhesive labels. Indeed, the upgrade will help reduce the Group’s impact on the environment by 57 tonnes/yr.

The project kicked-off in 2017 and after a pilot phase in the fourth quarter of 2018, full-scale production begun in April 2019. Now, after an outstanding production trial, a final trade test period has been completed, and bottles with Core Linerless Solutions® labels have been successfully sold through retailers.

The innovative and patented ILTI labelling heads are currently applying up to 36,000 labels per hour and, thanks to a higher number of labels per reel, replenishments have been cut down and so the disruptions to the production process.

Next on the schedule, front labels will be converted to linerless within next year, and in the upcoming months ILTI will release new labelling heads to reach a speed of over 60.000 bottles per hour.

 

“Innovation with societal benefits is at the heart of much that we do at SAB and our global parent company, AB InBev. We are conscious that we have an impact on the environment and that there is an obligation on our part to reduce this for the sustainability of society and for the business as the two are integrally linked.”

AB InBev press release 22 Nov. 2019

 

“Our consumers can be assured that when they enjoy our products there will be less waste and less impact on their surrounds,” says Alexander Talbot, ZITEC Director, SAB.”

AB InBev press release 22 Nov. 2019

 

ILTI’s linerless labelling heads, as well as linerless labels developed in partnership with Ritrama, are part of the broader Core Linerless Solutions® project, a turnkey solution that encompasses and re-designs the entire labelling process from printers to end-users. With the support of AB InBev Group, the project is now set to hit the ground running on a global scale, and we can’t wait to be part of its next steps.

 

Read the full press release here.

Learn more about ILTI linerless labelling heads and Core Linerless Solutions®.