Movin' On Up
Public speaker Dale Carnegie said, “All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.” To succeed in the label industry, manufacturers and distributors alike must go beyond the catchy campaigns promoting their company’s capabilities. Anton Dahbura, corporate vice president, Hub Labels, Hagerstown, Md.; Gregg Trebnick, CEO, Trebnick Systems, Springboro, Ohio and Terence M. Flaherty, president, Label Art, Wilton, N.H., do just that—their business mottos are a way of life.
“Labels are everywhere and no one can afford to stand still,” Dahbura insisted. A 40-year industry veteran, Dahbura has witnessed many exciting label developments. “Thanks to advances in technology, labels can now be produced far more efficiently and consistently,” he said.
Because of its prepress and direct-to-plate technology, Hub Labels can produce four-color process jobs “by the numbers,” meaning guesswork has been eliminated to match the customer proof, explained Dahbura. In fact, full color in labels is a growing trend. “More and more end-users are enhancing the image of their labels to set them apart and to grab consumers’ attention,” said Flaherty.
Water-based inks and UV-inks are also becoming more sophisticated regarding their manageability during prepress and their performance both on-press and during the lifetime of the label. Dahbura observed that end-users are even becoming more interested in specialty inks such as lightfast, fluorescent, time/temperature sensitive, metallic and scratch-off.
Making a Profit
Flaherty said the label industry is projecting growth of 4 percent to 5 percent over the next few years. Such growth invites opportunity, and experienced manufacturers are taking advantage of this. Label Art currently offers hot stamping inline with flexographic printing, thus allowing end-users to create labels that will stand out from the rest.
This year, Trebnick Systems is working overtime to refine its four-color process capabilities. All of the company’s plates are produced on a computer-to-plate system for the highest quality plates available. The new all-digital plating systems enable Trebnick Systems to produce process-color jobs with line screens ranging from 150 lpi to 200 lpi. Finally, the recent purchase of a high-end plate mounter guarantees that plates are mounted with accuracy. Trebnick stressed, “Quality has been, and will continue to be, the foundation that Trebnick Systems’ success is built on.”
Hub Labels is also investing in methods to ensure profitability. Digital offset printing, which is ideal for short runs of less than 5,000 labels, allows labels to be laminated or varnished with no plate changes for greatly reduces costs. And, the company continues to lower costs for end-users through cold foil technology.
In addition, Hub Labels introduced a new patent-pending mated form, which combines a letter with labels, as well as a return-address form/label combination featuring integrated membership cards.
Overcoming Obstacles
Innovation and determination ultimately help manufacturers and distributors build a large customer base. Nobody ever said making it to the top would be easy. “The biggest challenge is to help our clients with custom, label-specific supply-chain solutions, especially when there is so little reliable forecasting to work with. No one wants to run out of labels and at the same time, everyone wants the best price. Inventory is a hot potato that nobody wants to be left holding,” Dahbura stated.
To meet his customers’ needs, Trebnick said he eliminated “no” from his vocabulary. When distributors present him with problems, particularly involving synthetic materials, Trebnick purchases the necessary equipment to complete the job if he doesn’t already have it. Right now, he is looking into a machine that can lay down a fanfolded booklet and then place a coupon label on top of the booklet. Trebnick acknowledged the stress this type of service builds for his employees. He even confessed to firing several employees who failed to provide solutions for customers. He’s only interested in creative employees.
Hub Labels believes in investing in new machinery, as well. During the last four years, Hub Labels acquired state-of-the-art Gallus presses enabling the company to print high-end decorative labels for product identification and direct mail at competitive prices.
Along with new equipment, manufacturers should be scoping out new products. Years ago, Trebnick discovered the effectiveness of Valeron in harsh-environment tag and label applications. In 1995, Trebnick quit his job selling business forms to find material that would enhance the durability of paper tags that were falling all over the grounds of a steel plant in Ohio. He realized the value of Valeron and worked toward a solution.
The following year, Trebnick was removed from the account. However, he insisted it was the best thing that could have happened to him because if he were to sell direct, he’d only have one account. He said to be a low-cost producer, he needed volume, and the only way to meet that requirement was to sell through distributors. “Even though I was thrown off that account—worth about $500,000—I can’t thank them enough because now I have distributors from all over the world calling. Distributors are the lifeblood of Trebnick. They made us better and now we can help more of them,” he stated.
The Wave of the Future
All three manufacturers realize that to stay on top, they’ll have to compete with change. “Lead times continue to shrink. ‘Just in time’ appears to be the way of the future because the marketplace is now demanding lead times of 10 days or less,” noted Flaherty. “Consolidation will continue, but smaller players will nip at the heels of Goliaths, and more niche companies will emerge,” predicted Dahbura. “Every decision we make today is [to prepare] for where we’ll be five years from now,” Trebnick added.
Dahbura believes RFID will influence the printed products industry. “RFID has the potential to be second in impact only to the computer in our lifetime,” he said. Because RFID tags are small, flat and flexible, incorporating them into labels is a natural step.
Dahbura related his own ocean metaphor to make sense of everything. To him, product categories are similar to waves approaching the shore, while brand new products are the swells far out from the coast. As the swells develop into waves, they eventually crash and wash up to the shore.
“Today’s early swells are RFID, and the crashed waves are items such as stock blank labels and scale labels that were once relatively profitable items to produce. To ultimately win, label manufacturers need to learn to keep creating new swells, which will be tomorrow’s sustaining products, while managing the more mature products that are less profitable, but still in demand by end-
users,” Dahbura explained.
Anyone can say they’re the best person for a label job, but they need strong actions to back up their statements—otherwise, they’re just empty words that won’t stick.