TLMI honors stand-out labels

-- Converting Magazine, 10/30/2007 7:41:00 AM

Attendees of the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute’s (www.tlmi.com) annual meeting at Waikoloa, HI, toasted the winners of the 2007 TLMI awards competition during the gala reception and dinner Tuesday. 

Out of 317 entries from 50 companies from all across the globe, the Symbion wine bottle and neck label from Taylor Made Labels, Inc. (Lake Oswego, OR) differentiated itself from the pack and took home Best of Show. Entered in the Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress category, Taylor Made Labels used a four color process with two spot colors using UV flexo inks to create the front, back and neck labels. The company also added embossing and two spot overprint varnishes as highlights on 60th gloss PS stock. Along with the Best in Show, Taylor Made Labels also one a first and second place award, taking home three awards overall.

The association also recognized two companies for their innovative labels. One of the two winners was the Schreiner Group GmbH & Co. KG of Oberschleissheim, Germany, which made a double-sided plastoclear label with an integrated microchip. Using FLEXcon film on letterpress, the company made a label that can show proof of the bearer’s identification; be tamper- and counterfeit-proof; have high-quality haptic and visual characteristics; be machine readable and data storage on the label should be rock and write-type. The label is used for event admission purposes and it can serve as a token for coat checks and in prize drawings as well as a means of payment. Schreiner Group took home four awards overall.

The other company to be acknowledged for its innovation in labelmaking is McDowell Label & Screen Printing (Plano, TX), which also took home an additional 11 awards along with its Innovation win. Its Back in Blaque label for a tanning product was made using HDUV flexo, foil stamping and screen doming with DuPont plates, Water Ink Technologies inks and MPS press. The brand owner challenged McDowell to help him crease a sleeve that was “outta sight.” McDowell stepped up by foil stamping the silver for the zipper and medallion and then printing a multi-dimensional effect for the product name and the zipper and medallion in register and that would shrink with ink and film.

TLMI presented 81 awards in total: one best of show, two innovator awards, 55 first and 23 second place awards.