Good Guys Grow

Octochem (www.octochem.com) is the leader in sample fulfillment worldwide.  Since 1995, Octochem has provided marketing solutions for the chemical and biotechnology industries.  Their services improve efficiency, reduce risk and deliver a competitive advantage for their customers. 

As a part of their service, Octochem:

• Provides packaging, logistics, reporting and support for samples.
• Fulfills specialty distribution services including filling variable size orders
• Processes small and trial size orders
• Controls costs including adjusting sample sizes to best fit the order requirements.

According to Mark Langston, founder, Octochem, “we’ve grown significantly over the last few years.   We’ve added a new building and started several new processes to meet the demands of our customers.”

These new processes include a high frequency pick area:

A new pack area:

A new shipping area:

And a soon to be finished, clean-room filling operation:

At the end of 2011, Octochem begin printing color labels on-demand to meet the requirements of their customers and the pending GHS requirements.  http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2012/02/chemistry-opportunity.html.  Since starting printing labels with color on-demand, Octochem has increased the number of color label printers; including the relatively new TM-C3500.

According to Denny Grant, Operations, “we seem to be printing a lot more labels with a set of ink cartridges for the TM-C3500 compared to the previous generation of label printer, the TM-C3400.  With this new, higher yielding label printer, we’re still trying to determine the number of cartridges we need per month.”

Mark adds, “In fact, one of our customers has decided to use the same type of printers in their North American and Latin America operations.  After seeing our operation produce color labels on-demand for their samples, they decided to meet the GHS requirements using the same solution.”

After working with Mark, Denny and the staff of Octochem, two key points are clear.  First, the team at Octochem are good guys.  And second, they are striving to provide their customers the top-of-the-line services.  These services include on-demand color labels.  After selling them on-demand color label printers, I like to think we contributed to their growth.  If you want to grow, you too should consider moving to print on-demand color labels as well!

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com

#colorlabels

Vape Labels

California eLiquid Gold is a new company selling “Ready to Vape” ecigarette juice in a wide variety of favors.

Ricardo Seneris, the founder of California e-Liquid Gold, started the company after showing a friend how to make these products.  According to Ricardo, “what differentiates our products is our “Fully Steeped” process. Normally, it takes several weeks to steep the liquid to provide the full favor.  We have developed a process to speed steeping, allowing us to steep the liquid in a few hours, giving our products favors you can’t find in other ecigarette liquids.”

I first learned of California e-Liquid Gold when Ricardo visited my website, asking about printing color labels on-demand.  Initially, Ricardo had not created a label design.  Although not having a label, I created some examples using some images I found to show him the print quality from the TM-C3500 printer.  Looking at this design, no one will confuse me with a real graphic designer.

Based on these samples, Ricardo decided to purchase a TM-C3500 printer, 3 years of Spare-in-the-Air warranty, ink and 3” continuous matte paper labels.  Ricardo says, “I wanted our products to look good in the 10 ml bottles.  It’s important that we communicate our premium product look on the store shelf.  That is why we wanted to use print on-demand color labels.”

After printing a few labels, Ricardo learned that the paper would adsorb the ecigarette liquid.  Once I understood the requirements, I recommended Ricardo move to our matte poly labels.  These synthetic labels print precisely, are very durable and will not adsorb the liquid, making them perfect for this application.  I discussed these labels in some other recent posts:

Durable Laboratory Samples: http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2014/02/durable-laboratory-samples.html

 Chemical With No Name:  http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2013/12/chemical-with-no-name.html

Ricardo is now ready to print his own labels for his new set of products.  Ricardo says, “I am very satisfied with the printer. My labels printed on C3500 look as good as any label out there in the market including medicinal or prescription drugs.”  You can reach him at californiaeliquidgold@gmail.com.

If you need to begin producing labels for your products, contact us; we’ll help you get started printing them in color.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com

#colorlabels

Enterprise Wide Color

Loftware, Inc. (www.loftware.com) is the global market leader in Enterprise Labeling Solutions with more than 5,000 customers in over 100 countries. Offering the industry’s most comprehensive labeling solution, Loftware’s enterprise software integrates SAP®, Oracle® and other enterprise applications to produce mission-critical barcode labels, documents, and RFID Smart tags across the supply chain.

Color Label Importance

This week, I received a survey from Loftware that showed a tremendous grown from their customers in using print on-demand color labels.  They asked their customers in 2013, “how important is color printing to their organization currently, and how important they think it would be in the future?”

As you can see in the above pie charts, Loftware’s customers expected color label printing to become much more important.  Color would grow from 7% to 13% as the most important type of label printing; a 54% increase.  In addition, Color would grow from 12% to 18% as a Neutral importance; a 50% increase.  (the definition of neutral was not included.  I assume it means no one type of labeling printing is more important than others).  Overall, this survey shows that color will become a more important aspect of their customer’s label printing mix.  As Loftware focuses on large scale enterprises running SAP and Oracle, this information seems very interesting, especially to Color Label Solutions who sole focus is print on-demand color labeling.

If you use SAP or Oracle in your operation currently, you may find these previous posts of interest:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2012/02/color-kanban-cards-keeps-companys.html

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2013/01/integrating-as-400-print-on-demand.html

After reading this information, I wondered, “what’s driving this interest?”.  Although Loftware did not specifically ask this question in their survey, a different question may give a clue:  “Of all of our respondents, these are the top 5 types of labels printed during their daily routine.”

Of these types, over 100 customers stated “Finish Good Labels” were being printed daily.  As finished good labels may actually be “Prime Labels” for the product, aesthetics and branding becomes an important criteria for this type of label.  If aesthetics and branding are an important aspect in your label printing, check out the recent post from our chemical company customer: 

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2014/03/trojan-triumps.html

In addition to aesthetics and branding, I believe one other factor is driving manufacturers to move to print on-demand color labeling; Eliminating pre-printed label inventory.

If a manufacturer has only a limited number of SKU’s, then using preprinted label inventory is relatively easy.  As SKU’s grow, then preprinted label inventory becomes an administration, process and expense nightmare.  By moving to print on-demand color labels, manufacturers can reduce waste and inventory, improve processes and save money.

But you may think, color is important for industrial manufacturers, but not my type of business.  According to the Loftware survey, other types of companies will move to print more on-demand color labels:

From this question, it appears all types of Manufacturers as well as Transportation/Logistic and other companies see a benefit to printing color labels on-demand.  Color conveys meaning and emphasis that can’t be achieved with black only labels. 

If you use print on-demand color labels already, you may be saying, “so what; I already understand this perspective.  What’s the big deal?”  

If this survey from Loftware accurately projects the future, users of print on-demand color will have many more options for printers, ink, labels and software as Technology Providers will meet this opportunity.  The printers you purchase will run faster, print higher quality labels and operate at lower costs; the label/tags you purchase will be more varied and will cost less.  The ink you purchase will be more durable, more colorful and cost less.  The growth of this business will mean many more options for you in the future.

With these improved options, you’ll need a provider you trust to build a solution to fit your specific set of requirements; A provider who focuses solely on this segment like Color Label Solutions.

Contact us to discuss how on-demand color labels will work for you.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com

#colorlabels 

TM-C3500 Training-Initial Configuration

The TM-C3500 is an affordable, durable label printer; perfect for several different label applications.  To setup and configure this printer, however, is not so straight forward.  Don’t expect to turn on the printer and start printing labels.  You need to plan on spending some time to setup and configure the printer the first time you use it.

To begin using a TM-C3500, I recommend you start by either:

1.   Purchasing a printer from Color Label Solutions.  We provide configuration support and training webinar for free when you purchase a TM-C3500.  We’ll make sure you get started printing labels quickly and easily.

2.   Plan on using the TM-C3500 Install Navi Utility to help you set up and configure this printer.

In this post, I will make a few suggestions to help you start printing using the TM-C3500.

After unboxing a new printer, start by loading the ink:

and maintenance kit into the printer. 

Then, insert the labels wrapped in Kraft paper that come inside the printer box.  To insert the labels, raise the blue lever on the left side of the roll, open the self-centering roll holder, then lock the roll in place by closing the blue lever.

Then grab the leading edge of the labels and pull it out until you can close the front door of the printer.  FYI: I recommend adding the labels at this point.  The Navi suggests you add the labels later.

Now you can connect the printer either via USB or Ethernet.  Wait to turn on the printer. 

Now you can install the driver.  Go to www.pos.epson.com  and select Tech Resources on the left side.  On this page, select the ColorWorks C3500 printer in the printer section:

Once you select the C3500, you’ll get to the support page.  From here download, save, decompress and run the C3500 Install NAVI Utility:

I especially recommend the NAVI Utility when installing printers on the network.  With this utility, you can easily set the IP address of the printer.

After running the Install Navi, you’ll be asked to agree to the license agreement.  After selecting “I agree”, the Navi will install and open.  After opening the Navi will ask if you want to install the printer using either the Ethernet or USP.

Once connected, you can turn on the printer.  Expect the printer to run 7 to 8 minutes as it fills the lines with ink.  DO NOT INTERUPT the printer as it is filling the ink lines.

With the printer turned “on”, the Navi searches for the printer.  With USB connections, the Navi should find the printer easily.  When installing on the network, the Navi discovers the printer automatically:

And then you can set the IP address:

If the Navi does not discover the printer, you can proceed in one of two ways; change temporarily the address of the computer to the same subnet as the printer, or connect via USB to set the IP address.

After setting the IP address, the Navi then proceeds to configure the media layout.  It’s important to set up your label size prior to printing.  Be sure to select roll or fanfold; die-cut, blackmark or continuous media type; and then set/name the size of label you require:

And then select the remaining media configuration settings.  If you want higher quality printing, be sure to select the “Quality” setting.

Once you configure the printer, you’ll need to restart the printer.  Turn the printer off, then on to save the printer settings.  Then, the Navi steps you through the process to add the paper, ink and maintenance kit (which I recommend you do at an earlier point in the process).  If you have other media that you plan to use, insert these labels now into the printer.

You have now configured the printer.  At this point, be sure to double check your default printer settings (Devices & Printers, right click on the TM-C3500, select Printer Properties, select the Advance tab, select printer defaults on lower left side).

On this page, be sure to select “Advanced” under Print Quality and then select “Banding Reduction”.  This setting helps improves print quality by reducing gaps/overlaps in the print.

Also, go to the Driver Utilities tab, select Driver Preferences and make sure “Epson Status Monitor” is selected.

Now you should be ready to complete your first test print.  I recommend you print first a PDF using Adobe Reader.  Be sure to check the properties on the print dialog box (comfirming your printer defaults are selected) and select the “Fit” and “Auto Portrait/Landscape” settings to insure your print fits within the desired label size.

After confirm your PDF printed correctly, you are good to start printing using the TM-C3500.  If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact Color Label Solutions.  We’ll be happy to help you start printing with the TM-C3500 color label printer.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com

#colorlabels

High Quality, Glossy, Laminated Labels; Now On-Demand

If you answer “YES” do any of these questions, then we have a better option for you.

Do you purchase a wide range of high quality labels with graphics from a professional printer?

Do you like the look of high gloss labels?

Do you need durable labels that withstand water or harsh environments?

Do you have a large inventory of pre-printed, high quality labels?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, you now have options to print your high quality, glossy, and laminated labels on-demand with the TrojanOne Label printer

and the Rotary Wizard.

By combining these operations, you can print beautiful, durable, glossy labels when you need them.  I discussed these machines in my earlier post covering WestPack: http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2014/02/westpack-2014.html.

What I did not cover was the benefits of moving to printing and laminating labels in your facility on-demand.  The 3 key benefits of on-demand color printing and laminating include the following:

Lowers Costs.  According to Dennis Kallaher, Vice President of Sales for Trojan Color Systems, “manufacturers can reduce costs by using the TrojanOne printer along with the Rotary Wizard.  With this equipment, an "in-plant" label printer can source label material more economically.  This eliminates freight and packaging costs, controls converting costs, shortens and eliminates lead times and can provide savings from 30% to 50% of your finished label costs.  In addition, you print only what you require; eliminating obsolete label and inventory carrying costs.  Overall, you can produce high quality, laminated labels yourself for less than from a professional pressure-sensitive label printer.”  Personally, I worked on an opportunity where using this system would reduce the label costs by approximately 16%.

Increases Manufacturing Flexibility.  By moving to on-demand, manufacturers have the ability to change labels at any point prior to application.  This flexibility enables companies to change label wording, produce several different brands using the same inventory, and offer OEM customized products;  utilizing late-point configuration supply chain strategy.

Improves Processes.  By moving to on-demand, manufacturers eliminate the following processes:

a.     Purchasing plates and finished labels for each SKU

b.     Reviewing and approving final label designs from the printer

c.     Receiving and put away of label inventory for each SKU

d.     Picking the correct label among large inventory of labels

With the TrojanOne and the Rotary Wizard, you lower costs, increase manufacturing flexibility and improve processes while producing HD quality, glossy, prime labels in-plant.

Contact us to discuss adding this operation to your plant.  We'll print, laminate and send you samples of your labels produced using the TrojanOne printer and the Rotary Wizard.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com

#colorlabels

Trojan Triumphs

With over 1,000 products, one of my new chemical manufacturing customers needed a better way to produce labels for their products.  Although I can’t use the company name for competitive reasons, I wanted to share with you their experience beginning to print using the TrojanOne label printer.

According to my customer, the co-owner of the company, “over the years, we looked for ways to eliminate the excessive plate charges.  Although the “per label” costs were low, the plate charges get very expensive; especially when you have more than 1,000 products.  Plus the high minimum order quantities associated with preprinted labels means lots of label inventory.  We still have in inventory thousands of labels of some low volume products.”

“Plus, our OEM customers make label changes all the time.  We need a way to respond quickly to these label changes without having to negotiate the costs of obsolete labels” says the co-owner.

To begin printing on demand, the manufacturer began using a 4 color thermal transfer printer.

This printer enabled the manufacturer to eliminate the plate charges and inventory, but it wasn’t the perfect solution.  “With the 4 color thermal transfer printer, we sometimes get ribbon wrinkle which creates colored lines on our labels,” says the co-owner.

The co-owner continues, “in addition, we sometimes get ink fade, or an uneven color or image consistency with the prints.”

“Plus, the ribbons get expensive” says the co-owner.  At $161 for 1,000 meters of resin ribbon, their 10.5” labels cost anywhere from $0.04 (one color) to as much as $0.16 (assuming all 4 colors 100% coverage). And with thermal transfer, if you place one dot in the center of the label, you must use the whole width of the ribbon – mostly waste.

To improve the look and lower the cost of their labels, the company purchased a TrojanOne printer, Smart Unwinder, Smart Rewinder and Remote Service System from Color Label Solutions (plus a great and affordable workbench from Sam’s Club).

The TrojanOne printer offers high resolution, fast speeds and low ink cost printing.  With the integrated Smart Winders, you don’t have to manually adjust the settings as the printer controls the tension.  Overall, you get a system to digitally print high resolution labels at a fraction of the cost of a digital press.

You might find my earlier posts covering the TrojanOne printer of interest:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2013/09/pack-expo-2013.html

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2014/02/westpack-2014.html

In addition to the high-quality printing, I recommend the TrojanOne printer unit specifically for the service and repair capability.  According to Brian Jobmann, Chief Technology Officer for Trojan Color Systems, “we built the TrojanOne printer with service in mind.  First, the printer offers a remote service capability.  With Remote Service Module or Trojan Touch Control panel, we can connect to the printer via secure servers to answer questions and troubleshoot problems, including editing the firmware code.  This capability enables us to resolve 98+% of the problems our customers encounter.”

“In addition, Trojan built the printer to make it easy to replace the print engine if service is required,” says Brian.  “No tools are required to remove the print engine; just a couple of connectors and latches.  Other systems can require complete disassembly to remove the engine. The TrojanOne engine can be completely changed within 5 minutes for quick uptime.” I believe Trojan makes it easy to get required service; a very important criteria when deciding which label printer to purchase.

As a part of the setup and install, Brian worked with my customer on-site to insure he was fully trained on the Trojan printer.  “We find users who go through this training are very successful and satisfied.  If end users don’t get trained, they have a more difficult time printing successfully. The system is easy to use, once shown how to use it,” says Brian.  As an experience user of different label printers, the co-owner setup the printer himself, demonstrating a high level of technical expertise in the process.

During the training, Brian worked with my customer on the process to match PMS colors.  By adjusting the RGB colors in Adobe Illustrator and comparing the printouts to a color swatch, my customer was able to match seemingly perfectly PMS colors in just a couple of iterations. 

After completing the training with Brian, my customer was ready to put the Trojan printer into their production processes.  Personally, I can add that this company was the perfect customer; experienced with on-demand printing, detailed oriented and willingness to learn and experiment. 

If you have lots of products; want to avoid plate charges, high purchase minimums, and potential obsolete inventory; and need high resolution print output, contact Color Label Solutions to discuss how you can put the TrojanOne label printer to work for you.

Guy Mikel

866-962-7870

info@colorlabelsolutions.com

#colorlabels

#trojanlabelprinter

Labels In The Digital Marketplace

It seems we all understand the roll of the online world in purchase decisions these days.  But two articles I read recently underscored the roll packaging, and even more specifically QR codes on labels, play or could play in the purchase decisions made by consumers and businesses. 

But have you adapted your packaging and labels to reflect these changes in buying habits?  I bet most companies have not.

In the first article, "Tweet, Pin, Post, Text and Buy: The Role of Product Packaging in the Digital Marketplace”,  the author opines that packaging plays an even bigger role as buyers will respond on social media if the package does not meet the expectations set by the “JPEG” images of the product online.  Although potentially negative, these interactions with your customers can lead to new opportunities:

* Reorders.  For example, consumables.  If you sell consumable items, you can now make it easy to reorder using any smartphone.

* Recommendations for accessory products.  Based on the order, you can now recommend accessory items making it easy to increase sales with current customers.

* Company designed Facebook, Linked In, Twitter posts or “Likes”.  By designing a means to recommend products or telling friends what your customer purchased, you can increase the awareness online of your brands.

* Easy to find specific technical support.  Linking the label to YouTube video’s on how to setup and configure products will improve customer satisfaction and decrease support calls.

* Use directions or warning labels.  If your product requires specific warnings, you can  provide this information in video form, making it easier for your customer to understand.

* Emergency handling instructions.  You can now provide detailed information to first responders in case of accidents.

If you are already adding variable data to your labels, it would seem to be relatively easy to add this type of information to your labels by the use of QR codes.  With these additions, you’ll change labels from cost to revenue centers; and the focal point of connecting the online world to the physical world.

If you use QR codes, you might find the second article valuable: “Proper and Improper Use of QR Codes: 10 Great Examples of Each”.

http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2014/24499/proper-and-improper-use-of-qr-codes-10-great-examples-of-each#ixzz2v0wgRpf0

In this article, the authors point to examples that companies like yours can use.  Some of the examples that would work on labels are as follows:

* Ordering on the spot

* Teasing new products/offerings. 

Again, both of these technics would be relatively easy to do using QR codes; if you have the desire and see the opportunities that your labels can create in the online world.

I hope you find these articles of interest; and stimulate ways you can use QR codes on your labels to increase your revenues and customer satisfaction.  When you’re ready to turn your labels into revenue generators, contact us to discuss.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com

#colorlabels

PS:  Weber Marking is doing an excellent job using PinInterest to create awareness of their capabilities.  They post pictures of the labels that print!  It’s a great gallery of label art.  http://www.pinterest.com/weberpackaging/pins/