The company will demonstrate how it is working in unison with its parent company, DIC Corporation, to provide a full range of metal decorating products for two- and three-piece cans, aluminum collapsible tubes and monobloc aerosol cans and bottles, to support can makers, converters and brand owners respond to increasing consumer demands for more sustainable packaging.

Offering multiple sustainable benefits, such as reduced ink and metal waste, Sun Chemical’s SunColorBox colour management toolkit should be on the wish list of any converter looking to produce consistent brand colours across production facilities anywhere in the world and within a fully integrated and optimised digital process, from design to press.

One SunColorBox service, SunDigiProof, will be of particular interest to the metal packaging industry as it allows converters and manufacturers to create a digital proof accurately simulating the metal decorating substrate that can be quickly produced and verified as an achievable colour and design layout target, accelerating the colour approval process. 

This unique, metal deco digital proofing solution (flex pack software from CGS ORIS linked to two new metal deco dependent colour libraries for PantoneLIVE) for two-piece beverage cans is the result of Sun Chemical’s collaboration with CGS ORIS and will enable can makers, designers and brand owners to dispense with physical aluminum wet proofs and to significantly reduce the length of the packaging design process – from weeks to just days.

Sun Chemical’s digital inkjet business will be launching its new range of inkjet inks and varnishes developed specifically for the metal decoration industry. 

The DigiMet range of inks includes UV and LED cure formulations that can be tuned to most available printheads. The chemistry is optimised to work alongside base coats and top coats where required so that end use properties can be achieved. 

Digital solutions are available for two-piece cans and three-piece cans and are optimised for adhesion and flexibility to comply with existing can making needs. For food sensitive metal packaging applications, low migration capable inkjet inks and varnishes are available.

Sun Chemical will also present its well-established and highly successful metal decorating product families: SunDuo, SunTrio and SunAltec.

SunDuo for two-piece cans provides can makers with a range of high value, flexible, robust inks that offer high speed press performance and are suitable for printing on steel and aluminum cans in novar and over varnish technology.

Offering both UV, UV LED and conventional curing, the SunTrio range for three-piece cans provides excellent press performance and good adhesion between layers and to the substrate. Versatile, flexible, cost-effective and highly resilient, SunTrio is suitable for use with all types of metal cans and closures, including crowns, drums, aluminum pilfer proof caps, aerosols, food and fish drawn cans.

Sun Chemical’s SunAltec series of inks for metal decoration on aluminum collapsible tubes, monobloc bottles and aerosol cans offers outstanding performance, superior quality, high productivity and strong chemical resistance properties. 

The MB Plus Series, part of the SunAltec product family on display, has been specifically designed for the application on monobloc aerosols and uses an ink system that has been adapted for optimum performance on new generation production lines using today’s base coat technology.

“A lot has changed in the past six years, but sustainability remains an important goal for us and our customers,” said Eduardo Alegria, global metal deco inks sales director, Sun Chemical. “Metpack is a great opportunity for us to showcase our commitment to sustainable packaging solutions. We align our own goals with those of the United Nations in its Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, ‘a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity’. We believe that the actions we’re taking to help develop a more sustainable metal packaging industry will have a positive impact on a number of the United Nations goals.”