Food Grade Induction Liners Big Brand Cosmetic and Food Companies value their product being produced in Western Countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, The UK, Germany and France. For example, a Salt Scrub that says produced in Canada carries a lot more appeal to clients and Brand owners alike than a product that […]
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Induction Sealing Statistics – How You Must Get The Right Cap and Lining Material Combinations
This discussion below is an excerpt of a client discussion we have prior to supplying equipment. We don’t have to do this; we could be like the ebay or Alibaba or “one stop every machine under the sun supplier” but we are not as we like to think of ourselves as a supplier invited to […]
Caps with Liners
Caps and Closures As we deal with so many cap manufacturers we are able to source and supply you with the cap and cap lining material combination you are looking for without the need to separately supply you with cap lining material. The caps are supplied from cap manufacturers for whom we have an established […]
Induction Material Liner
Material Liner is what we call that piece (or pieces) of what looks like paper inside product caps. It is also referred to as induction foil, induction sealing material, foil seals and induction seals among others. Many people are unaware of the purpose they serve to the product aside from being a protection seal or […]
Liner Insertion Machines
Whatever your project and whatever its scale we are able to apply our experience and range of equipment and materials available to become your partner in the supply of Liner Insertion Machines.
Cap Liner Types and Functions
A cap liner is a piece of material that sits between the cap and the bottle. Its traditional primary purposes are to offer proper sealing of the product to prevent leakage and optionally to provide tamper evidence. New technology is now turning this humble piece of packaging into a multimedia gateway for brands to reach out to their consumers […]
Induction Sealing Statistics – How You Must Get The Right Cap and Lining Material Combinations
This discussion below is an excerpt of a client discussion we have prior to supplying equipment. We don’t have to do this; we could be like the ebay or Alibaba or “one stop every machine under the sun supplier” but we are not as we like to think of ourselves as a supplier invited to […]
MeRo 2KW Air Cooled Induction Sealer
Induction Sealer The MeRo 2KW Air Cooled unit is a reliable racehorse with standard features that many quote as confusingly priced options. It is what we call the medium priced high end machine. The machine has a Motorised Height Adjustment, Missing Foil Detection, and Bottle Accumulation Detection. It also has an energy trasnferred reading for […]
Filling Machine and Heat Sealing Machine Turnkey Packaging Line
Below is an example of a Turnkey solution for filling and packing creamed honey. A three Lane Piston Filler and Heat Sealing machine was combined for packing creamed honey. Watch our Filler and Heat Sealer Machine in action: Fully Automated Filling Machine Features The machine feeds empty tubs into three lanes of an indexing (Start-Stop) […]
The Poor Man’s Tamper Evident Seal – Pressure Sensitive Cap Sealing
Tamper Evident Seal When looking into whether to use a pressure sensitive tamper evident seal or an induction seal it is a good idea to understand the core reasons behind applying tamper evident seals and induction seals to bottles and jars. For induction sealing the key benefits from that type of seal include: A visual […]
Safe, Affordable, Handheld or Bench Top Induction Sealing Machine
Following frequent inquiries from smaller businesses, some start up companies, and testing labs looking for a reasonably priced induction machine, we have decided to make available a safe and affordable induction sealing unit. Smaller businesses have low budgets in mind, but it doesn’t mean that they are ready to compromise machine safety and the integrity […]
What are Cap Liners and What Function Do They Serve?
Cap Liners Often found yet still rarely realized, inside of many high quality container caps is a material that was placed into the cap prior to the cap being applied on the container or jar. Sometimes, the end user discover this material.They ask themselves what is the goal of that seal and just how was […]
Packaging in Glass or PET When Considering Induction Seal
Often there are clients packaging a “pure” product which they are packaging in Glass. The problem they face is that they are having leaking issues and also want some tamper evidence or freshness seal. In the case of dry products like capsules or powders there are some good options. Take for example coffee which is […]
What Shape Sealing Head is Best on an Induction Sealers?
Induction Sealers To understand this question of the sealing head shape we must first understand how an induction seal is achieved. The sealing head is the part of the machine that is placed over the path of the product cap/lid. Within the sealing head is usually long oval shaped coils of thick wire that carry […]
Induction Sealing Bottles with Specialty Caps
Induction Sealing A Tunnel Induction Sealing Head lets you seal caps where the foil sits a distance greater than say 4 mm from the top surface of the cap; This is often the case with twist top spouts, flip top lids, sports drink caps, sipper caps or shaker caps. Induction sealing is a process where […]
L801 Cannabis Labels
MMG Agriculture, http://www.mmgagriculture.com/, was one of the first MME Cultivations to open when the medical market hit Nevada in 2015. Started to provide the best medicinal cannabis to patients seeking alternative ways to relieve medical problems without the use of pharmaceuticals, MMG has strains proven for symptom relief. And their lead cultivator and crew are passionate about the cannabis they grow. As a boutique grow, MMG Agriculture provides Nevada with the highest quality marijuana.
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| MMG Agriculture |
I met Sarah Rosenfeld, the owner of MMG Agriculture at the Reno Cannabis Convention, http://www.therenoexpo.com/, in early 2018. After seeing options at MJ BIZCON Next in New Orleans, https://mjbizconference.com/next/, reviewing print samples, and watching an on-site demo, Sarah purchased a L801 printer and gloss poly labels. Ryan Goig, who designs the labels for MMG, combined with the L801 is producing some great looking labels.
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| L801 Printed on Gloss Poly |
I really like the look of the designs; and the print quality they are achieving. I especially like the use of colors on a basic white label. This type of design produces not only great looking labels but saves ink costs.
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| L801 Printed Label |
And after printing thousands of labels, MMG has used hardly any ink as yet. From the Afinia L801 Toolbox, you can see the ink costs of every print job (sorry for the crappy picture):
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| L801 Ink Costs |
The L801 label printer has some of the lowest ink costs of any benchtop label printer.
For their designs, Ryan has set up form-fillable PDF’s to enable the easy input of variable data onto the label prior to printing.
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| MMG Agriculture Label Artwork |
According to Sarah, aligning the printing on the labels correctly has been a learning process. To produce full-bleed labels, be sure to design your labels slightly larger than the actual size. I recommend .03” larger on all sides to insure the print goes to the edge of die-cut labels. Afinia offers advice on full-bleed label printing on page 30 of their manual:
And I wrote an earlier post on full-bleed printing using the L801 as well:
MMG has great looking labels on their doob tubes as well:
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| MMG Doob Tube Label |
And now, we’re looking at moving to a tapered label to make the gap on the tube equal top and bottom for MMG.
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| Non-Tapered Label On Doob Tube |
With tubes, you should consider using a tapered label.
And if you are labeling joint tubes, consider our semi-automatic applicator option:
Or even a fully automated option:
According to Sarah, “the print quality we’re getting on the L801 is great. For our operation, the L801 has been a good choice.” And I want to add: Sarah and Ryan have been great to support. We’re lucky to work with people like Sarah and Ryan.
The L801 is a great choice for those manufactures who need high print quality labels; especially when combined with gloss poly material. If you need great print quality on your labels, contact us. We’ll help you with all aspects of your print on-demand color label solution.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
Label Expo 2018
Last week, I attended Label Expo 2018 in Rosemont, IL (https://www.labelexpo-americas.com/) and saw 3, relatively new, label printer ideas that I wanted to share with you.
First, Neuralabel introduced their newly available, straight paper path version of the 300x.
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| Straight Paper-Path 300x |
With this version, the paper path changes from having 3 turns to straight through. In the previous version, labels may pre-dispense (come off the liner) and get stuck inside. If the label was synthetic so it would not rip, no big deal. If the label was paper, it was almost impossible to remove the shredded label. This change makes the 300x much more usable. Watch it print fanfold labels here:
(FYI: you may notice the paper path is opposite from the previous version as well).
In addition, Neuralabel has developed a very unique solution for fixing plugged inkjet nozzles: cleaning solutions:
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| 300x Inkjet Nozzle Cleaning Solution |
According to Neuralabel, the cleaning solution can fix simple plugged nozzles. Having dealt with this issue many times in the past, I think this simple solution is a great idea. It could cure a major portion of the service calls around inkjet label printers.
The new straight paper path 300x offers high resolution, and very fast printing. And the new 300x does not require the operator to move the printer when changing print widths. This printer costs about $10,000, and still requires blackmarks on the labels (no gap sensor). Further, I still have concerns about printing full-bleed as it requires .25” gaps.
I see the 300x as a good option for chemical companies wanting to upgrade the print quality and speed of their GHS label printers.
Second, I saw again the latest prototype of the Okidata LED-based label printer.
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| QL-300 LED Label Printer |
Okidata has selected AstroNova to sell this printer in North America; and will sell it under the model number QL-300.
Okidata has solved some of the key issues with LED/laser printers with this new technology: Wasted labels on every print job, large label minimum widths and lengths and color registration. With this printer, you can print down to a 4” minimum batch length with down to .5” minimum label length. And it prints down to a 1” minimum width.
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| QL-300 LED Label Printer |
But the big reason to use this new printer is the availability of white toner, matte black color and the ability to print various materials including foil labels. White toner, deep blacks and good results on foils, clear films and vinyl will make this new printer fit many customers.
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| Silver Foil and Clear Film Printed on the QL-300 |
AstroNova has yet to announce the price of the printer, but has said the toner cost per label will be comparable to existing inkjet. I still need to test to insure the actual results match the claims; and I hope to get one in the 1st quarter of 2019.
Finally, I got the chance to study the Trojan T2C, the first available “Mini-Press”.
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| T2C Mini Press |
During this deep dive, I learned three key aspects of this Memjet-based press. First, the printer has only one consumable item in addition to the ink: a cleaning roller. It makes this version of Memjet printers easier to maintain.
Second, the T2C uses 8 liters of ink:
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| T2C Uses 8 Liters of Ink |
That’s a lot of ink and labels; and a lower ink cost than most other on-demand color label printers. It may be the lowest ink cost per label!
Third, I found the new Niagara ink from Memjet, Purell resistant:
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| Purell Resistant Memjet Ink |
In addition, I tested the ink once I returned with 70% IPA on gloss paper. And it withstood the IPA fairly well. After soaking for about 1 hour, the ink did smear slightly. No bad for paper and dye-based inks; and a big deal for companies needing alcohol resistance on their labels.
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| Alcohol Durable, Dye-Based Memjet Ink |
The T2C costs about $30,000; therefore, this printer is designed for companies printing thousands per batch. You can pay $40,000 and save about 33% on all future ink purchases as another option.
After Label Expo 2017, I wrote about the T2C and the Okidata LED printer:
And here is the summary of Label Expo 2016:
And Label Expo 2014:
And Label Expo 2012 #1:
And Label Expo 2012 #2:
Things have changed in the last 6 years. Some printers have hit it big; and other not so much.
Let me know if any of these ideas presented in this summary of Label Expo 2018 could fit your business. Look forward to hearing your feedback.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
Holy Grail
For a long time, I’ve been searching for the holy grail of on-demand color label printing; and I think I’ve found it.
Not the famed cup; rather alcohol resistant gloss label media. And I use the word “media” as it’s more than a gloss synthetic, rather others as well. Let me tell you what I’ve found.
First, water and alcohol resistant Gloss Poly.
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| C7500G Alcohol-Resistant Gloss Poly |
I received this week, a few 8.5” x 11” samples of a new gloss poly label which should become available next month. I printed not only the samples using the C7500G (see above-I thought they printed great), but also tested them in water.
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| Water Resistant Gloss Poly |
After running them in water, I tried to rub off the ink; and found no smudging. Currently, we have splash resistant gloss poly; but not bullet-proof water-resistant gloss poly. This material seemed to perform better.
In addition, I poured 50% IPA on the gloss poly; and found none of the ink came off:
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| Gloss Poly with IPA/Alcohol |
These results are exciting to me. After testing probably 50 to 100 different gloss poly materials, I think I found a material that is actually resistant to alcohol. I’m sure that if you rubbed the material sufficiently hard, you may get different results. But this version of the material appears much more resistant to alcohol.
This new gloss poly should work well in applications such as medical devices and GHS where alcohol resistance is required. In addition, the material should work well in applications with liquids where more durable water resistance is required. This new label should help many different companies.
In addition to the gloss white synthetic labels, I tested a new clear film label:
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| C7500G Printed Clear Film |
I thought this new material printed great! In addition, this material seemed water proof as the ink did not smudge after soaking for some time:
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| Water-Resistant Clear Film |
And this material was resistant to 50% IPA as well:
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| Alcohol-Resistant Clear Film |
The alcohol made the material curl, but the ink would not come off with easy rubbing. Again, I can imagine that this material would not resist all attempts to remove the ink; but the initial tests are very encouraging.
This new clear film would seem to fit applications where a more durable clear film is required; beverages, devices and even some chemicals.
Finally, I tested an inkjet coated silver which is another material we searched for over the years. We did sell some silver, but it was expensive and the ink came off easily in water and alcohol.
Not only did this silver film print great,
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| Inkjet Coated Silver Film |
But the material was water resistant:
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| Water-Resistant Silver Film |
And 50% IPA resistant as well:
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| IPA Resistant Silver Film |
As my IPA tests do not follow a specific protocol (I basically poured IPA on them and rubbed), you may see different results. But I’m encouraged by what results I did achieve.
Silver film should fit higher value markets: such as cannabis and cosmetics. It’s a great new material to utilize.
As background, I printed each of these labels using a C7500G given all three of these materials had a glossy finish. C3500 and other pigment color label printers may have slightly different findings. Once I get more materials, I’ll test them using dye-based inks as well.
Based on my discussions with the manufacturers, these new materials should be available next month. I hope to start selling them shortly.
One potential watchout: I don’t have pricing as yet. As with all new products, these labels could be expensive. So we’ll need to compare how our existing gloss, film and silver labels compare both in terms of performance and cost for each of our customers.
I think these results are a big deal. It’s not the holy grail, but something we’ve been searching for a long time. If you want durable gloss poly, clear film or silver film, contact us to discuss how these new labels fit into your operation.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
14ers
14er Boulder, http://www.14ercannabis.com/#, produces the highest quality, most novel and pure cannabis flowers, extractions, and genetics found anywhere in the world.
According to Dan Seidman, Operations with 14er Boulder, “for a long time, we have worked hard to develop and grow the best strains possible, including many different hybrids.”
After visiting 14er’s operation, I can tell you that I was impressed; brand new and very clean operation. 14er has one of the best facilities in the cannabis business that I’ve seen.
When 14er first contacted me a long time ago, they were having issues with a C3500 label printer that was purchased elsewhere. Although I don’t recall the specific issue, we solved the problem quickly and began selling 14er labels and ink. We even began producing for them a custom size label for their nitrogen packed cans:
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| 14er Label Design |
And it wasn’t long after we started shipping ink and labels, 14er upgraded to a C7500. According to Dan, “the C7500 is a beast and very important to our operation. In fact, the C7500 has become a critical part of our operation. Using Nicelabel, I’ve designed all of our artwork; which makes all of our product labels easy to print.”
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| C7500G |
And you can purchase a C7500 also here: https://colorlabelsolutions.com/product/c7500-inkjet-label-printer/
And after purchasing the C7500, we had to change the design of 14er’s labels. As the C7500 has a ~2” minimum width and 14er places the rolls on an applicator, we had to shift the narrow label to 1 side. This change enabled the printing and application of a narrower label.
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| 14er N2 Can Labels |
As a regular reader of this blog, you may remember an earlier post with similar issues around placement of a narrow label on wider liner to apply with an applicator: http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2017/07/1-solution.html
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| 14er Product Labels |
Working with good people like Dan and 14er’s is why I started Color Label Solutions; and makes me happy. Contact us if we can support your label operations as well.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
Consumer Vs Label Printers
In this post, we have a guest blogger: Hannah Gibson. Hanna is a great new employee for Color Label Solutions; we’re lucky to have her on our staff. Read Hanna’s first post next.
My name is Hannah Gibson, a Sales Manager for Color Label Solutions, based in the Seattle area. After working at a label convertor, I came to work at Color Label Solutions to manage label sales. In my conversations with different companies in different industries, I hear frequently “I don’t know anything about label printing”. To me, this situation is great as our mission is to support companies transition to On-Demand Color Label printing.
One question, that I get asked frequently when speaking to newer or smaller companies is “Why should I use a label printer? I’d rather print from my office/home printer.”
When responding to this question, I provide several reasons why a label printer is a much more efficient choice for any company.
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| Sheet Vs Roll Labels |
Let’s start with cost per label, which is a big factor for businesses. I Googled the top selling printer of 2018, which I found was an HP OfficeJet printer, according to Amazon.
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| HP: Highest Selling Consumer Printer |
For the HP OfficeJet printer, the yield is 165 pages/tri color cartridge. The cost of a black and tri color cartridge is $42.89. $42.89 divided by 165 is $0.26/page. With 10 labels per sheet, the ink cost per label is $0.026. Assuming the 165 page/cartridge yield was calculated at 15% coverage, the cost per label would be $0.13/label when printing at 80% coverage; 5-fold more.
To learn more about how these ink yields are calculated, read this previous post:
After calculating the ink, I calculated the cost per an actual label. For this comparison, I used a 4” x 2” Matte Poly sheet label from Avery.
https://www.avery.com/products/labels/5523
and calculated a cost per actual label of $0.11. Therefore, the ink and a 4 x 2” label combined would cost approximately $0.24.
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| C7500 Ink Cartridges |
When printing a 4 x2” label with approximately 80% ink coverage using the Epson C7500G, I calculated the ink cost at $0.017/label. A 4” x 2” Matte poly Label we sell on a roll is $0.042/label, with significant discounts in volume.
https://colorlabelsolutions.com/product/4-x-2-matte-poly-labels-3-core-c7500/
Overall, I calculated the cost for ink and material in a consumer printer is at least 24 cents (assuming 80% coverage). At the same time, the cost for ink and labels using an Epson label printer are less than 6 cents; a savings of 75%.
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| Sheet Labels |
In addition to ink and label costs, add the extra waste. Most companies I talk to who are wanting to transition from sheet fed to labels on a roll mention they experience lots of jams, and have a hard time getting the print to line up on the labels, resulting in a lot of waste. And what if you wanted to print only 4 labels at any one time? You could waste up to 6 labels.
Another important factor is a printer designed for labels will increase your productivity. The simplest explanation of increase in productivity with a label printer is speed; a label printer is generally faster than your office printer. In addition, your employees will waste less time fixing jams or selecting which labels on a sheet to print. When needing a few labels, you can print the exact number rather than a full sheet of maybe 4-16 labels at time. Also, rolls of labels enable you to use a label applicator or dispenser to automate more of the process.
Also, label printers give you flexibility in design and automation. With a label printer, graphic designers will have flexibility to create a more professional looking label, which is important for branding. Also, label printers enable the use of label design software such as BarTender, which allow for automating Variable Data printing.
Besides cost, waste, productivity and design, label printers offer a HUGE difference in durability when compared to a consumer-oriented printer. By most accounts, a typical consumer printer should last 1 to 3 years. But when adding sheets of labels that are oozing adhesives, the printer typically wont hold up very long. A label printer is built for manufacturing environments and will last much longer with heavy use.
As the premier provider for Print on Demand systems, Color Label Solutions can help you transition to printing high resolution, durable labels with a low cost per label. Give us a call today to talk about your label requirements.
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| C7500 With Rewind |
Hannah Gibson
info@colorlabelsolutions.com
855-962-7670
Purchase a C7500 here:
https://colorlabelsolutions.com/product/c7500-inkjet-label-printer/