中文Vetaphone, the Danish company established in 1951 by Verner Eisby and still family-owned, is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2026. For an ancillary-equipment supplier in the printing and converting world, reaching three-quarters of a century is a notable achievement, but CEO Michael Behrens is clear that the company’s focus remains firmly on pioneering new surface-treatment technology rather than resting on its history.
Vetaphone is widely known as the company that invented corona treatment, the process that modifies the surface energy of plastics and other difficult substrates so that inks, coatings and adhesives can bond reliably. It is one of those unglamorous but essential steps in the production line: without it, labels peel, coatings crawl and prints fail. Behrens said the team is proud of the invention, but what matters more is using its unmatched experience and know-how to keep improving surface treatment through continuous research and development as the market changes.
Behrens credited generations of employees for building strong relationships with customers and partners, and said the company’s ethos is based on innovation and a drive to be best in field for printers, converters and extruders seeking quality surface treatment. Pointing to the five years since Vetaphone’s 70th anniversary, he noted the company has strengthened its position as global leader through ongoing investment, including opening a fully equipped demo center and a Test Lab facility in Denmark. Both offer customized interaction between Vetaphone technicians and customers’ technicians, letting users validate applications before committing to production.
Reliability is central to Vetaphone’s pitch. The company maintains a 24/7/365 global service commitment, reflecting the reality that surface treatment is a fully integrated part of the complete production line. As Behrens explained, surface treatment must always contribute to reliable performance, consistent quality and overall production efficiency, not act as a point of failure. For high-volume label and flexible-packaging lines running around the clock, that service promise can be the difference between a minor tweak and a costly stoppage.
Speaking for the family, Frank Eisby said he is sure his father would be very proud of what has been achieved over the past 75 years, but he is also looking forward with confidence, knowing the organization built combines experience and commitment. Vetaphone, he said, is unique, and the family intends to keep it that way. That continuity of ownership is unusual in an industry where many specialist suppliers have been absorbed into larger groups, and it gives Vetaphone a long-term perspective that resonates with customers planning capital investments years ahead.
The anniversary comes at a moment when surface treatment is quietly regaining attention. The growth of sustainable and recycled substrates, thinner films and demanding barrier materials all raise the stakes for adhesion. As converters push toward lighter, recyclable and mono-material structures, the need for precise, controllable surface energy only grows, and the company that defined the category is well placed to shape its next phase.
For printers and converters evaluating ancillary equipment, Vetaphone’s story is a reminder that the most important technologies are sometimes the ones you never see. Corona treatment does not appear on the finished label, but it determines whether that label stays attached. As the company enters its 76th year, its message is that 75 years of know-how is not a museum piece but a living R&D engine.
Corona treatment works by bombarding a substrate surface with high-frequency electrical discharge, raising its surface energy so that inks and adhesives wet out and bond rather than beading up. The alternative, atmospheric plasma, offers similar benefits for some materials but at higher complexity. For most label and flexible-packaging lines, corona remains the pragmatic default, and Vetaphone’s longevity reflects how deeply the technique is embedded in everyday production.
The anniversary also arrives as substrate chemistry shifts beneath the industry. Recycled-content films, bio-based polymers and ultra-thin mono-materials all behave differently at the surface, and each new material combination can demand a fresh treatment recipe. That is precisely why Vetaphone’s continued investment in a Danish Test Lab matters: converters can validate tricky applications before committing a production line, reducing both risk and waste. Family ownership, Behrens and Eisby suggest, allows the company to fund that kind of long-horizon capability without quarterly pressure to maximise short-term margin.
Looking ahead, Behrens signalled that surface treatment will remain central as printers adopt more sustainable and often more difficult substrates. Recycled films in particular can have inconsistent surface energy, demanding precise, repeatable treatment that only well-engineered corona systems deliver. Vetaphone’s plan is to keep closing the gap between what materials science produces and what converters can reliably print on, with the Test Lab acting as the proving ground for those advances. The 75th anniversary, in that sense, is less a celebration of the past than a marker of the company’s intent to keep defining the category’s future.
Source: Labels & Labeling (https://www.labelsandlabeling.com/news/ancillary-equipment/vetaphone-marks-75-years-innovation)
