Labeling Innovations from Weber

90 Years and Just Getting Started

This year, we celebrated our 90^th anniversary–a truly momentous occasion. As we interviewed customers and employees throughout 2022 as part of the celebration, one thing became clear. Labeling excellence starts with excellent service. Whether it’s how we treat our employees, how we support our customers or the technologies we provide, at Weber, we work in service to others.

Read on to explore some of the highlights from this year’s celebration.

Our Customers Are the Best–Plain and Simple

At Weber, we don’t look at our customers like a transaction, we look at our partnership as a shared path and at our customers’ success as our own. We were thrilled to hear what some of them had to say about us!

Jeremia Steves from Boar’s Head shared, “Great folks with great solutions–plain and simple. Weber has experience within the space and does a great job of connecting customers' needs with executable solutions.”

As 2019 winds down, I just thought I would share some of the more interesting labels that we have printed this year. Weber prints digital labels for customers in a wide variety of markets and some of the designs are outstanding. 

Our digital label presses are constantly printing cool labels for everything from start-up companies to established industries looking to improve the look of their brand. So take a look at these gems and learn about the companies they represent! We like to support all our customers, large and small.

1. Hair of the Ferret - Crown Point, IN

A former Weber label customer, Dan and Sally Homner, are those kind of people who have the ability to turn a hobby that they love into a successful business. Hair of the Ferret Gourmet Salsa is a family-owned company that takes great pride in making the best salsa and hot sauces on the planet. Fresh ingredients (up to 12 varieties of peppers!) make all the difference.

Being huge salsa lovers, Dan and Sally started making salsa for friends and family. People loved it and after many accolades, they decided to take it to market in 1997. Literally. They took it to a Farmers Market and it was such a big hit that they decided to start a full-time business making salsa.

The name is is a tongue-in-cheek suggestion from one of their friends. It's such an outrageous name that people remember it and it stuck.

In 2018 they got a price increase from their current label vendor and started looking for a new label company. They also had a new product, Fred's Red hot sauce. We provided some cool samples of different label materials that would make their brand stand out from the competitors on the store shelf. 

Dan liked the idea of the metallic label material and he had our graphics department make his artwork come to life. The results speak for themselves. If you are a hot sauce collector, better get this one on your list! Available online at decent prices.

You see them everywhere. Small labels attached to your products at the grocery store, Walmart or big box store that allow you to peel them off and save money at check out.

Weber prints many of these type of labels and in this blog we will feature two examples of "Point of Purchase Coupon" labels.

These labels are perfect for adding to packages like boxes, clamshells, bottles, and bags to give your customer a discount or rebate buying incentive. It's a good way to get your product noticed or to entice a potential buyer into trying your brand for the first time.

Two of the most common types of coupon labels are the  extended-content, multi-panel construction label that works best for mail in rebates that requires more space for text and the  simple peel off coupon with deadened adhesive on the back. The peel-off coupons are usually collected at check out and the savings are immediate. 

How to Apply Coupon Labels

There are two basic ways to apply your new coupon labels. The method you use is dependent on whether your products are on the manufacturing line or already offline or in-store. 

• Towa Hand-Held Labeler

When your products are already at the store or at the warehouse, you can apply the labels by hand (labor-intensive!) using an affordable hand-held labeling tool. We would recommend something like the Towa hand-held labeler. Available in six different sizes, the Towa is perfect for small labeling jobs and on-demand labeling.

If you plan to use a hand-held labeler to apply your coupon labels, remember that your labels need to be wound on a 1" core and the roll has to be no more than about 5" in diameter.

This method is labor intensive because you have to swipe the labeler on each product, one at a time. If you have a lot of items to label, this could take a while!

•  Automated Label Applicators

If you plan ahead and can label your products while still being manufactured on a conveyor line, you can use one of the many labeling systems on the market.

We would recommend either a PackLeader labeling system or a Weber Alpha Compact label applicator. Automated labeling methods like this are meant for high-volume labeling that also requires close accuracy (like your coupon label).

Depending on the shape of your product and the speed of the line, you can choose from a range of systems including the PackLeader 501 for round containers like beverages or the Weber Alpha Compact which is perfect for applying labels to the top or sides of a product.

Both systems are economical yet full of advanced features like rugged die-cast aluminum construction, single-key calibration, automatic recognition of missing labels, in-production speed adjustment, and more.

An example of a tricky application is this coupon label applied to a clamshell plastic container filled with trail mix. The clamshell lid is recessed so the label needs to be blow onto the top of the clamshell using a Alpha Tamp-Blow labeling system. The label is brought to within a 1/4" of the product (clearing the lip) and is then blown onto the lid. 

Digital printing is quickly becoming a popular choice for printing product labels and stickers.  And there are plenty of good reasons for this including reduced cost, high-quality, quick turn-around and small batch capabilities.

At Weber Packaging, we have been using HP Indigo digital presses to produce stunning product labels for food packaging, lotion bottles, chemical warning labels and so much more. As you plan your new label designs, you should consider all the advantages of digitally printed pressure-sensitive labels.  

What is digital printing?

Digital label printing takes a digital file of your design and prints the image directly on to a selected label material on press. Unlike flexographic printing, all colors and images are produced in one step. These presses run slower than flexographic presses so they are ideal for smaller order quantities. Because of the superior printing technology of the HP Indigo press, colorful product packaging labels are produced beautifully. 

Common Features of a Digital Label Project

Decorative or Prime Label Printing 

Digital printing is ideal for labels that require at least 4 colors. If you want your label to help sell your product and speak for your brand, the print quality is key. Color consistency, image registration and color vibrancy are all addressed with digital labels. Most of the labels we print on our HP Indigo presses are the primary product label. For instance, beverage labels, food pouch labels, and private label brands are frequently running in our digital room. If your label will be used for branding then chances are it'll be a good fit for digital. 

Short Run Orders

Digital printing allows for a much lower minimum than flexographic printing. If you'll need 500-25,000 colorful labels per product then there's a good chance digital labels are a good fit for your product. With short runs you won't need to hold on to inventory you don't need. 

 Variable Print On Press

Variable data printing is a form of digital printing, including on-demand printing, in which elements such as text, graphics and images may be changed from one printed to piece to the next without stopping or slowing down the printing process.  VDP uses information from a database or external file.

Flexo printing requires plates for each unique image and color so variable printing on on a flexographic press is impossible. Digital presses can print consecutive numbers, variable data and almost any other label-to-label difference.  

You know what matters most about a craft beer is the tasty content inside the packaging.

But with ever increasing competition, it might get tough to rely on just the product to sell itself. Sometimes taste alone is not enough to get your craft beer noticed and moving off the shelves. Branding and packaging play a major role in the growth of your brewery and your brand.

With more craft breweries selling thousands of brands at retail, the beer choices for consumers are seemingly endless. New beer varieties are constantly entering the marketplace and shelf space is at a premium. Breweries are relying on package differentiation to grab consumers’ attention at the retail point of sale.

The importance of designing your custom beverage labels to tell your brand’s story is key, and the label design can have a big impact on shelf presence.  We are going to cover the pressure-sensitive label material choices you have and why it has a bigger impact than you might think.  Getting a perfect-looking label on a can or bottle requires some planning.

Our featured label this month is the series of deli food labels we printed for a local food importer, R&F Imports. These labels were designed by our Graphics manager, Joe Lozano, and printed on a WS6000 HP Indigo digital printing press. 

The Label's Story

The deli counter is a highly competitive area of any grocery store, so if you're a small brand competing for consumer attention, then you need to maximize your packaging with brand storytelling. This is a challenge we often talk about with craft beer labels and other products at small businesses. You have a limited budget, a small shelf space to promote your brand and you're lacking name recognition with consumers.

R&F Imports needed help and decided to rebrand their label with the help of our Graphics manager and marketing team. A beautiful rustic farm scene was designed and printed on a metalized silver label material. To enhance certain parts of the design, Joe Lozano used a matte laminate to soften areas of the design and while allowing other areas to shine. It also gave the overall texture and a soft, high-end feel. 

Weber's Digital Edge Solution 

Initially R&F was looking for an in-house label printing solution. However, the limitations in print quality and material would make for an undesirable finished product. To create the quality labels R&F wanted and at the quantity they needed, they decided to have Weber print these labels using our HP Indigo digital press.

The labels that were printed were for a variety of deli meats and each required a low volume of printed labels (under 10,000). Not only is the digital press able to produce crisp vibrant images but it also doesn't require printing plates, so producing a series of labels with different images is quick and easy. It also means R&F has the flexibility to change their artwork and print new labels without investing in new plates or dies for different shapes and colors.

Gold Ink Award 

Needless to say, the R&F Imports labels were a big hit. We're proud to announce that this series of labels was recognized with a Gold Ink Award in the Commercial Printing category under "Digital Printing, Labels & Flexible Packaging." The label was judged based on the quality and technical difficulty in printing the label.  

In its 28th year, the Gold Ink Awards from Printing Impressions magazine is a celebration of the best in printed products. They receive thousands of entries each year from printers around the world who are looking to be recognized by their customers, prospects and industry peers for their superior craftsmanship.

Congrats to our Marketing, Graphics and Manufacturing teams for putting together a great product. Pictured above (l to r) is Graphics manager Joe Lozano and Label Production manager Todd Peterson.

Want to see them shine in person? Request metalized label samples from Weber.