Label Grid launched – is is possible to have browser based label printing software – and open source too!

Posted by Adrian on Jun 29, 2010 in coding, Labels, Open Source | 1 comment I was interested to hear of the launch  of Labelgrid recently.  This is a new open source project (GPL licence) to design a web based label printing software stack to design and print labels in a browser rather than the typical client based software.  There  will be a number of challenges in this as the authors point out on their webpage, but I thin its a really interesting idea if they get...
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Please help us to support the Help for Heroes European Rally 2010

Posted by Adrian on Jun 17, 2010 in A C Labels, business, Labels, Open Source, Security Labels | 1 comment Cpt Ed Pawsey of the 2nd Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment recently contacted us in their bid to raise money for Help for Heroes , the charity that helps to support wounded UK service men and women.  Ed and his colleagues are doing the Help for Heroes European Rally and have had some good local publicity.  This is what they say on their website Team Green Howard has secured a place on the Help...
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Digital Labels and Packaging Magazine launched by Whitmar Publications

Posted by Adrian on Jun 15, 2010 in Labels | 1 comment A new magazine landed on my desk yesterday, “Digital Labels and Packaging Magazine“.  I scanned it this morning and fund it to be a reasonable summary of the state of the digital labelling machinery marketplace, with big adverts and plugs from all the major players apart from Epson.  I’d recommend this as a one off read, but as so little happens in this arena outside of the...
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visit to the Manter self adhesive label coating plant in Spain

Posted by Adrian on Jun 13, 2010 in Labels | 0 comments On the way back from holiday I took the opportunity of visting one of the European label material suppliers in Spain, and was allowed to take a few pictures of their very impressive new operation.  Established on this site about 3 years ago, Manter run a very slick operation with 2 coating lines, pictured above.  Each line has 2 reel of paper as inputted raw materials, together with a supply...
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Chilli plant update

Posted by Adrian on Jun 13, 2010 in Open Source | 0 comments As I’ve been blogging here and here, I’ve been on a bit of a chilli growing mission this year after last years startup effort.  Here is the current state of play, and I think I’ll get about 150-200 chillis out of this lot which will make some excellent christmas presents once picked or dried, plus some curries for my family.  There is mix of hot and mild varieties, and...
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Ubuntu In Business – London – 13 July

Posted by Adrian on Jun 13, 2010 in Open Source | 0 comments Mercian Labels are passionate users of Ubuntu Linux throughout our business, and since our migration to open source software we’ve found it to be much more stable and reliable that Windows, which we now only use on machines where there is isnt really a choice eg graphic design, sage accounts etc. We hope to attend the Ubuntu in Business Event on 13 July in London to meet up with other...
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IPEX review from a labelling perspective

Posted by Adrian on Jun 13, 2010 in Labels | 0 comments I’ve been away on holiday recently and so this short review of IPEX from a labelling perspective is a little late, and therefore short.  IPEX isnt really a big labelling show, but there were some points of interest for us. Briefly: Inkjet still marches on some new offerings from Domino and Konica Minolta, but the quality of all the 4 colour inkjet units I saw was still not very good, and...
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Barry Deri rejoins Flint inks

Posted by Adrian on Jun 13, 2010 in business, Labels | 0 comments It was announced recently that Barry Deri has rejoined Flint Inks as their technical manager, after being made redundant during the recession.  We, like many customers who have come to value Barry’s technical input very highly and were very dismayed at the very short term decision of Flint Narrow web inks to terminate this invaluable resource, a decision they finally recognised as a poor...
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