The Mercian Labels Group Blog – Security Labels International, Mercian Labels and AC Labels

getting ready for the off!

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 for Heroes European Rally 2010.  This rally as you may have read consists of a monster 1650 mile drive starting on Salisbury Plain crossing Normandy and ending at Hitler’s ‘Eagles Nest’ in Berchtesgaden, Austria whilst traversing 6 countries.  This rally follows the route of the well known TV series ‘Band of Brothers’ and is part road/off road competition whilst visiting specific historical locations.  All in order to raise funds for the Help for Heroes charity.

The Team consists of Ed Pawsey, Will Pawsey and James Kelly.  Both Ed and James are Captains in the Army.  Ed’s in the 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment (the Green Howards).  James is a Captain in the Royal Engineers and is a Bomb Disposal Officer.  Will is a student studying Criminology at Nottingham University and is set to join the Poice Force.  All three of us have close links to friends who have been injured or killed in Afghanistan and make this trip and raise funds in memory of them. Help for Heroes is at the front of our mind for obvious reasons and without this charity and your generous donations our many injured service men and women would not have the lengthy process of rehabilitation your fundraising has begun to provide.  Without this rehabilitation it would be near impossible to give these Heroes the ability to rebuild their lives and face a positive future.

Please give what you can as every little helps.  ALL money raised goes to the charity and not funding the event or team.  It may take 5 minutes to register but 5 minutes now is a future better for all.

Ed is asking for any donations on his Just Giving website, so please contribute anything you can to this very worth cause.

Barry Deri

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 one and subsequently rehired him.  I blogged about this some time ago and have not changed my opinion since.  The economy is cyclical and we need to keep the remaining high level skills we have in UK manufacturing – they are not easily replaced and Flint has been lucky to be rehire Barry.

I am a  proud graduate from the University of Birmingham where the final pre-election leaders debate is being held this evening in the Great Hall at 20.30.

In an idle few minutes recently I recalled 10 things to reflect on before the 2010 UK General Election next week.  I dont normally “do” politics, but once every 5 years I’ll make an exception and remember some of the things politicians have given us in the past decade that I’ve been less than impressed with…

1. The £750 million Millenium Dome
2. Cash for Honours & Cash for Questions
3. The rise of stealth taxes
4. The hunting ban
5. The huge rise in the public sector leading to a bloated government
6. The continued transfer of power from the UK parliament to the EU
7. Massive red tape in business and the demise of social responsibility and common sense
8. MPs expenses
9. The war in Iraq, the Dodgy Dossier, Dr David Kelly and the 45 minute claim
10. Boom and bust, and the £800bn public debt (and rising)

Food for thought.  Lets hope that whatever happens in the 2010s after the election it does not include such things again – its time for a change IMHO.

Enjoy the debate this evening on BBC1.

Adrian

(Opinions above are my own, not that of my employer etc!)

GAMMATEX gamma sterilisation indicator-labels

PRESS RELEASE

27 April 2010

Derby, UK

DETEX manufacturer moves forward following collapse of their largest customer

AC Labels, who have previously manufactured DETEX labels for the verification of gamma radiation sterilisation, have announced the launch of the GAMMATEX™ brand following the collapse of their largest customer for that range, Sessions of York.

Dr Adrian Steele, Managing Director of AC Labels said ‘It was with great sadness that we have witnessed the Administration of Sessions of York last week who supplied many satisfied customers with DETEX labels over the years. DETEX labels were commonly used in the medical and pharmaceuticals industries as verification that products had been subjected to the necessary dosage of radiation to ensure full sterilisation. Without Sessions of York to act as a route to market for us, we have been approached by their previous customers with requests to manufacture a radiation sensitive product directly. This we will happily do under the name of GAMMATEX™, with a price guarantee that will be a pleasant surprise to former customers. We already have new products in the pipeline, and will be working with current users to bring new innovations in gamma sterilisation indicating labels to the marketplace.”

A C Labels is a subsdiary of the Mercian Labels Group of Staffordshire, UK which has a portfolio of specialist labelling products including LabelLock ®™ security seals and Microembossed Labels™.

– – NOTES FOR EDITORS – – -

AC Labels in Derby are recruiting for a General Manager

Following the request acquisition of AC Labels in Derby by the Mercian Labels Group on 31 March 2010, we have created a new role for a General Manager of the AC Labels operation in Derby. This new role is an exciting opportunity for a talented manager with business development skills to take day to day control of a small (10 person) niche manufacturing business who are market leaders in high volume barcode labelling with a well established customer base. This is a full-time, salaried management position that reports to the Board of the holding company, the Mercian Labels Group. You will ideally (but not necessarily) have a print background and will have the energy, self motivation and enthusiasm to take “ownership” of a new operation and guide it to long term commercial success through a “hands on” management approach. Senior level support and coaching into the role will be provided by the Directors who are very keen to secure the right individual for this exciting opportunity. Salary is negotiable and the position is available for an immediate start.

Full details are on our website with informal discussions to the Managing Director Dr Adrian Steele (adrian.steele@mercianlabels.com) on 01543 431 072

NO AGENCIES – see webpage for details.

chilli plant update - early incubation in the airing cupboard has got these off to a flying start

I’ve picked up on the open source community interest in Chilli plant growing from Alan at the Open Sourcer, and previously blogged on last years Chilli crop, and the new batch for 2010.  Growing progress is good – this is the state of this years crop.  Good curries coming next winter!

grilled asparagus

We are based in Staffordshire, home to the growers some of the best Asparagus I’ve ever tasted.  New Farm near Lichfield is our local supplier during the delicious but brief season, and last night the first crop made its way onto the dinner table from their farm shop.  Delicious!  If you havent enjoyed Asparagus for a while, get it now whilst its in season and great value.

The first job coming off the press at the new AC Labels operation in Derby

I love it when a plan comes together! (No, this is not a message from Hannibal of the A-Team!)

Pictured above are the new Top Team at AC Labels in Derby, a new subsidiary of the Mercian Labels Group with the first high quality variable barcode labels from a new factory, setup and running to produce high quality stock in just 13 days from the deal being closed. From left to right are Karen, Marge, Lee, Jason, David, Marcin, Adrian, Adam, Tim and Thomasz.

It has been a colossal effort from everybody involved, and to have the operation up and running this quickly is just fantastic, and I know has been greatly appreciated by our clients.  More business is already secured, so please keep it coming!

AC Labels specialise in medium to long run variable barcode labels and variable number labels, and are market leaders in this labelling niche with pricing that beats any thermal, xeikon or HP printed variable barcode label pricing “hand down”.  The added twist is that AC Labels can do 100% barcode verification on every label printed, delivering unparalleled quality standards (even Mercian Labels cannt do that!).

100% verified variable barcode labels off to an offshore blue chip client

And away it goes!

Well done to everybody involved in the new team, and as MD , I send my thanks and congratulations to you all!

PRESS RELEASE

2 April 2010

Cannock, Staffordshire, UK

A C Labels bought by the Mercian Labels Group

Barcode labelling specialists A C Labels have been acquired by the Mercian Labels Group in an assets and goodwill deal, securing the long term supply of variable data barcode labels and the highly regarded A C Labels brand.

“A C Labels has a fantastic reputation in the marketplace as a market leader in complex variable information labelling.” said Dr Adrian Steele, Managing Director of Mercian Labels, adding “We are establishing a new operation in Derby specifically to serve this demand, and are delighted with both the support shown from the client base for the acquisition, and also the opportunity to acquire the brand of A C Labels. This new subsidiary of the Mercian Labels Group complements our other speciality companies in manufacturing tamper evident security labels, Label Lock security seals and short run digital, hotfoil and flexographic labelling.”

The new company will continue to manufacture complex constructions of self adhesive labels inlcuding variable data and barcodes, serving the medical, pharma and logistics marketplaces, and is now involved in ensuring a seamless transition for existing customers of AC Labels and to secure and expand the prospects of the business in Derby.

– – NOTES FOR EDITORS – - -

Mercian Labels are recuiting in Cannock

Business is picking up and we are recruiting again!  If you are looking for an entry level office assistant or apprentice factory worker/ rewinder then please see the advertisments on our webpage.

[Photo courtesy of the good people at FreeDigitalPhotos.net]

The National Memorial Arboretum is in South Staffordshire just off the A38 between Birmingham and Derby

We had visitors this weekend including a serving army officer, and took an opportunity on Saturday morning to visit the National Memorial Arboretum just a few miles north of us.

If you have never been, then I would recommend fitting it into your itinerary when next in the midlands.  Its a beautiful place and a fitting tribute to our country’s fallen.

I’ve been to lugradio live a couple of times, and am hoping that the new Oggcamp event will be the replacement FOSS social and networking event.  I’ve got relatives in Liverpool, so have it in my diary to visit Oggcamp 2010 this year.  Hopefully see you there!  If you want to catch up with me and discuss our experiences of open source soft3ware in a UK SME environment then please post a comment and we can try and meet.

As one of the UK’s top label printers, with over 40 years of trading behind us, we are looking for an experienced office based Sales Manager. You will be a charismatic leader, with excellent mentoring skills and a very good IT and customer services background. You will be dealing by email and telephone with a large number of companies, big and small, across the UK and beyond, in order to close sales. At the same time you will be providing inspiration and motivation to a small but committed team of internal sales coordinators, and crucial  feedback to the wider business. You will be given training, and as much decision making responsibility as you can handle comfortably. For more information on our culture and values, please see our corporate website at http://www.mercianlabels.com/careers.php which also describes how to apply.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

the sarcmark is a great way to punctuate sarcastic sentances so you protect yourself from misinterpretation

The new sarcmark is the first novel piece of punctuation that I have seen for a long time, and solves a real problem in electronically written english communication, this being trying to use sarcasm without running the risk of offending the recipient who may miss your subtlety.  I like it, and will try to use it, even though its got 3 problems as a concept:

1) its going to take some time to become widely known amongst the population to achieve its purpose.

2) its only being promoted as a “font”for windows and crackberrys.  Not Mac and not Ubuntu or any form of linux as far as I can see from their site.  Thats very clever and forward thinking. It also means that you cannt use it as a font unless everybody has it, typified by the fact that on the advertising websitre the originators cannt use their own product as unless you have the font you cannt see it, so they use a PNG image file of a sarcmark ()  instead.  Thats a rare thing – a vendor who cannt use their own product as nobody else can read it unless you’ve already bought it – catch 22.

3) the originators are trying to patent it and charge $1.99 to download and use it, no doubt with some form of license.  Some on guys, how do you propose to patent a piece of the english language?

Its a great idea, but just cut the commercialism out, open source it, and its use should just explode.

In the meantime, users could use the PNG version of the sarcmark () in html emails and webpages.

reporter breaks unbreakable phone

This video from the BBC Click programme shows a proud CEO demonstrating an “unbreakable” mobile phone to a reporter, and challenging them to break it.  You can guess what happens next – what a nightmare for the company concerned!  Good product though – even it it can be broken with a lot of force.

What treats does 2010 hold ?

Last year I made a bunch of predictions for 2009 – some of which have come true, and others not.  I think I got 1,2,4, and 10 right. 8 is coming with the Google Nexus One phone running Android. The others I got wrong, or show no signs of happening. Hey Ho.

So, here are my 10 predictions for 2010:

1. Sterling will fall below the value of the euro before June 2010 and the FTSE 100 will rise from 5400 to 6000 during 2010
2. The Conservatives will win the 2010 UK general election and instigate big cuts in the public sector
3. Inflation will return in 2010, with the RPI reaching above 4% by December
4. There will be a pile of administrations and pre packs of UK retail business in January and February, and by the autumn of 2010 the banks (assisted by HMRC) will be closing down lots of businesses and crystallising a bunch of loss making liabilities before their year end
5. There will be lots of consolidation in the UK label printing market, with many companies ceasing trading on the back of tighter credit control from the material suppliers linked to 20% material price rises from the devaluing of sterling.
6. The volume of labelling material converted by the UK labelling industry will continue to fall during 2010 as alternative packaging technologies such as shrink sleeves take over in the high volume food and logistic labelling markets.
7. 2D QR barcodes on digital labels will become a standard tool for B2C marketing as smartphone cameras connect to webpages
8. The must have gadgets for xmas 2010 will be a home ADSL based internet TV and recording box and Google will follow their  Nexus One phone with a chrome OS powered tablet PC.
9. Virgin will launch a true 100mbps synchronous SDSL home internet connection with fibre to the house
10. Our Label Lock security labels will continue to find new and interesting markets!

2010 is going to be an exciting year, some great commercial opportunities and we are looking forward to it!

Any comments?

A couple of months ago I started getting into running.  I’ve always found running really boring, even at the gym watching TV, listening to music whilst pounding the pavement, or whatever.  However, I’ve now discovered the secret – podcasts.

Download any podcast on a specialised subject that you enjoy, but dont get time to listen to normally, load it onto your MP3 player, and get out there and enjoy the fresh air whilst losing weight, getting fit and all that good stuff.

To get you started, here are some good podcasts that I regularly download and listen too whilst running:

1. Shot of Jaq -twice weekly 10 minute podcasts on technology from the legendary Jono Bacon + “Aq”
2. Prime Ministers Questions – the UK’ weekly political punchup
3. Small Biz Pod – small business podcast with some very good interviews
4. FLOSS – weekly open source podcast
5. The Naked Scientists – science podcast from some boffins

I’d love to find some more good ones on similar themes – please comment on this post if you can suggest any!

I’m pretty well travelled with about 40 countries visited over the years, but I’ve never been to such a poor airport as paris charles de gaulle where I have been 3 times in recent weeks.

1. Its got the traffic problem from hell, taking 40 mins for the bus I took to the trade show to even get out of the airport
2. its ugly, and takes for ever to move between gates with everything so far apart
3. the facilities are diabolical – I’m sat at the gate after security and there is no food or drink anywhere, and through most of the airport there are no seats anywhere
4. even the plugs for laptops wont take overseas adapters, its as if the airport has gone out of its way to make life difficult for travellers
5. the wifi is more expensive than switzerland
6. it looks like something designed by overly creative schoolchildren

Suffice to say I will avoid this place in future and recommend others to do so as well!

2009 chilli crop

One of the UK’s leading bloggers on open source software, Alan Lord (aka the Open Sourcerer) got me thinking some time ago about growing chilli plants.  Alan has just posted pictures of his 2009 chilli crop, and so I think its only fair that I post mine.  Not quite as impressive, but then again most of my conservatory was taken over with monster tomato plants this summer!  Next year I shall try harder – it was good fun and easy to grow chillis.  This is what they look like all preserved.

preserved chillis for winter curries

If you are intereted in preserving chillis, I’ve followed this recipie (with some additional water).

Label Lock is growing and we are now hiring

Our Label Lock security labelling product range  is really taking off, and we need an Export Sales Coordinator to help us manage this growth.  Please contact us if you are interested in this exciting role (no agencies please!).

Mercian Labels are recruiting for 1 role, and also offering 2 graduate internships under the new West Midlands Graduate Internships scheme.

The new position is an ‘apprentice’ type job in our factory in Cannock, learning all about our production and industry from grass roots levels.

We are also offering 2 graduate internships: in IT (open source / zimbra / PHP development) and marketing (B2B market segmentation).

Please let me know if you are interested in these roles.

Label Lock™ security labels new website

We are really pleased with the overhaul of our  Label Lock™ security labels website showcasing our premium low residue and dual layer security seals that we have designed and developed in recent years, and launched in 2008.  You can check it our here.

I was first introduced to linkedin.com in late 2008, but until recently did not consider social networking sites to be a useful business tool.  However, in respect of linkedin.com I am warming to the concept, and finding it useful.  Not radical, but useful.  It is far away more suitable for professional communication than the dreaded facebook (at which I closed my account sometime ago), and I find Twitter nothing less than trivia.

By far the most useful piece of linkedin.com are its special interest groups, covering many very specialised subjects that previously were hard to network in due purely to geography – face to face meetings cost a lot of money!  In particular some of the labelling and business groups have had some good threads in them recently, and I see this site as taking a long term position as the only social networking site for business.

If you have worked with me in labelling / security seals / business link in the West Midlands then I’d be pleased to hear from you.

The Kingdom of Mercia

Its quite common for new members of staff to ask “Why are we called Mercian Labels?”  Well to be honest I dont know the original reason why the company was named so in 1969, but as far as I can tell its because we are located firmly in the old Kingdom of Mercia, and the original founders had ambitious plans to expand further than original town of Penkridge - which we most certainly have now with clients worldwide. The Mercia region is not particularly well known, but there is a hardcore of supporters, even some fringe groups who campaign for independence for the Mercian Region, and group who have already claimed independence…. well everybody has to have a hobby.

We are also located in Cannock, an area with a long and proud manufacturing history at the northern end of an area known as the Black Country.

The new Ordnance Survey Black Country Map

Today the Ordnance Survey, the UK’s official mapping agency has recognised the area of the Black Country with a new map, something that we would say is long overdue!  Although we are not strictly within the (hotly debated) boundary of the Black Country, we are certainly associated with it, and congratulate the Black Country Chamber of Commerce for their sustained campaigning on this issue.

Some years ago I travelled around countries in southern Africa, and was struck by the unrealised potential of the local economies as they didnt have any decent web access to compete with the Indian sub continent and China.  Well yesterday a major milestone was acheived with the commisioning of the Seacom undersea cable.  Its a small but important step to empowering the local economies of east africa, and I hope that some good new businesses can startup and flourish with this new infrastructure.

I love this image from Peter Renton’s Blog, originally the “How to Be Happy in Business” Venn diagram by Bud Caddell (available for distribution under Creative Commons License 2.0).

It just sums up what you need to do in small businesses to be successful and happy.

I am a huge fan of the firefox update scanner as previously blogged, in that it saves me a lot of time (and hurts when its not there!).  Recently I’ve discovered that you can backup and restore or transfer the websites you are monitoring with ease in a remarkably simple way that I coudnt find anywhere on the web.

All your websites being scanned are stored in your bookmarks, so if you backup all your bookmarks using the bookmark manager in firefox, it will save them all.  you can then import them onto the new machine (in my case my new netbook) once you have installed the plugin on the new machine.  And hey presto, you are monitoring the same websites on the new machine.  If you really want mobility, email the exported bookmarks file to your web email account, and you can install it on any machine anywhere at any time that has firefox.

We recently recruited a dedicated website designer to develop our websites, and he has done a cracking job with our main user website www.selfadhesivelabels.com .

www.selfadhesivelabels.com

The site has improved navigation, aesthetics, images, content and overall is a lot cleaner than our previous site, and we are really pleased with it. There has been a lot of clever work involved in this site, but as this is an open forum and I know our competitors watch this blog, I cannt cover them here! However, if any customers have comments on it, please feel free to leave your feedback below.

I love my nokia E90, its the best business communication tool I have ever seen.  The restriction is often rendering full content websites over 3G, on a small screen and with a small processor.  I have a selection of favorite mobile websites that are specific to small screen devices, but I’d like to know more.  Any suggestions, or do you know of any other lists?

• news.bbc.co.uk/text_only.stm
• www.thetimes.mobi
• m.ft.com/uk/
• www.telegraph.co.uk/mobile
• m.guardian.co.uk

Its a shame that there are not more travel related sites, motorway trafffic  updates etc, but I’d like to hear of any more to add to the list please.

There are a lot of people suffering in UK PLC as a result of the downturn, and the widespread redundancies are hurting many.  At Mercian Labels we are still expanding, but I’m very aware of the plight of others, and a particular incident yesterday caused me some concern, especially after watching a Channel 4 documentary called the Big Job Hunt earlier in the  week, where Lord Jones of Birmingham commented on the plight of many skilled workers loosing jobs where skills cannt be replaced.

Yesterday I recevied a message from a guy who I wont identify, but who I regard in the very highest esteem as a true technical expert, and at the very head of his profession.  He is a technical “god” at a major multinational ink company.  He has just been made redundant.  The knowledge and experience this guy has has taken decades to build up, and when the economic upturn comes, his knowledge and skills built up over decades just can not be replaced by that company.  I am not critising the decision of the MD of that business, as I dont have any information on the circumstances, but I know that it is a crying shame that such skills are being lost in the fight for corporate survivial.  Manufacturing in the UK is under enough pressure as it is, and if we are to specialise in the clever R&D stuff to develop new and exciting products based on good IP, then we need these high level skills to stay in the industry.  Loosing them will just prolong the recession IMHO.

In the meantime, if anyone in UK printing is looking for an ink guru with a pedigree ,a “people person” skill set and project management skills, let me know and I will put you in touch. He comes highly recommended from us.