Alan Bonsor, technical manager at Label Apeel
Digital Labels & Packaging spoke to Alan Bonsor, technical manager at Label Apeel, ahead of Packaging Innovations 2014 to find out why it is the ‘go to’ printer for brands who want their labels to do more.
What finishes and techniques are popular at the moment?
We have been doing more labels with a high build tactile finish, which means we get to incorporate all our tools, including the screen unit, flatbed and the Digicon finishing press. This process is proving popular with our clients in the wine industry who want to lift their logo and add dimension and depth, in order to make it more visually appealing and enhance their branding.
We have also been working with several small chemical companies that wanted to add a tactile warning triangle to their packaging in order to help the visually impaired. Recreating this small triangle label was tricky, but, we worked with the ink companies and screen manufacturers and got the right combination.
One larger customer who has benefited from the high build tactile finish is Forza Supplement. For its Proteus range, we used tactile silver material to add the illusion of movement to its labels that are wrapped round large barrel containers. The team really challenged what we could do with this technique when they asked us to produce labels for its fruit essence range. They specifically requested that we capture the essence of each fruit on the label. Ever tried doing that it? No, not many people have! It is very tricky and we had some interesting ‘nose issues’, as people tend to smell things differently. However, after some to-ing and fro-ing between customer and supplier, we got there. Sometimes it is not that what we are doing is any different from what is already available. It is simply that the tolerances allowed are so tight that others struggle. We do quite a bit of trade work for people whose machinery and skills struggle with the tolerances we are prepared to work at.
How easy is reproducing labels from flexo to digital?
This is a hurdle we face regularly, but we always manage to deliver. A recent project that included this is when we were working with Long Clawson Dairy a cheese manufacturer based in Leicestershire. It was vital that we got the imagery to match when we took the labels from flexo to digital and the quality couldn’t be compromised. We produced some great interactive labels using digital embossing and foiled and slate effect, which added a 3D effect.
How are your processes different to other label printers?
One of the great things about Label Apeel is the consistency that we provide our clients. Tooling in press and repro delivers consistency every time. We record all data, so when it goes back on the press to print, it comes off the same again. It is not as easy as that sounds. There are a large number of elements that make it tricky, but we have fun doing it.
I would say the real secret to Label Apeel’s success is to reproduce high quality labels and we put everything in place to make that happen. Many other printers don’t always do the checking and double-checking with the details during each processes and if you’re producing bulk print it doesn’t always matter that much.
But like us, when you’re producing label for high end products it is vital that the labels on the bottles of whisky and wine look the same. We never stop aiming for the highest quality of labels.
One of our best assets is the fact we multi-process, we are not afraid to pass work through presses to get what we want.
I believe the other secret to our success is we say yes, when other label printers say, ‘that’s not possible’ and turn away. We are always up for a challenge and trying new things.
Why is it important as a business to be involved in working on the development of new products/technologies early on?
We recognised early in our progress ‘to being one of the leading label printers in the UK’ the need to be at the cutting edge. We are no different from our customers. They need to attract people to their products by having stunning labels and great shelf presence. We need to do the same although we don’t use packaging to do it we use our knowledge and our understanding of what is new and what can be achieved. I suppose the thing that surprised us was that so few of our competitors were doing the same.
We now open the doors to our suppliers to use us as a test bed for any new products and in return they keep us up to speed on new developments coming to market. This means our customers get to benefit from these enhancements sooner than their competitors, which gives them greater market presence. This in turn means that they sell more products, which means we are more successful. For Label Apeel, every research and development pound spent is an investment that to date has always paid off.
