Cat box graphics help sales purr along

Inmold labelling is gathering speed in applications beyond disposable packaging. Even kitty litter boxes are getting an upgrade—and, according to this firm, the perked-up design helped boost sales and enabled the product's penetration into new markets.

Label supplier Ornamin Dekorfolien GmbH (Ornamin; Minden, Germany) plans to show the litter box and a number of other non-packaging applications at this autumn's K 2010 tradeshow to illustrate how the labels and molding technology can help a molder react flexibly to customer demands without needing to hold a lot of stock of any design. 

Ornamin says the labels' new use on kitty litter boxes (see photo) has helped a client gain new markets worldwide and to obtain higher prices for its products. Although inmold labelling (IML) often has been disparaged as an inflexible process, in fact, argues Ornamin, these labels' use allow for a change of design during molding without concerns about losing a brand's identity. Of course, this assumes a new design can accommodate labels currently in use.

During the K show, the company also will display PET trashcans decorated with its IMLs. For this application a PET film was used for the label to ensure a chemical bonding of the label with the molding. Also important for the customer were a high resistance to physical strain and a high UV-resistance, so that the cans and their labels can survive years of use.

The label supplier also wants molders to see its IML solution for airline trays molded from ABS. These labels are either transparent or printed in one or more colors. Their non-skid surface withstands aggressive industrial dishwashing; one client confirmed that as per his tests the non-skid surface remained intact after more than 150 washing cycles—after the tray itself began to warp.

The company plans to exhibit a number of other durable goods applications as part of its K show presentation at Stand 7.1/D27. —[email protected]