By Bill Mulligan on 10/17/2008 8:57 PM

A co-supplier friend of mine suggested that I post my thoughts on the state of our industry.  The suggestion was based on a question that he gets all of the time from business owners and management of flexo operations, the popular question goes like this: " so how are things out there?".  It is a question that I get all of the time as well.  I also do my part in trying to gauge the state of our industry by reciprocating and asking my clients how their business is.

The responses to the question vary and a certain percentage of respondents are not  completely transparent, telling me business is great while their production staff are painting the break room as opposed to printing labels, indicating the  opposite.  So in the interest of being completely transparent; from where I sit, the state of our industry is horrible!

That being said, I need to state my point of reference.  I have been in this business a long time, I started in 1975 when flexography was regarded as a low quality printing technology that would never be able to compete with the proven, more established print technologies.  I have also enjoyed our segments "glory days" of the mid eighties through the nineties when label printers had plenty of work and enjoyed profits (despite sometimes poor management practices) that today are just a distant memory.  As we fast forward to today, we are all faced with the reality that our business segment has "matured".  Translated more accurately, our high margin, custom label printing operations have been reduced to producers of a commodity product.  What is a label printer to do?

I wish I had an easy answer; I don't.  But I certainly have some ideas.  My first suggestion is don't despair, I have great news, there are some label printers that are doing well.  That raises the question for those who are struggling; if a small percentage of the printers that I call on have plenty of work, pay their suppliers in ten days, take a discount for paying early and are investing in new state of the art equipment, what are they doing that you are not?

Stay tuned to the flexo blog as I will  address a few areas that may just help us all to be more profitable, keep what little hair we have left and maybe allow us to retire someday with some sense of having accomplished something.  In the coming days and  weeks I will address topics that need more discussion:

• Are your suppliers helping you?
• Run it once!
• Are you helping your suppliers to help you?
• Fail to plan; plan to fail.
• Let your operators, operate.
• Don't stop me now!

By Bill Mulligan on 9/30/2008 10:40 PM

An installment of the "on the road" observations...

Today my travels brought me close enough to the city where I grew up, the city of "Brotherly Love", to make a slight detour from my appointed rounds in South Jersey to  cross the Ben Franklin bridge at lunch time to consume a Philadelphia delicacy, a cheese steak.

My travel companion for the day (my wife) decided to try John's Roast Pork, they were recently voted the "best steak in Philly" in a local sports radio station competition.  The steak was good, but the roll (more on the roll later) was below par.  We both agreed that we have had worse Philly cheese steaks, but have definitely had better at Tony Luke's around the corner.

For those of you that have never had a "real" cheese steak you have to realize that part of the appeal is the "experience" as much as the food itself.  The character of most South Philly steak joints is just as important as the food itself.  I have attached a few pictures to try to share the experience.  Where else can you sit outside on a beautiful fall day and enjoy your lunch while looking directly across the street at a smoke belching factory and look down on the pavement below your table to see a pigeon (hardly an endangered species) eating a piece of the roll that fell from the table.

        

Not to dwell on the roll, but my wife observed that the guy making the steaks was hollowing out the rolls with his fingers (no latex gloves at this place) to allow more room in the roll before filling it with the steak.  Only I would have noticed this; but just before he prepared our steaks he went into the rest room...I will be forever haunted by the question of whether he washed his hands or not!

In our never ending quest to be more than just a supplier, please do not hesitate to contact us for information on where to get the best Philly steaks if you are planning a visit to the area.

By Bill Mulligan on 9/25/2008 8:00 PM

An installment of the "on the road" observations...

As I travel to flexo operations around the territory I invariably pull up to a building and ask myself "is this the place?".  In many cases there are really no tell tale outward signs that the building I am looking at houses a flexo printer.

Label Tech (Somersworth, NH)  has recently addressed that question.  As I walked from the parking lot toward their building today, I noticed something unusual on the front lawn; a multi-color, in-line Mark Andy press complete with the die cutting module.  At first I thought that the press may be in transit from one building to another, but once inside Peter Mullen explained the rather large lawn ornament.

Peter shared that the press was retired after many years of service but had too many "issues" to try to sell it to another printer (where was Peter when I bought my first used car?).  Rather than take valuable production space it was decided to "plant" the machine  on the lawn.  Peter is hoping that some local wildlife can find a home somewhere between the first and second print stations.

 

 

Move over "Cadillac Ranch" and make room for "Mark Andy Farm"!

By Bill Mulligan on 9/19/2008 12:15 PM

One of my clients has an excess inventory of 480 fiberglass Rossini plate sleeves and has asked me to find an interested buyer.  These sleeves will be sold "as is" and some of them still have plates on the sleeve, the buyer will be responsible for removing the plates at their location.

Please see the "special offers" tab on my web site for details on exact sizes and quantities.

Please direct any questions by way of a comment to this post or reply to sales@flexofix.com.

By Bill Mulligan on 9/16/2008 8:39 PM

We were all instructed at some point early in life that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".  Unfortunately for me that lesson went in one ear and right out the other; the fact is that I work too hard.  Anyone that knows me, can confirm that, confirmation however does not make it healthy.  Many of you work too hard.  The sad reality is that our industry segment is getting more competitive every day, your clients want printed product faster, at a lower cost and at a quality level higher than any of us ever dreamed possible with the flexo process.

With that in mind, I have promised myself that this blog space cannot be "all work and no play"  In the interest of not being dull, I am going to post some things from time to time that have absolutely nothing to do with work.  For those of you that find this suggestion offensive, please give it a chance, force yourself to take a break, forget the fact that your ink room manager just told you that a drum of Reflex blue sprung a leak over the weekend and the ink room floor is now blue, forget that your second shift supervisor just told you that the rotary die for that "hot rush" job was tooled to the wrong liner and won't convert and forget that email from your boss requesting your presence at a meeting in his office at 4:45. 

In a few upcoming posts, I am going to take you "on the road"  away from work to a world where I get to meet new people everyday and travel many miles with lots of "windshield time" to observe mankind at our best and worst.

To prepare you for our road trip you will need to get an idea of my travel profile.  Keep in mind that I am self employed and do not have a company paid expense account.  I am not traveling like a pampered athlete or elected public official.  Mine is truly a "lean operation", here are a few details:

• Mode of transportation: 2006 VW Jetta TDI (I really like this car, it will be the subject of a later post)
• Miles traveled per year: 70,000
• Breakfast: single serve Cheerios out of the trunk of the Jetta
• Lunch: Subway; oven roasted chicken on a wheat roll (no cookies, no chips)
• Dinner: Whatever I can find that looks good, can be consumed quickly and will not make me feel sick the next day.
• Entertainment in the car: XM radio and talking to good people like you on the cell phone
• Hotel: Holiday Inn Express 
•                     

Now that you have a mental image of our travel conditions, check back soon for our first "vacation" from work.

By Bill Mulligan on 9/12/2008 1:07 PM

As we put the wrap on another Label X, I just wanted to thank all of you who took the time to visit us at our booth in Chicago.  As always the show provided an opportunity to visit with old and new friends and see lots of new and interesting technology.

As an exhibitor, I had only limited time to walk the show and get a real feel for the number of visitors and the number of quality contacts that were actually made.  It was very obvious from the little that I did get to walk the isles that the exhibitors that were present put their best foot forward and spent big bucks to try to impress the attendees.

Please share your Label X experience by way of posting a comment, it would be great to hear what you found of value and what we can do to make future shows more beneficial to all.

Comments from both exhibitors and attendees are welcome. 

By Bill Mulligan on 9/8/2008 9:24 AM

Congratulations to Angel Tucker from Image Now in Elmira, NY, she was the first to post a comment and call this AM to claim the Yankees ticket.

Angel's 13 year old son will join us for his first major league game and help us to bring down the curtain on the "House That Ruth Built".

By Bill Mulligan on 9/7/2008 8:26 PM

I have one ticket to the Yankees /  Rays game on September 13 that is available for free to you if you meet the following criteria:

• You must be a manufacturer of flexo printed products (no suppliers please).
• You must use the ticket and not sell it.
• You must be willing to sit with me, my wife and two of our friends in the no alcohol section of the bleachers.
• You must be the first to reply to this post and call me at 856-630-8809 before noon on Wednesday (10th) to confirm that you meet all of the above requirements.

This is not the best seat in the house (bleachers) but a unique opportunity for anyone who has never seen the Stadium before they close it at the end of this season.

By Bill Mulligan on 9/5/2008 10:27 PM

Lou Altomare recently joined the Atlas Rotary Tooling Group in the position of Sales Engineer in the Northeast geography of the country.

Lou is a long time friend of Flexsolutions, a trusted co-supplier and most importantly a valuable asset to his clients here in the Northeast.  Lou brings a combined 30 years experience in both sales and manufacturing of narrow web flexo printing and converting to his clients.

If you haven't already done it, please give Lou a shout and wish him well in his new position, his contact info follows:

Atlas Rotary Tooling Group

Lou Altomare

Cell: 267-226-2160

laltomare@atlasdie.com

By Bill Mulligan on 9/4/2008 10:36 AM

Just a quick note to remind you that I will be in Chicago for the Labelexpo show for all three days (September 9, 10 and 11) next week.  Like you, I have a lot of ground to cover but do not want to miss an opportunity to say hello.  With that in mind here is my "game plan".

I will try to do my best pinball impression visiting all of my suppliers booths early and late in each day of the show (first and last hour of each day).  I will "anchor" myself for the remainder of each day at the Interactive Inks booth #3000.

If you happen to come by the booth and I am not there and you need to talk with me, please text message the number 3000 to my cell phone (856-630-8809) and I will get back to the Interactive booth as quickly as possible.

Enjoy the show and please attach a comment or email me at sales@flexofix.com if there is something specific that I can help you find next week at Labelexpo.