Guilloches are some of the oldest security features in printing—and even so, are very current. The delicate, interlaced line patterns have their origins in the 17th century and are still an integral component of high-end security solutions today. Schreiner ProSecure has now raised them to a new level: with an extensive design catalog, an internal design guide, and many customizable design options.

Time-Tested Technology—Reimagined

Guilloches deliver compelling performance as an anti-counterfeiting feature particularly due to their design diversity, elegance, and resulting recognition value. The complex, mathematically generated lines pose a true challenge to scanners and printers. Unauthorized reproduction results in visible blurs or moiré effects—a clear indication of tampering attempts. Especially in the case of closure seals, guilloches are frequently positioned along the edge of the cardboard packaging to make unauthorized opening and resealing more difficult.

Flexibility in Every Detail

Guilloches are more than a security feature—they’re also a design element with countless variation options. That’s exactly where Schreiner ProSecure’s new offering comes into play: A comprehensive catalog of examples offers many fully created, sophisticated guilloche designs serving as the basis for customized solutions. The catalog is complemented by a design guide that systematically explains all design parameters—from the shape of the outer contours to the alignment, density and thickness of the lines, and the integration of microtext.

 

Tailored to Suit Any Application

Thanks to this preliminary work, the design phase of customized guilloches in new projects can be significantly shortened—without sacrificing the level of security or freedom of design. Together with the respective customer of the business units, a desired design is selected, modified, and optimized for the relevant application and printing technology.

Customers profit from Schreiner Group’s decades of experience with security features using sophisticated printing technologies—and can rely on top quality and functionality, no matter what printing technology is used.

Label applications at extreme temperatures, especially in the range of deep-freeze and cryogenic levels, are becoming increasingly important. They require reliable closure seals and labels performing perfectly even under harsh conditions. Schreiner ProSecure has taken up this challenge, developing solutions that meet even the most exacting demands.

Applications under cryogenic and deepfreeze conditions confront labels and adhesives with new challenges. Extreme temperatures—whether during storage or dispensing—result in special adhesion and performance requirements regarding a sealing function with first-opening indication. Traditional adhesives and film materials soon reach their limits under these conditions. Especially in gene therapy where active ingredients must be stored at temperatures below -150 °C it is essential that labels reliably adhere to the substrate and are tamper-proof. But even in the less extreme deep-freeze range starting at -15 °C, labels must deliver robust and reliable performance to ensure the safety and integrity of products.

Schreiner ProSecure meets these requirements with a sophisticated modular system specifically developed for use in deep-freeze and cryogenic conditions. To perfectly address the specific demands of customers in terms of temperature and process, the portfolio encompasses a large number of adhesives and surface materials that have been comprehensively analyzed and tested by the company’s in-house research and development department. The focus is not only placed on adhesion at extreme temperatures but also on functions such as distinct first-opening indication or dispensing in the required temperature range. The combination of materials expertise and comprehensive know-how in terms of tamper evidence leads to tailored solutions delivering reliable performance even under the most difficult conditions.

Schreiner ProSecure’s extensive testing expertise is a significant success factor. To ensure that the labels work perfectly in the final application environment, many different tests are performed—both in the in-house laboratory and directly at the customer’s site. Factors like humidity, handling, and storage conditions are considered in order to test the labels’ functionality under realistic conditions. Thanks to this expertise, Schreiner ProSecure offers not only first-class solutions but also certainty that they fully satisfy the customers’ specific requirements.

Tamper evidence and brand protection are of utmost importance—especially for pharmaceutical packaging. Therefore the Schreiner ProSecure Competence Center together with the Schreiner MediPharm Business Unit, the market expert serving the pharmaceutical industry, has developed a new solution exposing any tampering attempt like cutting through the closure seal. The special design enables particularly flexible and cost-efficient integration of the cut-through indicator function.

Tampering with a folding box is frequently done by cutting through the closure seal and subsequently resealing the box with a transparent adhesive tape. The new cutthrough indicator function clearly signals this type of tampering, thus effectively protecting the contents of the packaging.

Flexible and Cost-Efficient

Schreiner ProSecure did not develop the cut-through indicator function as a standalone standard label but specifically as an additional modular feature. This enables the integration of the innovative feature in existing closure seals for current products as well as in newly developed seals. The single-layer structure ensures that the new feature can be integrated costefficiently into a wide variety of materials and printing substrates.

The graphic design of the seals can be customized, for instance by integrating guilloches.

Tailored Security

The special graphic design of the cutting layout with thin, long, and highly movable bars ensures that lateral shifts and small defects catch the eye particularly effectively. In addition, raised structures and irregular outer contours can optionally be integrated into the label. These measures enhance the visibility of any attempt to reclose the package by taping over and make tampering attacks even easier to notice. Moreover, specific wishes in terms of graphic design can be considered, such as guilloches as an additional authentication feature. The cut-through indicator function thus offers attractive and effective protection against the exchange of medicines in folding boxes.

Inkjet printing is a megatrend permeating the entire printing industry—especially label printing. This technology offers not only maximum precision but also the opportunity to integrate sophisticated security features. As a result, the Schreiner ProSecure competence center can also implement proven methods such as microtext by means of inkjet printing.

Inkjet printing enables a contactless printing process in which the artwork is digitally transmitted. That makes fast adjustments and various consecutive printing processes possible. Microtext and guilloches are some of the security features that can be integrated in this process. Serialization, i.e., issuing of individual serial numbers, enhances security further, as repeated queries or feedback of the same serial number in an online feedback system detects fakes.

According to the FINAT Digital Press Index, the utilization of inkjet printing presses in narrow-web printing has been overtaking conventional printing presses for several years. This trend shows that inkjet printing has become firmly established in label production. That’s why it’s crucial to integrate security features directly in inkjet printing. Hybrid machines combining flexographic and inkjet printing can be used more efficiently in that way.

Microtext has been used in flexographic printing for a long time and experienced continuous evolution over the years. Now microtext is possible in inkjet printing as well. Serialization of microtext enhances security further because individual counterfeits are practically impossible. Guilloches, complex graphic patterns, can be used in serialized form in inkjet printing too. Every pattern is individually adapted around the serial number, which raises security to yet another level.

In total, inkjet printing offers a versatile and effective means of integrating security features such as microtext and guilloches into labels. By combining precision and digital flexibility this technology provides a wide variety of possibilities in security printing.

Sustainability is one of the hot topics of our times. There cannot be a single answer to the question of how we can design the future for sustainability. But there are numerous approaches to solutions. Schreiner Group does not just focus on one course of action but on many: photovoltaics, geothermal energy, and recycling are just a few examples. Special attention is focused on the sustainability of the products themselves. Needle-Trap, Pharma-Tac, or Autoinjector-Labels—label solutions from the Schreiner MediPharm business unit are already available today as a sustainable version. Now the Schreiner ProSecure competence center is developing closure seals for folding boxes that are both tamper-proof and sustainable. As usual, the sustainable first-opening indication solutions emphasize high quality and reliable functionality.

Initially, potentially usable materials were investigated in a very complex process because sustainability not only means that something is environmentally compatible. A sustainable material must ensure that its utilization will not have a negative impact on future generations—either environmentally, economically, or socially. Accordingly, in addition to the amount of required fossil raw materials, energy and water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions, other metrics concerning the financial and social effects must be considered. The potential candidates that Schreiner ProSecure ultimately identified in particular were recycled films, plastics produced from renewable resources, and papers with sustainability certification. Subsequently, these materials were subjected to a large number of tests to assess their suitability for use as closure seals.

Recycled films exhibited good performance. They are particularly well-suited for the production of tamper-proof closure seals. In addition, they offer significant savings potential in relation to the consumption of water, energy, and fossil materials—proportionally to the recycled plastic materials content. Following these extensive basic investigations, Schreiner ProSecure is now in the process of qualifying suitable materials enabling the development of sustainable closure seals in the near future.

They shimmer in holographic colors, have tiny, barely visible text elements, or look like any ordinary label: integrated security technologies—overt, semi-covert, covert, analog, and digital. They are used in labels to enable authentication of a product that has been marked with them. They can be verified either with the naked eye or by using specialty readers. The Schreiner ProSecure competence center knows which authenticity feature is ideally suited for a specific application and which reader to use with it. It provides individual advice regarding the suitable technology and as a systems supplier provides the appropriate reader as well.

Brand owners, consumers, or customs officials—the users of readers vary. Consequently, the requirements of the different user groups need to be considered in the selection of the security technology and the corresponding readers. For example, ease of use and the procedures to be followed in an inspection, the duration of an inspection, and the requisite training play a role. A consumer, for instance, needs to be able to confirm a product’s authenticity very easily and without a longer learning process. By contrast, for forensic authentication in a laboratory, a brand owner’s employee needs a complex system in which he or she must be trained.

There are several criteria to be considered in the selection of a suitable reader:

• Legal compliance
• Selection of trustworthy equipment manufacturers
• Availability in individual markets
• Suitability for the desired user group
• Suitability of the technology for authentication in the specific use case

There are some security technologies for which only few manufacturers offer corresponding readers. The selection is limited even further by the fact that many manufacturers are not domiciled in the relevant jurisdictions or, in the case of small volumes, are not willing to comply with the statutory requirements in individual markets like Germany because they are too complex. That makes the selection and purchase of readers a complex task requiring specialized knowledge for every jurisdiction. Schreiner ProSecure offers an extensive portfolio of security technologies and provides advice on selecting the appropriate reader, resulting in an ideal authentication system from a one-stop shop.

Using smartphones to check security features provides numerous benefits. The authenticity of a product can be verified by anyone at any time within the supply chain. Security features that are invisible with the naked eye can be read in this way as well. Plus, authentication of a product is a prerequisite for reliable entry into the digital world. Only initial, smartphone-based confirmation of a product’s authenticity can ensure that all other digitally accessible data and services for this product are actually valid too.

However, the challenges this entails should not be underrated: The wide variety of smartphone models and diverse characteristics of their cameras make high demands on the development of a suitable security feature that can be verified by using a mobile device. For one, it must be tamper-resistant and for the other, even the best fakes must always be reliably distinguishable from the originals under a wide variety of picture-taking conditions using different camera phones.

Looking at security technologies in isolation is an inadequate approach to product authentication by means of mobile devices because dealing with the issue of fakes requires a holistic view, which Schreiner ProSecure ensures. In its new white paper titled “Smartphone-Based Product Authentication,” the competence center describes the relevant elements that should be observed.

Packaging closure seals feature particularly sophisticated designs. Serving as first-opening indication and tamper evidence, they have to be strong enough to withstand mechanical stress without tearing, for instance during shipping, loading and warehouse operations. On the other hand, they must be easy enough to open so that they will not pose a problem even to older people.

A pre-cut perforation facilitates the tearing of the closure seal. The force required for the seal to tear depends on the type and thickness of the film, the width of the seal, and the geometry of the perforation. The required minimum retention force can be derived from the box content, the length and width of the face side of the folding box, and the anticipated mechanical stress it will be exposed to. In addition to in-house findings obtained in user tests, there are international standards that apply to such stress factors.

The closure seals developed by Schreiner ProSecure are designed to be as robust as necessary and as easy to open as possible. In addition to reliable and effective design of the closure seals, the competence center offers formal qualifications as needed for which transportation tests are performed in certified test laboratories according to applicable standards and the suitability of the closure seals for the envisioned purpose is certified.

Transparency is far more than merely a gimmick. In everyday life, we encounter countless examples of objects where transparency is crucial, from windshields and windows to clear plastic folders. Transparent closure seals are particularly essential for secondary pharmaceutical packaging to prevent key medication information from being concealed by the application of a seal. Even so, tamper-proof seals used for frozen products, such as gene therapy medications, have typically been opaque until now.

Due to the utilization of new transparent materials for use with frozen products and extension of the materials portfolio by novel types of transfer adhesives, Schreiner ProSecure is now able to achieve transparent closure seals also for low-temperature and cryogenic applications. As prescribed, the face materials are easily destructible and clearly provide counterfeit and tamper protection. Of course, the closure seals comply with the requirements of the European Falsified Medicines Directive 2011/62/EU. Thanks to this extension of the materials portfolio by Schreiner ProSecure, Schreiner MediPharm is now in an even better position to respond to the special needs of its pharmaceutical customers.

BPA is an industrial chemical that has been in use since the 1960s and is frequently found in everyday plastic products such as packaging, drinking bottles, food boxes, steel food cans (interior coating) and toys. Six million metric tons of BPA are produced per year, according to Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND). Due to its hazardous properties, the EU restricted its use several years ago.

The production of thermochromic inks without BPA is difficult. While many manufacturers have stopped producing thermochromic inks altogether, others are using alternatives that are often equally harmful. In collaboration with an ink manufacturer, Schreiner ProSecure has run extensive qualification tests of BPA-free thermochromic inks with identical functionality as BPA-containing inks for reliable authentication. The thermally induced color change occurs in a pigment-specific range (= the range in which the change between the two colors takes place). As a result, text or other elements can be concealed underneath solid areas and rendered readable only when reaching a specific range. Conversely, it’s possible to print near-transparent information that appears in color only below the defined range. Initial customer projects using the new BPA-free security inks have successfully been implemented.

Printing of a thermochromic ink can be demonstrated by various means depending on the range of the color change. The simplest way to accomplish this is by rubbing the area with a finger to warm it or to apply a cold spray to cool it. Labels with thermochromic inks can be created in a wide variety of color hues and shifting ranges. They’re a visually attractive characteristic and can be combined with additional security features such as color shifting inks. Their uses are wide and varied, ranging from pharmaceutical packaging to component nameplates to quality seals and logistics labels.