The Blog from Mercian Labels & Security Labels International

We believe that it was in 1952 when the first ever barcode label was produced, however it was not until the 1980s that barcode labels became popular to the public. When they were first produced they were only really used for one reason and that was for identifying railroad cars. This was a while ago though and since then barcode labels have become increasingly popular and technology has become so much greater. Being able to track and identify the movement of items error free, it is no real surprise that barcode labels have become largely popular.

RFID labels have been much touted as the way forward, and will replace barcode labels in due course.

Our experience, for what it is worth, is that RFID is expensive, prone to errors, and only really gives 2 advantages over barcodes: Speedy contactless reading (if RFID labels do read in your environment, as many dont if they are close to metal or water), and extremely high volume data storage (compared to 2D barcodes).

I’d be really interested in hearing from existing RFID label users with their expereinces.  There seems to be a lot of hype, and very little actual purchasing and successful rollouts of RFID labels.

If you have a different take on this situation, please post here.  We are actively looking at RFID labels, particularly in security labelling, but as far as we can see, barcodes are still a very good solution at the present time.

If you are a really small volume user of labels, you may be wondering if it is best to have your own A4 sheet label printer at home to print labels, or pay for a professional to print their labels for them. At Mercian Labels , we have want what is best for you.

If you are happy with a very limited range of paper labels, and do ultra small runs lengths, then its probably cheaper for you to print your own labels.  This is fairly easy for black and white labels on paper rectangles, but gets a significantly more cumbersome when you want photographs, non standard shapes, or anything but permanent adhesives.

When you needs grow such that:

• you are using higher volumes
• you are getting significant wastage
• you want a non standard adhesive or shape
• you need variable information
• you want better image quality

then the time has come to talk to us at Mercian Labels.  We have no minimum order quantities, and our label solutions are quick and cost effective.  When you’ve outgrown the desktop printer, or your time is better spent doing other things, come and talk to us!

Many of our customers enquire about what adhesives could or should their labels use. There is never a straight forward answer to this question, as there is a wide selection of adhesives, and it all depends on what use the label is going to be put to. This is because all adhesives are formulated for different reasons and they all have individual jobs to do.

If a customer needed labels for items of food, then food grade labels are essential. They are used on fruits such as apples, plums, bananas and many more, as they do not leave any unwanted residue onto the fruit as easy feel they are a lot more hygienic, and any residue left is edible and harmless.

If a customer wanted a more secure label then tyre tack labels are probably the best. They are applied onto tyres and are extra sticky so they are not as likely to peel off. There are also frost fix adhesive labels which have a service temperature of -40 Celsius which makes them very suitable to sticking onto items which are to be frozen.

There are many other types of adhesives to suit what the customer needs, including hard hat label adhesives which are usually used on hard hats which builders wear. These labels are stuck onto the hats for the workers own safety and do not damage or corode the plastic of the hard hat, potentially damaging its structural integrity and strength.

Whatever your specialist adhesive label application, we are likely to have a potential solution to hand – give give us a call.

At Mercian Labels our customers constantly design their own custom personalised labels, which allows them to create their own designs before we print them. You may want to design your own labels for many different reasons, whether it is a one off design to mark a specific event, or for company use in marketing a wider product range. When customers design these labels the best thing to do is to get them printed professionally to get the best possible quality.

We find that there are so many different events to attend now that benefit from custom labels.  Some people may create and design labels for certain events such as weddings, where they can stick labels onto anything to give their wedding a more personalised look (I went to one last weekend in fact that did this!). Other events for which people may decide to design labels for are parties, as this would also give a party a more personalised look.

If someone has made their own bath products, or brewed their own beer, they would more than likely want their own custom personalised labels to promote their products. With your products having their own labels, customers are more likely to purchase, as they have a more professional look.

The possibilities, especially with digitally produced labels, are only limited by your imagination!

Asset identification labels are useful for so many different organisations, and here at Mercian Labels we have many people contact us asking for such labels. Asset labels have so many different uses, but they are commonly used to help organisations track their assets and deter theft of their property.  One common area of confusion we find with asset labels is what the best material to use for asset labels.

The variety of end use applications for  makes the correct material selection very important, as the surfaces vary considerably, from smooth glass cabinets to painted metal computer cases. The identification labels usually contain the asset number and other variable data such as a barcode and serial number. It is important that the labels are resistant to abrasion and solvents which are used in the environment.

A key feature of asset labels is that they are difficult to remove, to deter theft.  We consequently usually specify a top quality semi gloss white ultra destructible vinyl. Ultra destructible vinyl fragments into tiny pieces (which is called the “eggshell effect”) if anyone attempted to remove the label. This makes for a secure asset label that can be customised easily in small runs, and not only identifies the product, but deters theft as well.

Other security label materials can be used, but often do not give as permanent a mark as ultra destructible vinyls.

Such security labels are our speciality – please give us a call if you are looking for such products.

At Mercian Labels we have a variety of different label printing techniques, these include printing digital, hotfoil, thermal and flexographic labels. The different label printing options can result in confusion by our customers to what way would be best to print their labels. There is no right or wrong answer to this question as each label printing method has its own benefits.

For customers who have many different designs of labels but also has a tight budget, then digital label printing would more than likely be most suitable for them. Our digital label printers can print short runs of “process” colour labels, incorporating photographic images to be printed. Customers who choose to have their labels printed digitally have the benefit of not having to pay expensive block charges, and are able to have photographic type images on their labels without having to pay any extra costs.

Some people may choose to have their labels printed on hotfoil, as this allows people to have excellent quality labels with up to 6 spot colours. Hotfoil labels are excellent for brands who want to advertise their products it a cost effective way. With these labels you can have your own design, logo and text professionally printed onto papers, synthetics or transparent or clear materials with low origination charges. Customers also benefit greatly by the fact that they can have special size/shape requirements for their labels and do not have to pay hundreds of pounds for a cutter, which can occur if the label is very small or unusually shaped.

Thermal transfer printing may be the best option for some people who want barcode labels. Usually we produce either large or very small text barcodes, with simple logos, consecutively numbered labels. They are mainly used for industrial labelling applications such as tracking. The main benefit in getting Mercian Labels to print you barcode labels is that it is no longer in your hand as we will be doing all the hard work.

Flexographic label printing is another great method, though there are more limitations. Flexographic printing is mainly used for larger productions with simpler designs and colour combinations with up to 4 colours without special effects. The main benefits of flexographic label printing is that it is a economical printing method used for larger print runs as larger and faster machines are used. This printing method is usually chosen for industrial applications.

Letterpress and gravure label printing are still around, but more often used for specialist applications now.

If you want some free advice on what label printing method is best for your idea – drop us a line. Our advice is free, and we dont bite!

At Mercian Labels we often get many customers enquiring about how they should design their labels, as they dont have professional graphic design software in house, or havent yet engaged a designer to realise their design ideas.

This is why we offer a custom design service to help customers who do not have professional artwork files to create their new label designs. This is a great cost effective service saving customers from having to pay the costs of commissioning a full graphic service from a advertising or design agency. As our graphic design studio is PC based we have a few simple instructions for customers to follow when sending artwork.

If you use either CoralDraw 14 or Abode Illustrator CS3 then your artwork would look a lot better than if they were to use other programs that are not vector based. This is because both these programs help to improve the sharpness of the printing plates and allows easier colour separation and a better quality image. Our customers benefit greatly by using these programs as they give a lot better results for your design. We also advise customers to make sure that all photographic images are embedded into the file and all text created where possible as vector drawing line work as this all helps get the best results for their design.

To minimise the chances of unexpected design artefacts, we advise customers who need their artwork to be bleed off to make sure they allow 1.5mm of bleed off. We also express to customers how important it is for them to convert all fonts to curves/paths as this stops any missing texts issues when our graphic design studio opens the file up.

The process for getting designs ready to be printed flexographically is not a simple process at all for the uninitiated! We prefer to complete the process ourselves as the design has to be stepped and repeated and also stretched around the cylinder before sending for the plates.  Trust me – if you dont know what you are doing, you dont want to try this!

It is important that customers do follow the instructions given as otherwise files could be sent to our graphic studio which may not be usable for printing. This could be because of artwork being sent as low resolution jpeg or gif files, or it could be because designs are sent to us without converting font into outline paths. When customers do not follow normal industry practice for design files, it inevitably extends the amount of time it takes to go through the whole artwork approval stage of the order.

Our full guidelines for artwork files can be found at http://www.selfadhesivelabels.com/artwork.html but please fee free to email us for free advice on design files – try jamie.caddick@mercianlabels.com first of all!

Here at Mercian Labels we often have customers enquiring how long it will take for them to receive their labels. We inform our customers that it is usually 2-3 working days before their labels will be delivered to them.

When delivering we usually use a next day carrier , although occasionally we do use the Royal Mail for small orders. There is always the option however for customers to come and collect their labels within working hours of our factory. We give customers the option to have their labels dispatched by a same day courier for an additional charge anywhere in the UK – we use City Link we we find to be the best for our type of goods and service levels our customers need.

When it comes down to turnaround time it does really depend on how complex the job is. Though with good communication with customers we can often produce work for dispatch within 24 hours by same day courier or timed carrier delivery. There is always a premium charge for this service which depending on the additional work involved and couriers, it is usually £50-£500 per job because of our usual 3-4 day disrupted production operation. It is important that customers do not ask for same day/next day delivery unless the requirement is urgent and they have the budget to help us meet their deadline.

We get very few complaints about our delivery times becuase we are so quick, but if you are really in a hurry, anything can be done, but it does cause disruption and we have to charge for this exceptionally quick level of service.