Still on a roll that began a decade ago, Orbytel Print and Packaging of Garfield Heights, OH, has been evolving from a print brokerage to a bona fide packaging manufacturer. "Orbytel has always been intent on growth," says company president Mark Uvlin indulging in something of an understatement, given that the company is a study in strategic differentiation.
Jean-Marie Hershey
You'd think a company that's been around since 1912, reports annual sales of more than $100 million, and regularly garners high praise for its core business practices and people-oriented culture, might be inclined to rest on its abundant laurels. You might think so, but in the case of Hammer Packaging you'd be dead wrong.
Over the years, Annan & Bird's outsized ambitions have made it something of a bellwether in the industry. Founded in 1987 with a single 44˝ x 60˝ 5-color Harris press and 12 employees, the family-run business by 2007 had acquired a fleet of large-format presses and a lengthy client list.
NCL Graphic Specialties habit of capital investment, coupled with its diverse capabilities, strong product offerings, and tradition of innovation, have positioned it uniquely well to grow and thrive as the recovery takes hold.
For Central Florida Press (CFP), a division of The MATLET Group, in Orlando, FL, much of its success in Web-to-print (W2P) has been driven by its expertise in versioning—customization or personalization based on differences in geographical, linguistic, and/or regulatory content. "We help our customers by giving them the tools that will enable them to automate and manage their brands by reducing and simplifying their versions, and by controlling inventory and logistics," said CFP's Senior VP of Sales John Glick.
While dedication to customer service can be a superficial cliché in the corporate mouths of companies merely content to pursue business as usual, Consolidated Label's commitment to the customer is the bedrock and driving principle of its corporate universe and operating philosophy.
Digital “in-the-round” (ITR) imaging is steadily opening up attractive opportunities for printers, converters, and end users. Advances in flexo sleeve technology are yielding opportunities in markets traditionally dominated by other processes.
Carded Graphics and Everett Graphics demonstrate that good color proofing, when combined with defined, measurable color management will enable a packaging printer to produce predictable, trustworthy, and repeatable results, while carving time, labor, and unnecessary cost from the production cycle.
With sales revenue in the $10 to 20 million range, Sherburne, N.Y.-based Mid-York Press considers itself a market leader among short-run package printers. Mid-York's goal is to increase its business by 50 percent, while retaining 50 percent available capacity.
There is a wide variety of ETL constructions, some incorporating a high-degree of creativity and complexity. Valley Forge Tape & Label (VFT&L) has an extensive background in ETL production.
Nosco, Inc. is high on quality. "Compliant or Complaint: Only I Make the Difference," a phrase coined by one of the company's employee owners, reflects the key role Nosco's Quality Lifestyle component plays in every aspect of the company's day-to-day activities. It encompasses not only Nosco's attitude toward the highly sensitive pharmaceutical packaging work it performs, but also the emphasis Nosco places on establishing trust-based relationships with external and internal customers, its habit of product innovation, and its single-minded focus on responsibility and accountability.
In the not-so-distant past, flexographic package printing took a back seat to the high-quality, high-volume capabilities of gravure and offset. That was then. Over the years, as volumes shrank and marketing strategies began to embrace smaller, regional promotions, flexo—with its quicker set-up times and ability to handle limited run lengths economically on a generous variety of substrates—began to be viewed as a viable alternative to both gravure and offset.
A large printable surface area combined with a wide range of sizes, shapes, and decorating options make beverage cans the ideal packaging format to create brand presence on the shelf and in consumers’ hands. While creatively enticing, however, the proliferation of options for can decoration give rise to a tremendous number of opportunities for unwanted variation and distortion in the printing process, where consistent, repeatable color measurement is the key to color quality control.
The goal of an effective proofing system is to ensure predictable, repeatable results throughout a print run by achieving the closest possible match between the proof and the printing press using color management and screening techniques. An effective proofing system will be able to accurately reproduce trap and overprint characteristics, together with the fine lines and text that are critical in package and label design. Inks or dyes, media, RIPs, and color management tools all will play important supporting roles.
Getting the right dot structure for its flexo plates was critical for CSW to support both its label and corrugated clientele.
