Manufacturers discuss emerging markets and value-added applications.
Spurred by the introduction of laser printers in the 1980s, laser labels continue to be a profitable product for distributors, with new applications and processes spawned regularly to meet end-users' demands.
"Lasers are pretty hot right now," noted Melinda Fulton, marketing manager at Continental Datalabel, Elgin, Ill. As pin-fed labels have faded from their former preeminence, laser and thermal labels have taken over.
Mike Evans, marketing service manager for Lancer Label, Omaha, Neb., a PrintXcel company, said that he has seen steady growth in stock laser label sales over the past three years.
John Strecker, vice president of sales and marketing at Data Label, Terre Haute, Ind., concurred, adding, "Value-added and custom products have followed the same trend, with the exception being smaller run lengths due to the slowdown in the economy."
Advances in manufacturing processes have addressed the most common complaints about laser labels, including jamming and curling. Strecker said that Data Label had addressed jamming by removing 1⁄32˝ of the face stock and adhesive from the full perimeter of the sheet.
"At considerable expense, we converted all of our stock laser label sheets to window-stripped sheets, and complaints about feeding jams all but disappeared," Strecker said.
Beyond the Obvious
Address and shipping labels make up the bulk of the orders, manufacturers say, but distributors should look beyond these workhorse applications.
"One unique idea is moving companies," Evans said. Such customers often need large quantities of labels and require custom printing or specifications. "Our PressAbels laser sheets have been a perfect fit for this industry," Evans said, "because it requires a product that will stick to many types of surfaces—such as furniture, glass and cardboard—and then be removed easily."
Vaughn Gordon, Continental Datalabel sales manager, suggested that distributors go after transcription applications. "In hospitals and medical offices, doctors transcribe their notes to computers, then print them out on labels that are put on the patients' charts," he said.
Fulton noted that Continental Datalabel is seeing an upswing in orders for CD and DVD labels, especially since the cost of recordable and rewritable CDs has plummeted. They are big sellers because "everyone is now duplicating CDs—that's one of our bigger sellers," she said. Applications include data storage and music recording on the CDs and DVDs. For instance, Gordon explained that church and school choirs, as well as local bands, are good markets for the products. "They may only sell a few dozen or 100 CDs or DVDs at a time, and they like being able to generate labels on demand instead of ordering thousands," he said.
Continental Datalabel also offers an exclusive variety of removable memory card ID labels for use with digital cameras, camcorders and music players, as well as mobile phones and PDAs.
Another good market, Evans said, is warehouse facilities. "They purchase a lot of variable-imaged laser sheets on vinyl stock. Consecutive bar codes are really popular for warehouses, as well," Evans said.
Indeed, although paper stock is the first thing that comes to mind when laser labels are mentioned, a whole world of applications opens up when vinyl and poly stocks are considered.
Gordon said that outdoor or wet environments, such as nurseries and greenhouses, demand the use of synthetics, such as Continental Datalabel's stock weatherproof polyester label that resists moisture. Such labels can also be removed easily without delamination, he said.
Fulton said that distributors can save their customers money with this particular item. "A lot of weatherproof material is thermal printed, but laser is always more economical."
Laser labels can also be used in harsh environments, such as permanent labeling for car parts. "You would use a metallic foil with a coating to enable laser printing so that it can be permanent and not affected by water or dirt if it's located under the fender," Gordon said. Other automotive uses include the VIN label or door jamb label.
Retail shelf and product labels represent another market for laser products, manufacturers say. In addition to the original label, distributors can sell removable clear-vinyl labels that retailers can use for sale prices. The clear sales price label shows an "x" or line printed over the old price visible underneath for consumer reference. When the sale ends, retailers simply remove the sales label, saving money since they won't have to reprint the original price label, Strecker explained.
Clear labels are also used to add new or changed information to product packaging. "A lot of money is spent on packaging, which can still be used if, for instance, the government asks for new information to be included. It's much cheaper to put the information on a label than to make all-new packaging," Gordon said.
Adding Value
Manufacturers also noted strong demand in value-added laser labels. "We have more customers who are looking to create a distinctive look," Evans said.
For example, on otherwise standard shipping or address label orders, "it is becoming much more popular to have embossing, foil or four-color process printing on them," Evans said.
Fluorescents have also gone from custom to stock items. "We get a lot of requests for them," Fulton said.
Strecker said that Data Label has added a 10-color press primarily to produce laser twin-web form/label combinations with multi-color printing on both the front and back.
Odd sizes are also challenging manufacturers, Gordon observed. For example, jewelers have long used dumbbell-shaped labels to price rings, bracelets and necklaces. Now, even tinier labels, such as those on silicon chips, are posing very tough issues for suppliers.
Shipping labels are used in conjunction with bar codes to track products from manufacturer to buyer, but the future is RFID (radio frequency identification) labels, Gordon said. "There's a chip between the label and the liner so that when it's put on a product, you can trace it wherever it goes without necessarily being in line of sight," he said. Such fancy technology may represent only a tiny fraction of the laser label market, but it serves to remind distributors that ever more creative uses will be found for these versatile products.
Understand the Application
Before stirring those creative juices, though, manufacturers caution distributors to listen well and ask a lot of questions. In addition to obtaining specifications about printers, label usage and environment from both buyers and actual printer operators, samples and testing are crucial.
"Customers will tell you anything," Gordon noted. One order came in for removable labels, which the end-user later complained kept falling off. It turned out that to that user, removable meant from the liner, not the application.
In another instance, Gordon said, a distributor was told that a label was needed for use on corrugated cartons. Once a sample was obtained, it turned out that the carton was printed in multiple colors and varnished, requiring a different label product than initially assumed.
Strecker recalled an application for vinyl shelf mark labels in which the grocery chain end-user reported problems printing with its Xerox equipment. The distributor discovered that the printer wasn't hot enough to work well with the heavy 92 lb. liner, so the toner didn't bond well to the face stock.
The end-user insisted on the heavyweight liner and its original printer settings, so Data Label devised a solvent-based topcoat to chemically etch the face sheet, allowing the proper toner adherence. "Without accurate information and research by the distributor, we would likely not have been able to solve this problem," Strecker said.
A Bright Future
Manufacturers agree that laser labels' future looks bright, due to laser printers' declining costs and increasing speed. "Nothing's been found to replace at least 60 percent of laser applications," Gordon noted.
One example of market erosion is magazine address labels which, in some instances, have been replaced by ink jet systems, which spray the variable information onto a white box printed on the magazine cover.
But, such technology isn't practical for use on irregular shapes, such as auto parts, or on different-sized cartons coming down a conveyor belt, Gordon noted. "I'm looking forward to growth in laser labels throughout the next 25 years. I can't see any competition on the horizon," he said.
Strecker called laser printers "the de facto printing technology for office environments and many other applications. Certainly ink jet, thermal and EDP labels still have their niche, but for cost, speed and print quality, laser is hard to beat."
By Janet R. Gross