How Katz display boards can provide a real alternative to PVC. In late June London will be hosting the world's premier exhibition for the wide-format print industry, Fespa 2013. As the event approaches, The KATZ Group – which is headquartered in the town of Weisenbach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany – is attracting increasing attention for its display boards, which offer an eco-friendly and sustainable alternative to foam boards, PVC boards and similar items.
“The big brand names and key players in the retail industry are very conscious of the impression they make with the materials they choose for their point-of-sale promotions,” says Tina Lang, who heads up marketing at The KATZ Group.
Located in Germany’s Black Forest and with a company history stretching back 300 years, KATZ has built up a global reputation by specializing in wood pulp board – and it is confident that this material is exactly what modern, eco-aware companies are looking for: “The core of the KATZ Display Boards consists of nothing more than wood and water, and the manufacturing process is based on the expertise that we have acquired as the global market leader in the coaster/beermat industry,” says Lang.
KATZ products bear the PEFC label, which gives customers the reassurance of knowing that the wood pulp used in the core of KATZ Display Boards comes exclusively from sustainably managed forests. “So in addition to providing an alternative to plastic in the POS arena, we’re also offering our customers the perfect opportunity to slot the topic of sustainability into their own corporate communications,” Lang emphasizes.
To illustrate why the time has come to replace plastic POS materials with KATZ Display Boards, Lang cites EU Environment Commissioner Janez Poto?nik who argues that “not only should we make all plastic fully recyclable, we should also avoid excessive plastic production for applications that are not obviously useful.”
The fact that plastic is “not obviously useful” in the production of display boards is highlighted by KATZ Group CEO Daniel Bitton, who notes that plastic also offers no benefits over wood pulp board in terms of printability: “Hewlett-Packard, for example, has successfully tested our boards with their UV digital flatbed printers and has incorporated them in the HP Media Solutions Locator. Our boards also offer excellent printing results with other UV flatbed printers such as those produced by Inca Screen and Arizona. On top of that, the printing press manufacturer KBA has confirmed in writing that KATZ Display Boards offer good printability on offset presses. The 1.2 mm thick boards can be printed on all KBA’s large and medium-format Rapida offset presses without any technical problems whatsoever. KATZ Display Boards also came up trumps in a series of cutting tests performed by Esko, a global supplier and integrator of software and hardware for packaging design, commercial printing and professional publishing. The tests confirmed the superb quality of the finished product after cutting.”
For The KATZ Group, these results have already led to positive market sentiment. KATZ Display Boards have been successfully launched in the USA, Japan, the UK and France and initial test assignments are currently being completed in Russia.
KATZ Display Boards are typically laminated with glossy, satin or matt paper and are available in different sizes and in thicknesses ranging from 1.2 mm to 3.0 mm. The specially developed base material is also available for further processing in ‘plain’ format as non-laminated wood pulp board, which has excellent laminating properties.
In terms of sustainability, the benefits offered by KATZ Display Boards are obvious. Their low weight keeps transport costs down and the fact that they can be recycled as standard wastepaper is a further eco-friendly argument in their favour. Lang explains just how much of a difference this can make: “One of our biggest customers in Great Britain saves £250,000 a year just on waste disposal costs thanks to its decision to use KATZ Display Boards.”
And the recent introduction of legislation to reduce plastic waste in Great Britain has made KATZ Display Boards an even more attractive alternative to lightweight foam board. That’s because the methods used to turn KATZ Display Boards into finished products are carefully chosen to ensure that the printed, laminated wood pulp board can be fed back into the KATZ production process after use. Non-laminated boards can even be composted.
To help facilitate access to KATZ Display Boards for customers who wish to purchase less than the current minimum order of five tons, the company is busy working on ways of making the material available to smaller businesses: “We're currently discussing this issue with LFP media distributors all over Europe,” says Garry Hobson, managing director UK and Ireland at The Katz Group. “There's never been a better time to be marketing our products: With growing numbers of consumers voicing support for sustainability and responsible consumption, no printing services provider will want to waste valuable fossil fuels on limited-duration indoor applications in the future. Especially when they can get hold of a cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative made from a regional source of rapidly renewable wood!”
And remember – KATZ Display Boards also offer excellent stability and flatness.
The KATZ Group has always believed in applying the principles of sustainability to its manufacturing processes as well as its products, as Bitton explains: “Our closed loop recycling system ensures that old KATZ boards are always recycled into new KATZ boards. We also employ a state-of-the-art heat recovery system and two of our very own hydro plants at our Weisenbach site in the Black Forest in order to achieve maximum energy efficiency. Overall, a good 40% of our primary energy needs are met by renewable energy sources – plus we use a closed water loop to help conserve water resources. With regard to the wood we use in our plants, that all comes from sustainably managed forests. And when it comes to acquiring raw materials and creating added value, we keep transportation routes as short as we possibly can – because we consider protecting nature to be a top priority.”
The company’s history dates back to the early 1700s, and its flexible approach over the years has enabled it to make inroads into many new market segments including stationary, packaging, and 3D POS displays. It has even extended its reach beyond the graphic arts industry by using wood pulp board in construction and interior design applications, integrating its unique noise reduction qualities in floors, walls and office environments. This process of diversification has been critical to the success of The KATZ Group, which became part of the Koehler Paper Group after filing bankruptcy in early 2009. The development of novel board applications has provided a counterweight to the worldwide fall in coaster demand which has seen sales of beer mats drop sharply due to the current economic downturn and the consolidation of brewery markets.
“We have many more exciting solutions up our sleeves which are specifically tailored to the digital printing and sign making industries,” promises Bitton. “As innovative printing companies move away from selling standard print products with shrinking margins in order to reposition themselves as communication and problem solving specialists, we’ll be there to help them create unique added value services for their customers.”
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