Sappi’s Fusion Topliner is empowering brand owners to reinvent their print production approach for a wide variety of end uses from shelf-ready packaging, point-of-sale, pre-printed litho, flexo and fashion bags. Developed as an alternative to testliner, Fusion Topliner is double-coated bright white 100% virgin fibre liner distinguished by its surface quality and strength while its brilliant white colour provides top quality colour reproduction for greater shelf impact and brand differentiation. As well as meeting food safety requirements, the use of bleached virgin fibres enables the grade to achieve the same material strength as testliners with a lower weight per unit surface area. The more enhanced fibre structure also means that folded edges do not crack.
Converters can enjoy a host of cost and time savings, too. Thanks to the functional reverse side coating of Fusion Topliner the absorption of glue is consistent and reduces consumption. This saves on costs, reduces drying times and ensures flatness. The grade also offers improved energy efficiency and a greater grammage yield advantage supporting lighter weights. Food safety, especially when combined with functional barriers, is another advantage of using virgin fibres.
One company that recently discovered the grade’s advantages is Corruseal Corrugated. The South African converter produced the packaging for Sappi’s Typek consumer facing grade using its flexo post print process. It switched to Fusion Topliner to elevate the print quality for the outer packaging. Roland Cook, Corruseal’s General Manager, comments, “We tried Fusion Topliner to compare differences from a previous material used and were impressed with the results. With the outstanding quality it delivers, we are now looking to add it to our retail and point-of-sale portfolio and recommend it to our existing brand owners.” Bernd Gelder, Sappi Product Group Manager for Containerboard adds, “If total cost of ownership (TCO) are considered, Fusion Topliner is an attractive alternative to testliner and provides a significant competitive advantage to both the producer and the buyer of corrugated products.”
Fusion Topliner is available in grammages of 135, 160 and 180gsm. It provides impressive strength properties (SCT and compression strength for instance), which are said to be comparable to those of kraftliners. A compelling advantage is its weight benefits, Fusion Topliner (115gsm) is said to achieve the same strength values as 145gsm testliner. Also, the gain in terms of strength properties comes to about 25 to 30 percent. Tests have also shown that, above a grammage of 115gsm, Fusion Topliner delivers very good results in the post-print process regardless of the printing method selected. Fusion Topliner is recommended for applications such as premium quality consumer goods packaging where high visual quality is required using flexographic post-printing, in addition to offset and digital printing technologies.
