Energy Savings in Your Label Business: Real Case Studies from FLAG Members. Label converters are always on the lookout for ways to cut costs and improve efficiencies. With energy costs on the rise, finding ways to reduce the overall energy costs in a label business could result in huge savings.  FLAG Members have access to unique opportunities to save on energy costs working through one of our Vendor Partner programs: My Energy Doctors.  Below, you’ll see three different case studies from FLAG Members who have addressed the energy cost issue in their business, and the results asso ..read more

An engaged team might actually be the most important part of your business. It’s the driving force behind the effectiveness, productivity, and ultimately, the success of any company, regardless of size or industry. Your people. They make it all happen for your business and your customers. This is often a hot topic of discussion in our FLAG Peer Group meetings – and here are three top strategies we know label businesses are engaging with their teams successfully! 1️⃣ Celebrate Success: Big or small, every victory counts. Recognition fuels morale and keeps the momentum g ..read more

For this edition of the FLAG Guest Blog we travelled to Lofton Label in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota – just outside the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and host of our 2020 Annual Meeting Member Tour.   Lofton Label is no newcomer to the scene.  It was founded forty years ago when Rick Gajewski, an inventor and entrepreneur, started the company with a used 4 Color 650 Webtron, one of those ubiquitous work horses of the narrow web industry. In 1981, Lofton Label moved to their first facility in W. St. Paul and in 1987 the company relocated to its current location i ..read more

Very late one Thursday afternoon in June, Chuck Keefe, president of Marathon Label in Wausau, WI, received a referral from an industry colleague. CFA Promotions, a promotional agency from Massachusetts, needed 400,000 hand sanitizer labels printed in the Chicago area for their customer Anvyl.  And they needed them fast! New York-based Anvyl is a cloud-based supplier relationship management platform that allows companies to manage suppliers, oversee production, and house historical product data from procurement to delivery of inbound goods.  Like many companies across the globe, Anv ..read more

The independent label converter now and beyond: opportunities and challenges.  “If you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.” Yogi Berra  Over ten years ago, when I established FLAG (Flexo Label Advantage Group), I was concerned that what had occurred in the past in the commercial print industry would start to impact the label industry, and in particular the independent converter. Consolidation had already begun to dramatically affect print segments like newspapers, book printers and offset commercial printers. Primarily, that was due to a change in the ..read more

Label & Narrow Web Mid-Year Economic Report 2021 I recently had the opportunity to provide input for Label & Narrow Web’s Mid-Year Economic Report. Here’s the full interview – with some key insights on the challenges and opportunities of the independent converter. How would you characterize the state of the label industry following the unprecedented 2020? The pandemic has certainly introduced new challenges to our entire industry. Label converters, for the most part, have been busier than ever. It has created new or increased business opportunities in many different market segments ..read more

Alan Rich – President, Nova Label Flexibility drives long-term relationship with Nova Label Acucote offers consistency and new application solutions Overview Located in Cheverly, MD, Nova Label Company has commercially manufactured quality printed pressure- sensitive labels since 1982. A family-run company, Nova Label was founded by Sandy Bernstein, who had already been in the label business for 25 years. Sandy and his wife, Florene,  semi-retired in 2000 and their son-in-law Alan Rich took over day-to-day operations.  With over 50 years’ experience in the label industry ..read more

Creative Labels of Vermont – Winooski, VT Creative Labels of Vermont and HYBRID Software Forge Lasting Relationship FLAG provides multiple forums for industry collaboration Introduction Creative Labels of Vermont (CLOV) is a second-generation family-owned label printing company located in Winooski, Vermont.  CLOV was founded in 1983 with three employees, a Vandenburg label press and a handmade screwdriver rewinder.  Today over 30 employees service customers in food and beverage, wine, beer and spirits industries, printing labels up to 13” wide and 21” long.  They operate f ..read more

ATL Corp, an independent converter located in Menomonee Falls, WI, joined FLAG (Flexo Label Advantage Group LLC) in October, 2020.  Although they were, of course, interested in the rebate potential of FLAG, ATL actually joined FLAG with a primary goal of taking advantage of networking tools for learning and sharing with other converters. They were intrigued by peer groups, the Virtual Summit and Member Connections. Laura Jackson, Supply Chain Manager, started following Member Connections immediately, enjoying the “chatter” but never imagining that it would come to her rescue in just ..read more

At this year’s FLAG Virtual Summit, Don Sinkin, Former Chairman and CEO of DISC Graphics, will be presented with the FLAG Lifetime Achievement Award.  The award will be presented during a virtual Awards Ceremony taking place on October 29, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. EST. John McKay, President and Founder of FLAG states, “I am very pleased to present the 2020 FLAG Lifetime Achievement Award to Don Sinkin. This prestigious award is presented to individuals who have had a profound effect on me personally, on the FLAG organization as a whole and who have experienced significant success in their busi ..read more