Package designers from more than 20 countries submitted their best package designs. 3 Belgium contestants got a prestigious price, one of them being Crea Printing in the category Body-Healthcare. The winners can look forward to a wide variety of international interest.

Sloan ‘Sport’

With an eye-catching packaging range for Sloan ‘Sport’ stretch bandages from Omega Pharma Crea Printing was awarded bronze. The black hip stretch bandages from Omega Pharma, available in the pharmacy, got a though flexible plastic packaging. A matching display adds some extra visibility in the sales point.

UV certificate

In order to provide for a new source of confidence concerning the UV technology the Berufsgenossenschaft, specialized in the areas of health care environmental protection and safety for employees in the printing & paper industry, developed a new trademark for trust and quality: the UV certificate. This certificate is available for all printers provided they have the correct chemicals handling procedures in the manufacturing plants. This can only be verified after a thourough on-site assessment and procedures analysis. The UV certificate is the result of consequent policy in the field of UV technology of RadTech Europe and the Berufsgenossenschaft after:

• the political Paper UV Protocol
• the European Project UVITECH- CRAFT
• the publication of “UV Technology, a practical guide for all printing processes”

This certificate will prove itself as a valuable instrument for convincing market parties and European Policy makers that UV/EB technology is safe and reliable.

CREA Printing Industries (Belgium), DELO Industrial Adhesives (Germany) and Karl Wörwag Lack-und Farbenfabrik GmbH & Co KG were awarded for their excellence in innovative utilisation of UV/EB technology in diverse markets.

RTE Awards for Innovation Competition

Open to all companies utilising UV/EB technology, the RTE Awards for Innovation Competition recognises and encourages innovative companies which manufacture products using radiation curing technology, while promoting the future development of UV/EB technology by highlighting its many benefits, including improved product quality, faster processing, extremely low VOC emissions, etc. Striving to incorporate the current best use of UV/EB technology, entries eligible for the 3d Competition were to have been manufactured between 1st January 2007 and the 20th of August 2007 using UV or EB curable inks, coatings or adhesives, and/or produced in any printing, manufacturing or construction application which used radiation curing technology. This year’s Competition attracted a wide range of entrants from the European and world-wide radiation curing community.

Following careful consideration of the entries received for each of the three Competition categories, the judges, respected experts from within the UV/EB community, issued the prestigious RTE Innovation Award to the three companies based on their findings:

Printing & Packaging’ category

In the ‘Printing & Packaging’ category, CREA Printing Industries (Belgium) was awarded for the development of its Presentation Box PP + 3D Lenticular.  CREA’s presentation box is biodegradable, makes multiple imageforming possible through 3D effects in one print run and is characterised by its functionality, duration of life and its solidity.

‘Industrial Coatings & Adhesives’ category

In the ‘Industrial Coatings & Adhesives’ category, DELO Industrial Adhesives was honoured for the development of its OLED Sealants (UV-curing Epoxies). The abbreviation stands for “organic light-emitting diode” and describes a component made of a self-lighting array of semiconducting layers, similar to a classical LED.  Three key advantages of DELO’s OLED Sealants are: it meets the highest requirements regarding water and oxygen permeability, it has a very good temperature, is humidity resistance and no further heatcuring is necessary because of the fast UV-curing.

‘Automotive & Specialty’ category

In the ‘Automotive & Specialty’ category, Karl Wörwag Lack-und Farbenfabrik GmbG & Co. KG. won the prize for its Thermoformable UV Clearcoat for exterior application in the automotive industry.

This innovative technology is awarded for its coating system performance which has a high chemical, scratch and physical resistance. Wörwag automotive coatings are used for the coatings of plastic car components mounted both on the outside and inside of a car.

RTE Conference

The Awards were announced on the 13th of November at the Plenary Session of the RTE Conference, where all three winners were presented with UV-printed certificates. The winning companies were also awarded free one-year RTE memberships and recognition in a variety of trade magazines, technical publications and via RTE media tools such as RadTech News magazine and RTE’s website, radtech-europe.com.

Tuned to suit an expanding group of entrants, the 2007 Competition added to the continuing success of RTE’s biennial Awards for Innovation Competition, which was launched in Berlin in November 2003.  The 4th Competition will be held during the RTE Conference in 2009. Additional information regarding the Competition can be found at RTE’s website, radtech-europe.com.

Package designers from more than 20 countries submitted their best package designs. 3 Belgium contestants got a prestigious price, one of them being Crea Printing in the category Body-Healthcare. The winners can look forward to a wide variety of international interest.

Sloan ‘Sport’

With an eye-catching packaging range for Sloan ‘Sport’ stretch bandages from Omega Pharma Crea Printing was awarded bronze. The black hip stretch bandages from Omega Pharma, available in the pharmacy, got a though flexible plastic packaging. A matching display adds some extra visibility in the sales point.