Thermal transfer printing can be used to print labels that are applied to the secondary packaging such as boxes, trays and products that have been shrink wrapped together. These labels help identify what and how many items are contained in the packaging.
There are huge opportunities to supply thermal transfer ribbons for applications where labels are used to supply the packing information for secondary packaging used for shipping and logistics such as boxes, trays and products that have been shrink wrapped together. These printed labels help identify what and how many items are contained within this secondary packaging. These labels are often referred to as the traded unit labels. These opportunities are not always obvious as the products themselves that are being packed may not need any thermal transfer printing.
A good example is cans of shaving foam. Even though you cannot use a thermal transfer ribbon to print a code directly on a can, each box of shaving foam will need a traded unit label printed with a barcode that identifies what is inside the box. A well-known UK shaving foam manufacturer packs 6 cans in a plain box and applies more than 35,000,000 traded unit labels printed with thermal transfer ribbons. This area of secondary packaging will include huge amounts of applications and the labels would mainly be printed by automatic print and apply systems.
Examples of secondary packaging are shown below:
