Welcome to the Label Tech Inc Blog.

Thanks for tuning in for Part 2 of this blog series! If you missed Part 1 click here! If you think it's easy going green, think again! Here we continue our discussion with Plant Manager (and blog fan favorite!) Peter Mullen on the transformation of a soon to be 60 thousand square foot pressure sensitive label printing facility. We hope you like what you read!

We invited in International Paper Products to have a conversation on how to turn waste into a product that would help the environment rather than just putting it into the ground. International paper Products has a program that takes material from companies such as ours and turns it into a Biomass fuel pellet that can power facilities that generate electricity for residents in the area. This made sense, but because the company was out of state and our “recycled material” would need to be trucked 260 miles to their facility for processing we needed to get creative to make it work.

In as little as 6 months we worked out a deal with them and found a trucking company that could handle the on call service we would require so our compactor would never be shut down. We also purchased 2 extra cans for the compactor so they could be switched out in a short period of time. To save on trucking costs and to be more efficient we haul two cans at a time to International Paper Products. Once we came up with a plan and negotiated the cost we were able to not only turn 95% of our waste into a useful product but we also would realize a savings of about 20% in waste handling cost. By the way- the other 5% goes to Waste Management’s land fill and is used to produce methane gas that in turn heats the University of New Hampshire. The students can thank us later!

This coming spring we are looking forward to building a 20,000 square foot addition to our facility and are currently exploring the idea of geo thermal for the purpose of heating and cooling the new building. If all works as planned we will incorporate the geo thermal into the existing building to supplement the existing system.

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Hi, welcome back to one of this weeks label blogs! If you have been printing labels for any substantial amount of time and still have not found a printer that understands your needs then KEEP LOOKING!! Maybe there are some things that you can do to ensure you find the right company to work with. Here are some tips on choosing the right commercial printer.

1. Have you been Shopping Price Over Quality? The old saying "you get what you pay for" can certainly, at times, apply to printing. Every client wants to save money when they can and who can blame them? If a price is unbelievably low it can be assumed that the company either does very little work or in most cases very poor quality.

2. Why Should I Check References? Most commercial printing companies that have any kind of reputation for credibility will be eager to hand over references. Look for companies that give you references openly and willingly and then- CHECK THEM!

3. Don't Just Hire Anyone for the Job! Looking into the companies that you want to do your work is almost as important as creating the project you want to print! Giving the work to just anyone could create problems for you down the line. Costs that could have been avoided could become incurred. Make sure to ask your potential printer for samples of work they have done in the past to make sure they can produce quality work.

4. Guarantee My Work! A printing company with any kind of reputation to uphold will be willing to guarantee their work to some degree. If they make a mistake, they shouldn't be charging you for it. And, if there is a problem with the quality or they ran the wrong stock then again, you shouldn't be charged.

5. Rushing Every Delivery? Needing a rush job done from time to time is totally understandable, but asking your printing company to have insane turn around times on every order is a bit demanding and could cost you a fortune in the long haul. Make sure before you start placing orders there is a clear understanding of what your needs are and how they are going to be met.

6. How Much Capacity Can be Handled? If you are ordering large runs time and time again make sure that your printer has the capacity to meet your demands. A huge mistake can be going with a company that can't handle the demand. Ask your potential printing company what percentage of capacity they are operating at. If your company is growing make sure the company you go with can handle it!

7. Don't Create too much Competition Between Commercial Printers. A little competition never hurt anybody but too much of it can ruin a good relationship. Commercial printers rely on building a great relationship with their customers so they can lend a hand when it is needed. If a client is consistent with their commercial printer then they will be less likely to be frustrated or even worse turned away from when they require quick production at the last minute!

Stay tuned for more FLEXO 101!!