Rose City Label again attended the PIA/SGIA Continuous Improvement conference. This is the very best place to benchmark with other printers that are practicing Lean Manufacturing. Seeing other printers, large and small, share their success and lessons learned is motivational for us. We learned new skills and recommitted to working on the business – we have to constantly drive out waste and provide more value for customers. Every single day.
Continuous Improvement in all areas
The 2018 CI Conference reinforced all the areas of our business that we work on daily. There is no finish line on the road to printing excellence. We have to be vigilant and recognize that there are always better ways to do things. Even after a record year – the best year in 90 years – we still have improvements to make in the office, production, shipping and prepress. There is always more work to do.
Culture and Techniques
One of the excellent presenters compared the lean CULTURE and lean TECHNIQUES to ‘peanut butter and jelly’. The two things are fundamentally different, but they are both required for optimal results. Often, companies (including us) focus on the techniques and tactics in the press room, rather than the people. One big takeaway from this conference was that our job – as a company – is to develop problem solving, innovative, curious people. The people will deliver value for the customer, and the customer will make our business successful financially.
Learning to See
One of the initial things we (and all CI companies) need to do is learn to see opportunities. One of the speakers said, You have to SEE it and then you have to SEIZE it. You can’t seize (fix) it until you first SEE the problem, issue, waste, gap. Learning to SEE is the first step to improvement. In Lean language, there are 8 deadly wastes in every company. We need to see these first. Besides that, the concept of ‘Fix what bugs you’ is a great way to find problems to attack. In every business, there are ways to get better every day.
Make it World Class
Barely adequate workplace is not what we are going for. We want our business, our facility, and our people to be the best they can be. Only then will we add the most value for our customers. Clean, bright, well organized work areas inspire people to do their best and we strive to provide that. “Look good, feel good, play good!” This was the mantra of one of the speakers at the conference.
Pay it Forward
Another common aspect of lean companies is the desire to share what they have learned. Because nobody survives on the lean journey alone, everybody realizes they had help along the way. Because others helped them, most lean companies want to help others. We are no different. Please contact us directly if you are a manufacturer trying to implement lean. We don’t have all the answers, but we are happy to try to help.
Thank You
Many have helped us get to this point, and we know many others will help in the future. Ultimately, we exist to add value for our customers and we thank you very much for trusting us. Your support allows us to learn and grow as we move forward. Please contact us today if we can help your business.
Transferring very high quality premium foil stamping to labes is one of our most important skills. We have the equipment, people, and experience to set your label apart from the competition. For over 25 years, this has been one of our key selling points in the label market. Other label companies even send work to us because of our expertise.
Top Notch Equipment
Two years ago, we invested in a state of the art foil stamping machine. This new machine is outlined in this video from our YouTube Channel – please click here to see it. These key features make this press the best in the industry.
State of the Art servo web transport
Amazing image quality
Large 9″ x 9″ image area
Solid construction for embossing and stamping
Touch screen accuracy and reliability
Most Experienced Operators
Our foil stamp operators have been with the business for years. Most have had other jobs within the company, but they are full trained and experienced in foil stamp operation. Recently we had a factory service technician in for machine repairs and upgrades. He also provided advanced training for us.
Artwork that Works
Premium foil stamping starts with proper artwork. During our recent training session, we trained our graphics team as well as the press operators. We know that the more the design side of the business understands the print production, the better results we will get on our premium foil stamping projects.
Call Us Today
Our premium foil stamping department is booming, but we always have time to add new customers to the Rose City Label family. Call us today for a free, no obligation consultation to see how we can help take your labels to the next level.
The highly efficient HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Label System takes label printing to a whole new level! With minimal waste, exact quantity label production and reduced obsolescence- printing labels digitally is the most environmentally conscious method of creating high quality labels to showcase your brand. How do we do it?
It starts with the plate-less servo driven printing system, which allows us to print the exact amount of labels you need. In order to maintain cost efficiency on a flexo printed label, you may have to produce many more labels than you really need. But sometimes those “extra” labels become obsolete. In those instances, the obsolete labels ultimately end up in landfills. Why not print exactly what you need exactly when you need it?
It only takes a few feet of material to set up the HP Indigo. That is significantly less material than it’s flexographic counterpart. And using less material in set up means less waste in the environment and less cost to you. It’s a Win- Win!
And speaking of lowering costs… Rose City Label now offers even LOWER prices on digitally printed labels! So now is the perfect time to call Rose City Label for your next digitally printed label. You will be glad you did!
Same great service! Same great quality – with more competitive prices! Give us a call today!
Government label approvals are never much fun, but we are TTB Label Submission Experts so we can help demystify the process. We won’t make it fun, or even easy, but we can help you know what to expect and take away some of the confusion. This is a general overview that is subject to change with regulations and personnel changes, but as of today, the label approval atmosphere is about as good as it has been recently.
Do Your Homework
Your wine is your passion – sharing it with the world excites you. Whether this is your first bottling year or your 20th, it pays to learn (or review) the rules. TTB has made it easier than ever with these online resources. Do your homework, know the rules, and work with TTB Wine Label Submission Experts.
With a bit more time, you can dig into the 20+ resource links offered on the TTB’s own website. The site has specific sections about flavorings, sulfites, organic claims and more. Click here to go to their site TTB Wine Label Resource website
One of the best features on the TTB site is a real-time processing backlog. As of today, the backlog for labels is only 4 days for wine labels! This obviously changes throughout the season, but it is worth checking from time to time. Please, be mindful of this and don’t ask your label company to make up for all the time lost waiting in line at TTB for COLA (certificate of label approval). Click here for the real time updates – Current Label Processing Times (updated daily)
Work with a qualified Label Designer
Consider all the blood, sweat and tears you have put into your amazing wine. The hours and agony to get the blending just right. Lots of time, effort and money, right? Then please, don’t go cheap on the wine label designer! This is some of the best money you will spend and it is worth every penny. Many consumer studies show that wine is among the most ‘label influenced’ of all retail purchase categories. Use a seasoned professional, not an intern or a relative in design school. We only do basic changes and typesetting internally, but we have an excellent list of top notch wine label designers. Use a professional and your results will be amazing.
What to Expect from Us
Because we are the TTB Label Submission Experts, we have developed a very specific work flow to make sure your job gets printed right the first time. We don’t vary from this proven process because it works. Here is the work flow:
Adobe Illustrator (AI) files submitted by you our your designer – Your professional designer will know why we need Vector format art – read more in this PDF – File formats and color models explained You don’t really need to know this stuff because a solid designer will provide an excellent file with all fonts, placed images, links, and color call outs. Emboss areas and foil areas will be clearly identified and die cut lines will be separated from the main artwork. This is why you work with a professional.
PDF proof back from us to you for final approval – We are very good, but we do make mistakes and files get lost in translation. For this reason, we ALWAYS send a PDF proof back just to make sure that we got what you intended. PDF is our file format of choice because at this point it is still editable. If we do need to change an alcohol percentage or fix a typo in your back label story, we can do that very easily in the PDF format. We don’ change format until the PDF is approved.
JPG files sent to you for TTB submission – when you LOVE the PDF, you give a conditional approval and request JPG files for TTB submission. We know these have to be actual size, 300 dpi, with front and back labels in separate files, and no additional notations on the files. We know this because we are TTB Label Submission Experts!
Your Final Approval – once the TTB gives their blessing, you contact us with final approval to run the job. At this point the job is released to production.
Print, Die Cut, Foil Stamp, Emboss, QC, and deliver! – depending on the complexity, the job may run through 2, 3, 4 or more machines before it arrives to you.
Bottling day!
Finally, if you have done all your homework, selected a great designer, and partnered closely with us, you will be thrilled on bottling day. Your labels will look great on the bottle – what a wonderful feeling!
Summary and Conclusion
Thank you for trusting us and letting us be a part of this amazing process. Your trust is why we are TTB Label Submission Experts. We have been writing about this topic since 2010 in these two posts – click here to see that old post. Please contact us early in the process so we can make sure your jobs run properly the first time. We have connections to designers, mobile bottlers, glass suppliers, label approval lawyers and other great professionals to make the experience as painless as possible.
We recently attended the TLMI Technical Conference in Chicago to network with leaders in our industry. This year it was rebranded as ‘PrintTHINK’ and it was packed full of good content. We have always been big fans of TLMI – click here to learn more – as it represents the very best label printers and suppliers in America. According to one survey, the 150 label printer members of TLMI (including Rose City Label) account for 59% of the $7 BILLION dollars worth of label printing in North America. The Supplier members that sell us ink, paper, and equipment probably account for an even higher percentage of the total in their fields.
As with past conferences, there was tons of great value presented in the lectures and panel discussions. The vendors were very generous with their time and information. It was wonderful to get a quick snapshot of the industry now, and the direction for the future. BUT, without a doubt, the greatest value in the conference is having the opportunity to Network with Leaders. Comparing stories with other people running successful companies across the country is always the best part. People share freely and help each other to learn and grow. Many have invited us in for a tour of their shop. This is the what it means to network with leaders – sharing your stories and helping all companies get to a higher, better, more profitable state. We helped others and other certainly helped us. We will be back in 2019 for sure.
The agenda was jam packed and the evenings were full of dinners and time at the bar. These are a few of the main highlights:
Vendors are Out with New Technology
The pace of change has never been faster, but the cooperation has never been greater. In one panel, press manufacturers collaborated to share all the new features of automation, quick changeover, and precise print control. Along with automated presses, people talked about shop management software, printing inks, and specialty coatings.
Digital Press Options Abound
The HP Indigo digital press in our shop remains the Gold Standard for the type of high quality wine, beer, and spirits labels we focus on. It has more installations world wide than any other press in this class. BUT, new UV Inkjet machines are finally getting to a mature state. These presses have a different color profile and print on different label materials, but they print very FAST. As we continue to grow our digital business, we will keep our eye on these options.
The PEOPLE Make the Difference
More than anything, it is the personal, honest conversations with our friends that make the trip worthwhile. We learned the REAL story about their new equipment so we could progress without making the same mistakes. We learned about the REAL cost of accessories for one new press from a friend in San Diego, we got good ideas about revising our accounting from a friend in Vermont, and we were inspired by the dedication of another in Pittsburg. Real, honest sharing and best practices. This is the value of networking with leaders – and the value of all conferences.
Call us Today!
If you want to partner with a company that likes to network with leaders, call us today. We stay on the cutting edge of equipment, techniques, and systems so we can always provide you with the highest quality labels. Our business is booming but we would love to hear from you. Please call us today.
We continue to invest in new tools to help our customers get the highest quality labels. This state of the art light booth provides a digital verification of our internal color management. The SpotOn! Software solution uses precise digital technology to ensure accuracy of spot color printing in the press room. Digital Color Management will raise the bar again on our quality system. Our dedicated press operators (each with over 20 years experience) are great, but this system gives them a scientific backup to make sure they are always hitting the target on color.
Measuring Using Delta E – world standard
The world wide recognized standard in Digital Color Management is Delta E. It provides an objective way to visually show deviations from the ideal target value. The system, Spot On Flexo, uses a digital library of colors and then measures press color using a color spectrophotometer. We compare the measured value to the standard and plot the difference (or Delta) on a graph. Hopefully the color is right in the center of the target range and no adjustments are needed. If the color is off, the system provides suggestions to get the color back into the target range.
Precise Match to PMS Colors (Pantone Matching System)
The Pantone Matching System (PMS color library) is the universal standard used by all printers and designers. This Digital Color Management system has the full licensed PMS color library included in the software. This means we can match any PMS color specified by a label designer. Guess work is gone and judgement is backed up by science.
Create and Reproduce Custom Colors with Ease
Despite the vast Pantone library, some labels require a truly special, custom color. We have deep expertise in creating these colors based on customer input, but documenting and reproducing these colors can be difficult. Since they are custom, there is no formula to recreate them (which is one reason to avoid them if possible). Using this Digital Color Management system, we can capture a digital image of these colors and then save them for future runs. 3, 6, 24 months later, we can easily recall this color on the next press run.
Track and Report During and Between Runs
Matching the color once is great, but keeping it consistent over long press runs can be difficult. By periodically using the color spectrophotometer to sample the color during the run, we can graph and track the color over time. There is always some variation within a print run, but with this system we can set standards and track the variation during the run. And, with this saved data over time, we can measure all runs against each other. Within the run and between runs, we have the Digital Color Management system to back up our exceptional operators.
Staying Cutting Edge for You
We continuously evaluate and invest in new technology to make even better labels. Our customers demand very high quality. We are always looking for tools and techniques to deliver that quality with more consistency and efficiency. Thank you for your partnership. If you want a progressive, technology focused label printer to help on your next project, please call us today.
Barely adequate workplace is not what we are going for. We want our business, our facility, and our people to be the best they can be. Only then will we add the most value for our customers. Clean, bright, well organized work areas inspire people to do their best and we strive to provide that. “Look good, feel good, play good!” This was the mantra of one of the speakers at the conference.
Artwork that Works
Consider all the blood, sweat and tears you have put into your amazing wine. The hours and agony to get the blending just right. Lots of time, effort and money, right? Then please, don’t go cheap on the wine label designer! This is some of the best money you will spend and it is worth every penny. Many consumer studies show that wine is among the most ‘label influenced’ of all retail purchase categories. Use a seasoned professional, not an intern or a relative in design school. We only do basic changes and typesetting internally, but we have an excellent list of top notch wine label designers. Use a professional and your results will be amazing.
