2012 is looking to be our best ever, and we want your ideas to help develop our offering Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Its a simple question, and one that is often not asked enough to customers.  How can we improve?  In some of the business areas we operate in it is hard to interact with customers face to face regularly, and so the online medium is vital for us.  So to commence the year we would like to invite any and all comments and suggestions, positive and negative, on how we could improve.

Questions we are particularly looking for answers to include:

• What new products would you like to see, or what problems tacked by our NPD team?
• How could we improve our service to you?
• If you use other labelling businesses as well as us, what do they offer that we dont?
• If you could make one change to the way we do business with you, what would it be?

Please feel free to email me directly with your thoughts (adrian.steele@mercianlabels.com) , send us a tweet to @mercianlabels or post a comment below.

We have a number of exciting plans for 2012 including a brand new product range, service improvements from a new and easier to use software process and of course the expansion of our digital labelling capability with the new Xeikon 3300, available to both trade and end user customers.

Happy new year, and I hope that 2012 brings a record year of trading for all our customers.

Adrian Steele – MD

The Mercian Labels Group are exhibiting at the Packaging Innovations Show - NEC 29 Feb- 1 March 2012

We are delighted that all the divisions of The Mercian Labels Group are exhibiting in the Ecopack zone of  The Packaging Innovations Show at the NEC near Birmingham on 29 February – 1 March 2012.

Our digital labelling process uses FDA food safe toners and is fuly deinkable for recycling

• Mercian Labels will be showing its latest digital labelling capabilities from the new Xeikon 3300 with FDA approved food safe inks and fully deinkable and recyclable digital label print.

AC Labels specialise in variable barcode labelling

• AC Labels will be exhibiting its high quality variable data labelling capabilities with 100% barcode verification

Label lock tamper proof security tape

• Security Labels International will be exhibiting its range of Label Lock tamper evident security labels and our latest innovation, tamper proof tape

Give our sales team a call and arrange a meeting or just pop up to see us.   You will find us on stand E22. Tickets are free and it is going to be one of the main UK packaging and labelling shows of 2012.

See you there!

GENERAL MANAGER COOKS UP A STORM

AC Labels (2010) Ltd enjoyed a festive breakfast this morning cooked by master chef Peter Hartshorn enjoyed by all.

Thanks Pete from all the staff at AC Labels.

Happy Christmas from The Mercian Labels Group

We will be closing for Christmas from 1.00 p.m. Friday, 23rd December 2011, and will return on Tuesday, 3rd January 2012.

May we take this opportunity to thank all our staff, customers and suppliers  for their support from each of our businesses (Mercian Labels, Security Labels International,  Label Lock and AC Labels ).

I have blogged for years on the problems facing the labels industry in managing its waste streams, and to a large degree most of the problems are  still here, but getting closer to a solution. This is a summary of the options as far as I know:

The labelling industry produces millions of m2 of siliconised label waste like this a year - and we cannt work out a way of reusing it.

Siliconised glassine paper release liner (“backing paper”) – this cannt be recycled with normal paper as you need a sophisticated deinking plant to remove the silicone.  Consequently the options are limited to landfill, waste to energy or recycling (which is often uneconomic at current rates).

Major recyclers of siliconised glassine release liners include:

• Chanelled resources – who ship the paper for reuse overseas
• Cycle for green - recycling by reprocessing at Lenzing Papier in Austria at a specialist plant
• UPM papers- recycling in France via  Vertaris by reprocessing 

To my knowledge there are no UK recyclers of glassine liner, and only 2 plants in Europe (France and Austria) that can reproceses it.

Siliconised PET (polyester) release liner - this cannt be recycled with normal PET.  Consequently the options are limited to landfill, waste to energy or specialist recycling

Major recyclers of siliconised PET release liners include

• Avery Dennison (as previously reported here)

Siliconised PP (polypropylene) release liner - this is a new and emerging release liner solution that can sometimes be recycled with other PP plastic waste provided that it is properly segregated.  Consequently the options are limited to landfill, waste to energy or specialist recycling

Major recyclers of siliconised PP release liners include

• UPM

Matrix Waste

This is the biggest unaddressed problem.  Mercian Labels commissionsed a report from a leading European academic specialising in waste management in 2008, which recommended that the only viable options were landfill (undesirable but cost effective), or waste to energy, which is the position we are trying to move to.  This is because its a mix of paper, plastic, adhesive, ink and silicone that cannt be separated into different waste streams.  I have blogged on this subject before here and here , and the position remains largely unchanged.  From our perspective, we are waiting for a waste to energy plant to be built near one of our operations in Cannock as our long term solution.

If you generate batches of more than  3 tonnes of liner then you can get it recycled through one of the routes described above.  If you are a smaller user, and most people will be, then I am afraid that to our knowledge there are no other recycling options available at the moment in the UK.

Last week I was at the biggest Labelling show in the world, Label expo in Brusells, Belgium.  It was a fantastic event, certainly the best of the 6 Label Expos I have been too.  This is a review of my thoughts on the show and developments relevant to our customers and marketplaces in the same manner in which I did for the last show in 2009.

Its bulletted for my convenience and speed.  Please quickly add your thoughts to the comments once you’ve read it – no registration needed, just type and press!

General

• It was a great show with a lot of buzz about the place. Everyone seemed to be pleased with attendee numbers that were up 18.6^ on last year (28k in total!) and the quality of interest.
• The venue was as good as ever – I hope it doesn’t move as its a really good venue for the show
• Twitter was big this year with a lot of visitors, major brands and journalists commenting on the show as it happened using the #lablexpo hashtag . I certainly found some new technology by visiting stands mentioned on twitter that I would not otherwise have gone to.  I can only see Twitter usage exploding (try 137 tweets 831,151 impressions, reaching 80,940 followers using #labelexpo).  It was surprising the number of people who knew my tweets before I arrived on their stand this year!

Digital

The Label Technology Workshops were very good

• The head to head EFI v HP v Xeikon digital print workshops were great, a real showcase to watch the latest developments.  To me, the digital hall had the biggest and best buzz of all!  The displays of packaging/carton printed were also pretty good.  The best bit – watching Filip from Xeikon eating the toner to demonstrate its FDA food safe properties for direct food contact!

Xeikon remains our preferred platform so we bought another one at the show - part of the £30m+ spent on digital machines at the show itself!

• Xeikon introduced their varilane software enabling multiple variable jobs to be stacked up across the web, and optimised to use the least amount of material.  This seemed very clever and I am looking forward to seeing the final version when its ready in the coming months.  Xeikon also showed a great comparison of the effect of sunlight fading on the same image printed using UV inkjet, Xeikon Toner and HP liquid toner.  I will be posting abut this separately in the coming days.  Xeikon also introduced some new toner colours for the chemical markets (red and orange) and a new dry toner printable PE was also announced from Mactac (and a direct thermal material as well, although I did not see it).  Although limited, it does now mean that most substrates can be Xeikon printed, which has always been a major benefit of the HP platform over Xeikon.

HP Indigo WS6600 with inline coating

• The big news from HP was the launch of their WS4600 and WS6600 machines, with the main 2 differences I could tell from the existing very successful 4500 and 6000 models were
  • there was an “enhanced productivity mode” using 3 colour process (no black) rather than 4 colour, with a consequential improvement in speed and drop in click charge.  However, there didn’t seem to be any comparable samples on the stand of the same job done 3 and 4 colour, and no-one who I spoke to (and I spoke to a few…) had seem a comparison either, despite asking for them, nor seen it working on the stand.  So, I can not say if it was actually available, or if it works without a significant drop in quality – judge for yourself.
  • There was an addition brand protection package with invisible UV inks that was good if you need that facility.

There was also the launch of an inline primer coater for the WS6600- however it was apparently not seen working to coat any synthetic substrates, and I overheard talk of an patent related issue possibly being the cause.

HP also told me that they are now the world’s biggest label press manufacturer, having installed more presses in the past 2 years than any other manufacturer.  WOW – thats a really big statement, taking it away from the likes of Gallus, Nilpeter, Mark Andy etc.  It just shows how the world has gone digital, with the 2 powerhouses of HP and Xeikon rumoured to have sold a combined total of over £30m of machines in the first 2 days at the show!

• Durst had a really impressive 8 colour UV inkjet system on show, perhaps the best quality UV inkjet for the labels market we have seen to date;  the replacement Xaar 1001 head cost still scare me though!

Jetrion 4900 with inline laser converting

• EFI Jetrion had the new 4900 printer with inline laser die cutting  – again pretty good, just not the print quality of Xeikon and HP, or HD flexo really IMHO.
• The ultra slow but very high quality Epson Surepress machine was attracting a lot of interest, especially from the guys wanting to digitally print onto highly textured wine labels.  Watch this space with Epson, as I can see a major new platform coming out for label printing at DRUPA 2012. The substrates are unprimed, the ink water based, the quality very good – its now all about a synthetic substrate to work with and SPEED!
• Stork / SPG had their machine on the show again, which was IMHO on a par with the Durst unit in terms of quality.  In common with almost everyone apart from Xeikon however, there was no inline converting on show, but as a reel to reel solution with 8 inkjet colours, it was a pretty impressive use of Xaar print heads. Maybe 8 colours is the way to go to generate prime quality labels print from an inket platform?  Even so, there were still some noticeable blocked nozzle lines on the samples on display, but certainly a lot better than we have seen from SPG at the last show.  From the UV inkjet platforms, SPG and Durst appear to be battling it out for the highest quality.
• the CSAT Heidleburg launch product was again pretty good using (LED I think?) UV lamps, but again the running costs presented on the stand didnt make themselves competitive against HP and Xeikon, even with a much faster web speed. The price of inkjet heads really needs to be costed in a different manner (inclusive with ink costs?) to make them viable, as occasional consumable bill of £50k is too risky to incorporate into the running costs.  Inkjet manufacturers to note IMHO!
• The water based memjet technology was present from OWN-X from Hungary and Rapid Machinery from Australia.  On the right substrates the quality is pretty good most of the time, but the platforms were not really geared up for full industrial use and running many KMs of digital label material a day.  The requirement to stop the machine and break the web for an inkjet head clean every few hundred meters was a significant limitation on some platforms from what I saw.
• There were a lot of entry level desktop laser machines too like the Primera machines that seemed to get a lot of interest, and seemed ideal as a first step towards digital label production for a small labelling business, or an in house solution for small label user customers.
• There was a huge number of digital converting lines on show from businesses that I have rarely come across, or never heard off.  Traditionally this market has been dominated by AB Graphics and GM, but it is clear that there are many other solutions out there with the obvious semi rotary/varnish/laminating features, but also the odd multiple die station, foiling and screen printed units.  Its clear than many of the slitter rewinder manufactuers are eyeing this market up very keenly a lot of the premium priced work moves to digital from flexo, and the converting needs are different from conventional slitter rewinders.
• Laser die converting was again on display with a number of different solutions from different manufacturers including one for the Xeikon from GM.  At the moment it doesn’t seem to be economic to run with only 1 laser (too slow line speed) or 2 lasers (much faster but too expensive to install), and the inevitable white line problem is still there, but it is looking more attractive than ever.

Flexo+ converting

• This year Flexo didnt seem to show very many big developments, with HD now well established.  However I did speak to some people I thoguht would be highly focussed on digital, but in fact were shopping for flexo presses!  Flexo is still the major print process by far as far as I can tell.  All the focus was on quick changeover with the new FL350 platform from Edale, and Mark Andy demonstrating 32 second changeovers of a flexo print station.  Its very impressive… and combined with the move towards even smaller repeat cylinders with smaller plate costs iut is very clear that pure flexo manufacturers are competing now not on quality and max speed, but how efficient they can be when matched against digital, which is getting faster and wider.  The middle ground of flexo / digital changeover is getting to be a VERY crowded space.

Rotometrics adjustable anvil roller

• Rotometric had a great new device – an adjustable Accustrike Anvil roller so that you can really adjust to e tolerance between the blade and anvil without a new cutter everytime – clever.

spot the frozen die station on this Gallus machine!

• Gallus and Fasson combined to lauch a frozen “Cold Die Unit”  with Fasson Thinstream technology that allowed the use of a 12 micron PET liner!  It really was impressive, delaminating the web, die cutting the label with tiny retaining tags on a frozen anvil and then relaminating again before stripping – again very clever.
• I had a great conversational comment from one of the journalists there that I reported on Twitter “At #labelexpo 2009 digital competed with flexo. This year its all change; flexo is trying to compete with digital.” By @juan_diaz_diaz

Other developments

• There were a few new substrate coaters present which was good to see, clearly targeting the emerging markets growth.
• Herma’s dual layer coating technology caught my eye, it sounds useful and clever.

at the Xeikon community event on Thursday night the CEO Wim Maes announced that Xeikon's digital labelling business had doubled since 2008!

• The socials were excellent too with the Global Labels awards on Wednesday evening and the Xeikon community event on Thursday really enjoyable and a great opportunity to swap ideas and thought with others.

Conclusion

A fantastic show with such a good vibe to it.  It made me feel that the labels industry in actually very resilient to the recession, provided that we continually reinvent ourselves.

Xeikon and HP continue to battle for the top spot as industrial digital labelling powerhouses, and although it gets better and better, I think we are still a way from inkjet becoming a serious rival in the mass market to these 2 players.

I’m looking forward to DRUPA where there must be some more really exciting new developments!

Disclosure

I am the MD of a UK label printing company (Mercian Labels), we are are a Xeikon user, and these views are from the perspective of a label printer with interests in digital, flexo, variable data and security label printing – it is not an all encompassing independent review – if you want one, go to a journalist!)

Please now comment!

A reminder to please quickly add your thoughts to the comments once you’ve got this far – no registration needed, just type and press – opinions about anything very welcome, and unless your post is offensive I will publish it and share your views and get some debate going.

LabelExpo 2011 is the world biggest labelling show

Its an exciting time again for those in the world of labelling and narrow web packaging, as its time for the biennial Labelexpo show in Brussels later this month. As always we expect to see a lot of exciting new technology launches, some product line refreshes and a bit of the “same as always” offerings from some suppliers. The core innovations in the digital space from Xeikon and HP will be heavily watched, and a lot of the attention will be on the inkjet platforms to see if they have improved the quality of the print since the last big show at IPEX last year.

The Digital Print Workshop “face off” of Xeikon v HP v EFI Jetrion looks like it must not be missed!

As always I will be writing a review of the event from the perspective of a label converter heavily into security, variable data and short run digital work in the same way we did reviews of IPEX 2010 and Label Expo 2009 which attracted a lot of debate on this blog.

If anyone would like to meet me at the show please contact me in advance, and I am particularly interested in approaches from people who can offer solutions to our top 5 MOST WANTED problems in labelling.

Watch this space!

We are proud to have been mentioned in Parliament!  On Tuesday 21st June 2011 Hansard recorded a tribute to the success of The Mercian Labels Group from Mr Aidan Burley, MP for Cannock Chase and Rt Hon George Osborne MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the House of Commons, the UK Parliament.  You can read about it on our new corporate website under “Articles about us”.

Regular readers will want to know that we are “calling time” on certain types of content on this blog.  We will continue to post more informal content here on the same range of labelling, open source and company content, but official company news, press releases, jobs and announcements are now hosted on our new Group Corporate website at www.mercianlabels.com , particularly in the “Media” section of the site.  If you use an RSS feed, the new feed is at http://www.mercianlabels.com/feed/rss/

We are hiring an Operations Manager with NPD responsibilities

We are hiring for a fantastic new role in the Group – Operations Manager with NPD responsibilities.  Full details here.  This is a senior role and we are looking for outstanding candidates in the UK with a strong technical background to apply for this role.  If you know of anyone who may be interested, please let them know.

27 May 2011

Cannock, UK

Gammatex™ gamma radiation indicator labels growth supported with new website launch

Global demand for radiation indicator products has led to the launch of a new website to support Gammatex™, a brand of the Mercian Labels Group.

The new website at www.gammatex.co.uk showcases the product for both users and international distributors.  Launched in 2010, Gammatex labels are used in the medical and pharmaceuticals industries as verification that products have been subjected to the required dosage of radiation to ensure correct sterilisation.

Hugo Gell, Sales Director of The Mercian Labels Group said  ”Gammatex labels have been around for several years under a different name – Detex. Since the re-launch, we have been widening our net to a global market of gamma irradiation users and suppliers, and the response has been remarkable. Currently the biggest customers are from the pharma industry, but recent experience is telling us that there are many other user groups, including food and beverage, who are using gamma sterilisation, and the list is growing. The Web is the obvious way in which we can engage with diverse market sectors and distributors all over the world, and the new website will grow as our market increases.”

The website – www.gammatex.co.uk – allows potential users to familiarise themselves with the product and end user pricing, as well as having a password protected area for distributors to download marketing materials and other resources.

Gammatex is a brand of specialist labelling business  The Mercian Labels Group of Staffordshire, UK

Do you have an interest in non RFID ' SMART ' indicator labels, functional labels and specialist coating interests?

I am looking to add people to my network who are interested in so called ‘smart’ labels,  indicator labels and functional labelling and packaging. This does not refer to RFID which is already well covered , but innovative coatings and chemistries that either change their environment or indicate that an event has taken place.

This is a major research area of The Mercian Labels Group and I wish to talk to technology providers with IP, researchers in academia or the commercial sector and prospective users of such technologies.

I am particularly interested to hear about potential users for such innovative labels, and suggestions for problems to tackle. If you are interested in these areas, please connect to me on linked in or drop an email to adrian.steele@mercianlabels.com

If there is enough interest, I will setup a linkedin group for further discussions, so please let me know if you would join such a group. Hopefully we will see some new collaborative partnerships originate from this activity.

Vistitors are welcome to Mercian House

It has been a pleasure to demonstrate the production systems and capabilities of the Mercian Labels Group to visitors this year who are all keen to see the new refit and how we achieve the manufacturing lead times and innovations that we do.  Visitors have included our MP, 3 of the top labelling industry commentators in the world and many suppliers and current customers.

We would now like to welcome any prospective customers to book a tour to see our unique processes & procedures, enjoy a lunch in the boardroom and to meet the team at The Mercian Labels Group including our short run label printing division, our Security Labels International Division that makes Label Lock labels and security tape or our variable barcode labels division at AC Labels.

Part of the refit of the Mercian Labels Group HQ - the Mercian House board room

Any other interested party is also welcome to visit, meet the team and book a meeting with the Directors if you wish.  We are particularly keen on hearing from potential R&D collaborators.  We also have a surprise gift at the end of the tour!

To arrange a tour please email Lynne Hathaway, PA to the Directors at lynne.hathaway@mercianlabels.com or call 01543 431072.

Help for Heroes

Tomorrow I am running the Lichfield Half Marathon in aid of Help for Heroes. Mercian Labels has supported Help for Heroes before, and I’m pleased to be running tomorrow and sweating it out for a couple of ours to support such a worthy cause.

I dont enjoy running, didnt enjoy the training, and its going to be a hot and long 2.5 hours for me, but compared to what today’s injured servicemen and women go through on their return from action its a walk in the park.

If you are a regular reader of this blog please could I ask you to make a donation via our “Just Giving” site – just think of it as part of your contribution to the Military Covenant. There are few more worthy causes in Great Britain today.

Thank you.

The whole team at AC Labels, one year on! Pictured above (L-R) Tomasz, David, Karen, Jason, Peter, Tim, Marcin and Marcin.

It has been an excellent first year of trading for AC Labels, the high volume variable barcode label division of the Mercian Labels Group.  Since opening their doors almost exactly 12 months ago this high performing niche business has secured 100% of its customers business, brought in many new customers that value its speciality in high volume variable barcode printing with 100% inline verification, launched the excellent new Gammatex smart label product and under Peter’s management delivered a strong set of results to the group.  If all UK manufacturing performs as well as this team has in its first year, then UK PLC will be well on its way to a quick economic recovery.

We have had a suite of photos taken for some exciting new marketing material, and the photographer used some pretty clever tricky to do this uber cool shot: ( if anyone post a comment below asking for the “boy band” shot I’ll see if I can get it out!)

Well done to the team !

PP film prices are now not fixed between ordering and dispatch!

Today I’ve had this communicated to us from an industry supplier about plastic film pricing.

“…there have been two ‘game changing’ developments in film supply……

1. We have 2 major film manufacturers who will not accept ‘price as ordered’. They maintain that polymer is moving too quickly and therefore price must be agreed on dispatch.

2. Film price increases are being faxed through on dates ‘prior to delivery’ i.e. the film is on 5-6 weeks lead time and the price is increased whilst awaiting delivery.

These proposals are each on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. Not since 1988 have we seen this attitude from film suppliers and it indicates how desperate they are to avoid having to absorb polymer price increases and the speed at which the prices are changing. Meanwhile the inexorable increase in film prices continues with both March and April seeing higher polymer costs. Not surprisingly BASF, a key European polymer supplier has just announced record profits, whilst two acquisitions by Gulf-based manufacturers of European companies highlights the future shape of the film supply industry.

“

This is the most powerful example I’ve seen of raw material price inflation in our industry , and its only getting worse.  Gone are the days of 5% a year – we are now moving to multiple 10%+ prices rises a year due to global demand.

Please forgive us if we have to adjust prices in the coming months !

1 March 2011

Derby, UK

Total Quality manufacturer AC Labels provides ultimate assurance to customers.

Derby manufacturer AC Labels have crossed the ‘final hurdle’ in providing full reassurance to their customers that they are a quality force to be reckoned with. Since the original company ACL hit financial difficulties in 2009 as sales of phone cards collapsed, the labels part of the business lost its ISO 9001 designation when they were sent into administration. Having been bought by the Mercian Labels Group in 2010, the new team has worked tirelessly to rebuild their financial and quality reputations, and today received confirmation that they are fully compliant with the international quality standards demanded by ISO 9001:2008 accredited by UKAS.

AC Labels excel in the manufacture of two distinct labelling areas:

The first is in variable data and barcode labels, many of which are used in the medical and logistics fields, where guaranteed readability and accuracy are vital.

The second is in the manufacture of Gamma Sterilisation verification labels, under the famous brand Gammatex (until recently sold as ‘Detex‘). These labels change colour to provide a highly visual signal that sterilisation of foods, medical supplies and other essential products, is complete.

Pete Hartshorn, General Manager, said: ‘We are in the business of providing labels which are highly accurate and totally reliable. Unreadable barcodes can play havoc in the medical and logistics supply chains – as most of us have experienced when our parcels or luggage have gone astray. But those are relatively minor issues when compared to a patient’s tissue samples, or sterilised equipment.

‘AC Labels have invested in the latest technologies to ensure that our barcodes are guaranteed readable before they even come off the press; and every batch of Gammatex labels is verified by Europe’s leading provider of contract sterilisation services, Isotron. We always knew we were ISO Quality compliant, but now we have the certificates again to prove it’.

Jason Woodhouse, Business Development Manager added: ‘Our current customers are very aware of our strict quality control procedures and our insistence on manufacturing excellence. Today’s announcement is important because now our future customers can rely on their conformity to ISO quality standards as well. The business is growing rapidly, and this is an important milestone to ensure we maintain the momentum.’

AC Labels in Derby were acquired out of administration by the Mercian Labels Group in 2010, adding long run variable data and barcode label capabilities to the product portfolio, and providing jobs for 9 people. AC Labels manufacture high quality variable data labels, and the Gammatex brand of labels, a vital component to verify correct sterilisation of food and medical materials following Gamma Irradiation.

2010 saw the 6th successive year of record profit growth for the The Mercian Labels Group , much of which is reinvested to secure its future (£1m in the last 3 years from retained profit). The Group is currently investing further in an aggressive New Product Development strategy aimed at introducing innovative solutions in the security and labelling markets.

-end-

Notes to Editors:

Contact: Lynne Hathaway at +44 1543 431095, lynne.hathaway@mercianlabels.com.

AC Labels are recruiting a Part-time Sales Administrator in Derby

As one of the UK’s leading label printing groups, we have an immediate opportunity for a part-time Sales Administrator at our AC Labels subsidiary operation in Derby. Benefiting from being part of the Mercian Labels Group, AC Labels are market leaders in high volume variable data barcode labels with an enviable reputation for data integrity.
This is initially a temporary contract to cover maternity leave to be 100% office based in Derby, working 20 hours, Monday to Friday 1pm until 5pm.
As a member of a small team, you will need to be self motivated . The successful candidate will be dealing by email and telephone with a number of companies, large and small, across the UK and beyond, in order to close sales.

Key requirements:

• Proven successful track record in a recent business to business sales position
• Excellent rapport & relationship building skills
• Must be computer literate
• Superb communication skills
• Must be well presented

To enquire about the job, please contact Peter Hartshorn (General Manager) by email p.hartshorn@aclabels.co.uk or call on 01332 890 602.

18 February 2011

Cannock, UK

The Mercian Labels Group concludes a £1m investment programme with a major factory refit opening

The official opening of the Mercian house refit. [ L-R, Hugo Gell (Sales Director), Dennis Marrison, (Chairman), Aidan Burney MP, Dr Adrian Steele (Managing Director)

Midlands label manufacturer The Mercian Labels Group are bucking the trend by opening their newly refurbished factory following 40 years of successful trading.

The new refit of the offices and factory concludes a £1m investment programme that has been carried out over the last 3 years, and includes the launch of a new brand of security labels known as Label Lock™. As the firm continues to grow, further jobs have been created both at the site in Cannock as well as at their newly acquired business AC Labels in Derby to now total 32 staff.

The opening was conducted by Mr Aidan Burley MP, and was attended by printing industry executives Mr Paul Briggs, Industrial Sales Mgr – Xeikon UK (leading manufacturers of Digital Printing Presses) and Mr Chris Green, Sales Director – Gerhardt Ltd., (leading manufacturers of cutting tools for converting and printing industries), Mr James Boughton, Managing Director Edale Ltd (the UK’s leading printing and converting press manufacturer) as well as Mr John Wigley, Banking Relationship Manager – RBS, and Mr Andreas Greiner, Purchasing Manager – Legrand Electric Ltd.

Dr Adrian Steele, Managing Director, said: ‘Last year, Mercian Labels reached a landmark following 40 years of printing self adhesive labels, as well as completing the acquisition of the new business in Derby. The last ten years have been spent in our purpose built factory and offices in Cannock, and we felt it fitting that our latest investment programme concluded with a makeover that creates an even better working environment for our growing number of local employees’.

Mr Hugo Gell, Sales Director, added: ‘The recent launch of our security labels brand, Label Lock, has opened the doors to new markets worldwide. It is important that we create the right impression as we play host to potential customers from overseas who are keen to meet the world leaders in the security labels and tamper proof tape market. Investments in R&D, printing presses and equipment have now been complimented with up-to-date administration and sales facilities to create a first class base from which we will continue to expand our operations.’

Mr Aidan Burley, MP for Cannock Chase, who was on hand to declare the new facilities officially open said: ‘It is always a pleasure to see manufacturing businesses in this area flourishing. Too often we are quick to talk ourselves down, but here is proof that with imagination, determination and a focus on quality and value, British Industry can compete on a global scale. Investment in growth and a determination to maintain a manufacturing presence here is essential for this country’s economic recovery. Not only have Mercian Labels grown their domestic labelling business consistently, but they have now branched out into overseas markets with their unique Label Lock brand. I am especially pleased to see a strong local focus in their investments, and wish them all the best with their ventures in the future.’

Thanking Mr Burley for his support, Mr Dennis Marrison, Chairman, described Mercian Labels as ‘a model of its kind – an example of the best of British manufacturing’. “The Mercian Labels Group,” he said, “is a high quality, low cost producer, with state of the art equipment, innovative products and a committed and skilful workforce. That’s a formula that allows it to compete effectively in global markets and underpins its ongoing success.”

Mercian Labels Ltd was formed in 1969, and its principal business is printing self-adhesive labels in medium and short runs for UK businesses, using a variety of methods including digital, flexo and hotfoil technologies. AC Labels in Derby were acquired in 2010, adding long run variable data and barcode label capabilities to the product portfolio, and providing jobs for another 9 people.

The Label Lock brand was launched in 2008 and is the major growth market. These highly innovative tamper evident seals are used to secure vehicles, documents, computers and packaging, using unique technologies developed following a major R&D programme and further investment in plant and machinery. Tamper Evident Tape is just the latest development in this expanding portfolio of products.

2010 saw the 6^th successive year of record profit growth, much of which is reinvested in the business to secure its future. (£1m in the last 3 years from retained profit).

The official opening of the Mercian house refit. [ L-R, Hugo Gell (Sales Director, The Mercian Labels Group), Dennis Marrison, (Chairman, The Mercian Labels Group), Aidan Burney MP (MP, Cannock Chase), Dr Adrian Steele (Managing Director, The Mercian Labels Group)

Labelling industry executives at the official opening of the Mercian house refit. [ L-R James Boughton(MD, Edale Ltd), Hugo Gell (Sales Director, The Mercian Labels Group), Paul Briggs (Industrial Sales Mgr, Xeikon UK), Andreas Greiner(Purchasing Manager – Legrand Electric Ltd), Chris Green (Sales Director,Gerhardt Ltd), Aidan Burney MP (MP, Cannock Chase), John Wigley (Banking Relationship Manager, RBS), Ray Steele (Shareholder, The Mercian Labels Group) Jason Woodhouse (Business Development, AC Labels) Dr Adrian Steele (Managing Director, The Mercian Labels Group) Dennis Marrison (Chairman, The Mercian Labels Group),

Unveiling the plaque[ L-R Aidan Burney MP (MP, Cannock Chase), Dr Adrian Steele (Managing Director, The Mercian Labels Group)

Unveiling the plaque[ L-R Hugo Gell (Sales Director, The Mercian Labels Group), Aidan Burney MP (MP, Cannock Chase), Dr Adrian Steele (Managing Director, The Mercian Labels Group) Dennis Marrison (Chairman, The Mercian Labels Group),

The plaque

Aidan Burney MP (MP, Cannock Chase) learns about hotfoil printing

Explaining the manufacture of precision tooling used in digital label printing[ L-R Chris Green (Sales Director,Gerhardt Ltd), Aidan Burney MP (MP, Cannock Chase), Dr Adrian Steele (Managing Director, The Mercian Labels Group)

Aidan Burney MP (MP, Cannock Chase) operating a rewinding machine

Employee Tim Murphy presented with a 25 year service award by Aidan Burney MP in front of Mercian Labels Group Employees and industry executives

The refittted factory at Mercian House

-end-

Notes to Editors:

Contact: Lynne Hathaway at +44 1543 431095, lynne.hathaway@mercianlabels.com

The hunkeler innovation show was very busy on its first day

Not many people in labelling have heard of the Hunkeler Innovation Days exhibition in Lucern, Switzerland, that I’ve been to today, so this post may be of interest to some.  Its a very unusual show format as its run by and  significantly funded solely by its main exhibitor, Hunkeler, who are heavily involved as market leaders in clever paper engineering.  Using modular kit, they can do all sorts of clever things to produce variable data mailers, direct mail, integrated cards and the like.

There are various comments on twitter about the show using the hashtag #HID11

Exhibitors were heavily involved in variable data print in both inkjet and toner technologies (see the show website for exhibitor list).  Highlights for me, looking at it from a labelling background were:

• The Oce Phantom Code – a clever covert 2D barcode software solution that is almost invisible, printable by any printing process at 600dpi or above

The new Xerox Production Inkjet System was talked about a lot at the show

The layout of the new 100% solid Xerox production inkjet system - a cross between toner and water based inkjet

• The Xerox Production Inkjet System was on demo, after an earlier version was seen at IPEX last year.  Its very clever, 600dpi, 150m/min, 520mm wide, flat colours so no shiny UV inkjet, fully deinkable and 100% solids with no water or solvent carrier, very high inkjet head durability, realtime blocked nozel compensation and a host of other features
• The variety of variable data print engines on show, and associated software platforms to do clever variable print things.
• The unusual substrates that you can use to digitally print on – some weird and wonderful ideas were on show
• The lunch – FOC lunch for 1000 people was VERY popular and you could argue that a lot of people travelled to Switzerland for the networking and meal!

Apart from variable data printing platforms we use for complex barcode labels at our AC Labels subsidiary, there was not a lot of relevance to mainstream labelling, but its given me some great ideas for new labelling products - watch this space!

If you have a question or want an opinion on something at the event, please post a comment below.