by Scott Pillsbury | Jan 23, 2023 | Label Design
In today’s crowded marketplace, making sure your product stands out on store shelves is more important than ever. With so many options vying for consumers’ attention, you only have a few seconds to capture their interest. But did you know that packaging plays a huge role in catching consumers’ eyes? According to Ipsos research, 72% of consumers are influenced by product packaging, and 67% say the materials used in the packaging matter.
One of the biggest trends in packaging today is sustainability. According to Ipsos, 85% of consumers consider sustainability when purchasing. This is especially true for younger generations like Millennials and Gen Z. Brands that prioritize eco-friendly packaging are more likely to win over these consumers.
Personalization is also becoming more important in packaging. It’s estimated that personalized packaging will double in the next decade, thanks to advances in digital printing. But it’s important to strike a balance between personalization and brand recognition. Your packaging should be visually appealing and instantly recognizable as your brand.
As an SGP-certified, eco-friendly print partner, we have the skills and expertise to help you navigate these challenges. We can provide digital labels with vast personalization options, while also ensuring that your packaging is sustainable and visually appealing. We are ideally positioned to help you soar in 2023. Call us today to learn more about how we can help you create packaging that will stand out on store shelves.
by Scott Pillsbury | Nov 17, 2022 | Company News, Label News
The current market conditions have caused a flurry of price increases across the printing industry. Here are just a handful of statements from our vendors in recent months:
“The price increase is due to several market conditions outside of our control. These conditions include escalating commodity pricing of raw materials, increasing freight costs, as well as the continued effects of nationwide inflation and labor shortages.”
“These adjustments are necessary to offset continuing increases in the cost of paper.”
“Inflation has accelerated in the wake of recent mill closure announcements.”
“To ensure the continuity of supply, we will adjust prices for any shipments.”
“Paper mills capacity reductions (mill closures) and diversion of mill capacity to non-PSL markets have created an extremely tight domestic supply situation for paper face and liner materials critical to our industry.”
“Extremely high raw material and indirect costs are causing continued inflation, especially on paper products.”
These are just a few lines from six letters we received from various suppliers across the paper industry. The message is coming through loud and clear: global inflationary pressure, demand for paper, and shortages due to mill closures are causing industry-wide price increases.
Even though we’re following suit with price increases, Rose City Label is in a fortunate position for the following reasons:
- We have a high inventory of various label materials, giving us tons of flexibility with producing labels for our clients.
- We have strong relationships with our vendors that go back decades. Even with the volatility in the paper industry, we feel great about having the ability to acquire paper materials needed to serve our clients.
- We have the capability for high-capacity label printing thanks to our new press, meaning that we can produce the jobs for you faster and in higher quantities than ever before!
As always, we appreciate your understanding during these challenging times. We remain committed to serving you whether you need wine, beer, or specialized product labels!
Ready for us to tackle your next label job? Get a quote here
by Scott Pillsbury | Jul 27, 2021 | Company News, Technical
Certified World Class Quality
Recently Rose City Label upgraded our print quality standards to match the most stringent G7 quality standard in the printing world. With a multi-day onsite audit, we were able to demonstrate our ability to precisely match print targets. This is a true mathematical proof that our print quality meets or exceeds the highest international standards. Check the certificate by clicking here.
Why Get Certified?
The Idealiance website says it best, and we couldn’t agree more. Print is competitive, and to be successful, you have to be VERY GOOD at your craft. We are raising the bar so we can keep meeting your needs. Measuring ourselves against high standards means we always produce certified world class quality. Learn more about G7 quality here.
Print service providers of all types know that a measurable, predictable, and uniform color management process provides significant business advantages. For printers to make money, orders must be turned around quickly, they must be consistent and they must predictable.
Investing in People, too!
Besides recognizing our facility, the auditors also look at the technical quality of our people. Both of our graphics people – Lisa and Amy – were awarded a separate certification for their expertise. We have high standards. We invest in our people and they do their best to meet our customer needs every day. It is a team effort and we all enjoy working together to make outstanding labels.
And, WE ARE HIRING! We always need a ready supply of highly trained peole to keep up with our workload. If being a part of a team like this sounds good, please contact us today.
Beautiful, repeatable labels
Printing is an art – and it always will be. But, there is a massive amount of science built into the art of printing. For repeatable, high quality labels, we need measurable standards and targets. Our production team is using more technology and automation everyday to ensure that our quality keeps rising over time. ‘Eye ball color’ isn’t good enough today. With this certification we are demonstrating to ourselves and our customers that we are committed to measurable quality.
Continuous Improvement – Forever and Always!
This certification is just one of many ways we challenge ourselves to get better over time. Today we print more labels, with better quality, than we ever have before. We measure and we improve over time in our print quality, our business performance, and in our environmental stewardship. This is a long game. As a 94 year old family business we have a unique perspective. We are here for the future to keep meeting all our customers’ needs. Call us today if you want to partner with a leader that is always getting better.
by Scott Pillsbury | Jul 27, 2021 | Company News, Technical
New Press for Faster Labels
This Fall Rose City Label is again investing in new technology to serve more customers. This new servo driven press will provide the fastest, most economical option for mid and long run labels. Our digital business is booming with the small to mid length runs, and this press will round out our capabilities.
Fastest Speed and Precise Registration
As wonderful as our HP Indigo Digital Press is, it still has limitations. This new press is designed to run up to 4x (400%) faster than the HP press. On longer runs, that massive speed increase means faster deliveries and lower cost to you, our customer. And, the quality is unmatched in the traditional press arena. The full 8 color capabilities mean that we can print a beautiful 4C (CMYK) image, along with a specific pantone color for a logo element, and keep all the colors in precise register tolerance. This is a whole new level of long run quality. New Press for Faster Labels – for you!
Computer Controlled Technology
Even though we have done traditional printing for over 50 years, this takes the game to a new level. This is computer controlled, servo driven quality. This means faster learning for our press operators, more reliable operation, and the ability for factory service with remote diagnostics. This machine has all the modern features of a 21st century digital press, with the speed of a traditional press. This is the perfect combination to serve more customers in the coming years. This technology will keep the press running reliably for years to come – New Press for Faster Labels.
Embellish Inline!
Currently, we have to emboss and foil stamp labels on a second machine. Not anymore. With precision in-line foil stamping, we can run a mid to long run job with foil stamping on one press at full press speed. We can also emboss on that same single run. Things that took days will now take hours. We have massive new capabilities and we need your creativity to make the most of them.
This press is built by Mark Andy, the world wide leader in production label presses. They have a huge lead on every other press company, and they are based in St. Louis, MO to provide local, US-based service into the future. Check out more details by clicking here.
Sheets and Rolls – total flexibility
With all these options, we are better positioned than ever to serve all your label needs. Rolls and sheets, backside printing, complex die cutting. All the options you have enjoyed at Rose City Label are getting even better. Faster run speeds and lower waste make us even more environmentally friendly. Call us today. We are ready to serve all your label needs.
by Scott Pillsbury | Jul 13, 2021 | Beer Wine Spirits, Customers/Examples, Label Design, Technical
Consistent Color Over Time – RRWC
In our business, many of or new label print jobs are considered ‘RRWC’ – Re-Run With Change. This is not a NEW item (something we have never printed) and not an exact reprint – it is somewhere in the middle. The most common example in our business is wine labels. If we printed 2018 Chardonnay last year, and then this year you want another run – 2019 Chardonnay – then this item is RRWC. We have printed Chardonnay before, but we are updating (changing) to the new vintage and often a new alcohol percentage.
Revising the Current File – Best Option
When we get an order for Rerun with Change, the BEST option is for Rose City Label to revise our current file and send a proof for approval. This is the best way to ensure a color match with the existing item. This is the best way to have consistent color printing. Providing a new file is not required – and can be detrimental – on RRWC jobs. Letting us make the file changes per your specification is the best option for the most consistent color printing.
Fine Tuning After the File is Submitted
Part of the difficulty with the submission of new files on RRWC jobs is that internally we do several additional processes to your submitted files after the proof is signed. There is considerable calibration, setup for die cutting and potential foil stamping, and several other steps before the file is ready to print. And, then we color correct the output to match the desired end sample. All of this work has to be redone from scratch when you submit a new file. This is a huge additional task that adds no value to your label production and actually slows down delivery of your labels.
Unintentional Changes = Big Time Wasters
Finally, sometimes when a new file is submitted for a RRWC job, there can be very small, unintended changes that throw off the color match to the previous label. One small change in how a logo was built, one small change in a background image… Any of these changes can make a big difference and add hours to the label production. Because we don’t generally know what has been changed, we end up spending extra time playing detective to find the correct formula to match the prior label. This is wasteful in time and material, and adds no value to the final label.
RRWC – Don’t Submit a File, Just Submit your Edits
For best results, trust the experts at Rose City Label to make your edits and send corrected proofs for approval. Don’t waste time and energy sending new files unless you want a different look! If you want consistent color printing, let us use the existing file as the base to work from, and edit from there. Together, this will allow us to get the best results with the fastest turn around time.
Thank you for partnering with us and trusting our 94 years of label experience work for you. Questions? Call us today!
