Kimdura = Better Results

The Technical Products business of Neenah Paper, Inc. (www.neenah.com)  is a leading producer of filtration media and other durable, saturated, and coated substrates for a variety end markets. They focus their business on categories where Neenah is a market leader or have a competitive advantage, including label applications with the well-known KIMDURA® brand family.

With its smudge resistant coating, KIMDURA® Synthetic Paper (http://www.neenah.com/technical/product.aspx?prod_id=24) provides durable media with continuous outdoor weather-resistance for extended periods. KIMDURA® Multi-Task is engineered in various thicknesses and offers extraordinary edge-tear resistance and superior print fidelity.

According to Michael O’Connell of Neenah Paper, “we offer several types of KIMDURA® branded synthetic papers designed for industrial and medical applications in which  thermal transfer printing, dot matrix printing or ordinary hand writing applications; and now KIMDURAR®  Inkjet for Harsh Environments meets the needs in the industrial environment with on demand color.  Neenah Paper produces a version made from polypropylene (Specification 7270PO) for the medical industry and a version made from High-Density Polyethylene (Specification 7363PO) for harsh environments.”

 You may have heard of this KIMDURA® product for inkjet printers in my earlier posts.  First, I wrote about Neenah Paper and Epson receiving the BS5609 certification for the marine shipment of chemicals: http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2012/03/bs5609-is-no-bs.html.  

Second, you may have seen the press release covering this new development:  http://pos.epson.com/colorworks/05072012_Epson_NeenahBS5609.aspx.  

Third, you may have seen one of my posts covering an application using this durable media, including this post covering seafood tracking: http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2012/09/durability-on-demand-color.html.   

When reviewing this new media, Michael stated, “the inkjet printed Kimdura is very durable.  Compared to the industry standard thermal transfer coated polyester printed with a resin ribbon in a thermal transfer printer, the Kimdura inkjet for harsh environments with the Epson ink is much more durable.   Our partners and Neenah have found much better results with common solvents such as acetone, toluene and MEK from Kimdura for inkjet/Epson ink combination compared to standard polyester/resin ribbon combination.”

Cheryl Bahr, of Wausau Coated (www.wausaucoated.com) is selling the Kimdura film with their adhesive coating.  According to Cheryl, “After Epson and Neenah received Section #3 BS5609 approval, we submitted and received Section #2 BS5609 certification on our drum label adhesive and the Kimdura film.  This new product is taking off nicely, given how well it fits the requirements for GHS drum labels”.  If you want to learn more about their adhesive coated film for GHS from Wausau, go to this page: http://wausaucoated.com/product-construction?n=560. 

Not only is the KIMDURA® for inkjet/Epson ink is more durable, it appears to be less expensive also (Total Cost of Use).  In this post, the Epson GP-C831 ink costs significantly less than the resin ribbon commonly recommended and used in thermal transfer printers for durable poly media: http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2013/02/thermal-transfer-vs-color-inkjet.html.  As much as 70+% less!

If you are an end user, reseller or a converter, contact me to learn where you can purchase Kimdura inkjet for harsh environments for durable label printing.  I would be happy to connect you with the correct person for this exciting new media.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com
www.colorlabelsolutions.com

The Color King

Fred Braun, sales representative with BCS Label, has probably sold more on-demand color printers, ink and labels than anyone I know.

If you don’t know, BCS Label (www.bcslabel.com), a division of BCS Solutions (http://bcssolutions.com/) is a value-added reseller whose strength is in the depth of experience of their sales staff; which average over 50 years of industry experience with companies such as Intermec Corporation, Norand Corporation and United Bar Code Industries. BCS Label provides consumables such as ribbons and labels to meet their customer’s printing needs. The goal of BCS is to be one-stop shopping for all of their customer's needs.

From my success stories, you can read about Fred’s work at FX Luminaire:  http://pos.epson.com/colorworks/assets/ColorWorks_FX_Luminaire_SS.pdf

Mercury Medical:  http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2012/03/67.html

Dura Plastic Products:  http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2011/11/perfect-prospect.html

Mudge Fastners:  http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2013/01/mudge-fastners-httpwww.html

In addition to these companies, he has sold print on-demand color label printers to several other companies.

I first met Fred when I first started working in this business; from an introduction by Mark Bunnell of ScanSource: www.scansource.com.  According to Fred, “At first, ScanSource told me that no Epson person was available to make calls.  Soon after, however, I got a call from Guy.  We arranged to go visit my customer Hunter, who just had purchase FX Luminaire.  Hunter wanted to find a better way to produce their color labels.  Together, we build a great solution for FX Luminaire.  Since this first success, we've worked together to sell lots of printers, ink and labels.”

For this post, I asked Fred, “Why are you selling print on-demand color labels?”  According to Fred, “I see real opportunity in this relatively new business.  First, it seems lots of smaller companies with large number of products need print on-demand color labels.  These types of companies don’t want to purchase large minimum order quantities of preprinted labels.  Instead, they would prefer to produce only what they need when they need it.  Large buyers of specific labels are not the best targets.”

As a follow up, I asked, “where do you get the leads?”  Fred says, “I get leads for thermal transfer printers and preprinted labels all the time.  Whenever a customer asks about preprinted labels and thermal transfer printers, I try to switch them by asking if they would prefer printing labels only when and where needed.  Most of these end users do not understand the technology is available.  Although I sell thermal printers & ribbons, I prefer to sell the printers and ink cartridges if it’s better for the customer.”

Finally, I asked Fred, “What is your goal for next year?”  Fred says, “In 2013, I would like to make the color a much larger part of my sales.  I get great support from Dave Marin, Owner of BCS, and Guy, which makes the selling of this product much easier.

If you sell barcode printers, ribbons and ink, maybe you should try to become the “Color King” too.  You, your company and your customers (and me) will be glad you did!

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com
www.colorlabelsolutions.com

Customizing My Nectar

Since day one, Hummingbird Market (http://hummingbirdmarket.com/index.html) has invested resources and energy into producing innovative hummingbird nectar; offering quality hummingbird products.  Over the past years, their nectar has evolved, introducing the best-in-class products for our customer’s hummingbirds.  Hummingbird Market is grateful for their consumers’ support and loyalty over the years.

To grow their business, Hummingbird Market decided to begin offering customized products to the resellers of their products.  According to Douglas Everett, owner of Hummingbird Market, “our resellers wanted to sell products under their own brands using their own logos.  As we design our own labels in Adobe Illustrator, we need a means to print labels when and in the amount we required for each order.  Based on this need, we begin looking for a label printer.”  http://hummingbirdmarket.com/sales_wholesale.html

To help Douglas decide if the Epson TM-C3400 met their requirements, I printed label samples for him to review.  After reviewing the samples, Douglas purchased a printer and media.  Once Doug had the media, I showed Douglas and their designer how to use and the capabilities of the TM-C3400.  Hummingbird Market has designed the labels with the capabilities and limitations of the TM-C3400 in mind; great graphics with a basic white background make for nice looking labels.

According to Douglas, “since starting to offer the personalized reseller products in the last month, we sold more than an extra ton of nectar.  Offering these products has been a great addition to our business.”

In addition to their reseller custom products, Hummingbird Market has developed an even more interesting and new business models.  First, this company enables their customer’s to personalize products to give as gifts;    http://hummingbirdmarket.com/hummingbird_nectar_personalization.html.  What a unique gift to give!!

Second, Hummingbird Market now offers personalized products for fund raising. 

From my perspective, Douglas has found a fantastic way to increase his business; mass customization of products using print on-demand color labels.  You and your customers in a wide range of business should consider customizing products like Hummingbird Nectar.

My Personal Bag of  Hummingbird Nectar

And do me a favor; please support Hummingbird Market!  Contact them today.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com
www.colorlabelsolutions.com