Grafiche Lama
In-Mould Labels
Grafiche Lama was established in 1973.
Located in Piacenza, Italy – 60 km south of Milan, Grafiche Lama initially carried out all the typical activities of traditional print shops: the printing of books, magazines, brochures, catalogs, business cards, etc. Over the years, the printed paper market gradually began to shrink due to increasingly aggressive competition from multimedia tools.
The difficulties of technological evolution thus brought traditional printers in front of a crossroads: renew or risk closure.
Thus, Grafiche Lama’s choice was to enter the IML label market in 2006.
IML is the one-shot, simultaneous molding of a plastic container/piece and its label. The label is fused with the plastic container so that it becomes part of the container itself.
These labels are used for trays, cups and lids sold on supermarket shelves, where they attract food and non-food consumers.
Labels produced with In-mold technology are always part of the label family, such as sleeve, wrap around, and pressure-sensitive labels, widely sold by La Prensa Group.
The advantages of In-mold labels over others are that they do not require additional glue during application and are more resistant to moisture, chemicals and scratches.
Since that 2006, Grafiche Lama’s evolution has been unstoppable, leading to a deep understanding of the market and customer needs.
“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.” ~William A. Foster
Our Team
A friendly and highly qualified team welcomes you through the whole process of designing the graphics up to the realization of the IML prototype. Our customer can count on a dedicated graphic designer willing to support him until the project is accomplished. All activities are carried out internally so that orders are under control all the time and meet the agreed deadlines.
Customer Service
In-house
Feel free to contact us for any needs related to the world of IML printing. We will be more than happy to answer your questions. Add to advice you on all necessary steps (molds, robots, machine…) and required technology.
Graphic Design
In-house
Our office is ready to accept any project and solve our clients’ problems throughout the pre-press stage up to color proofs
Quality Control
In-house
Being rigorous and precise is our business, but thanks to up-to-date technologies, we always try to ensure maximum quality.
The IML Universe
The world of IML (in-mold labels) is a universe that is both fascinating and extremely complex.
In the case of products intended to decorate food containers, labels must resist water, vapors, low temperatures in freezers and refrigerators, microwave ovens, dishwashers, and be made with low-migration inks according to very strict regulations.
The management of injection temperature, mold cooling, the type of materials (homopolymer or copolymer), recycled or virgin, the speed of injection, the system of fixing the label in the mold (electrostatic or vacuum).
For durable goods, manufacturers demand warranties of up to 10 years.
And a thousand different variables and cases ranging from oxygen barriers, variable data, reverse printing, steel effects to PP, PET, PC, PE, HDPE, PMMA, PS, SAN, NYLON materials…
It is clear that not all printing companies have the know-how to deal with these complexities and to manage all the variables in this process.
All these technological barriers, and especially in-depth product and process knowledge, have meant that there are very few IML label manufacturers both in Italy and in the rest of the world.
For Grafiche Lama all this has been a great challenge that it can proudly say it has overcome. Today the company produces about 350 tons of IML labels and exports to 30 countries around the world. More than 70 percent of its production involves IML labels with a continued double-digit growth.
