The growing uses of the sleeve label, a labelling solution for bottles with two labels, a mobile solution for thermal transfer label printers and much more!

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Get your promo code at booth 621.

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Eye candy

More than ever before, the food sector is looking for new packaging and labelling strategies. Dairy producers, for example, have long known that offering fresh, tasty and healthy products isn’t enough to get a decent market share. People like it when their senses are stimulated. And in stores, sight is solicited well before taste.

This fact was promoted in a study conducted in 2010 by MarketForce, an expert in consumer intelligence. When asked why they try new products, the majority of the approximately 600 respondents stated that it was because the product “caught their eye at the store.” This was the most popular response for drinks and snacks. And the marketing experts get this.

Pay attention to this the next time you enter a grocery store. The dairy product aisle overflows with attractive packaging and bright colours. The context is favourable since many are single-serve dairy beverages. Yet, in stores, these individual portions are often targeted by impulsive buyers whose main criterion is the product’s visual appearance.

The sleeve, which can cover 360 degrees of a container, from “head to foot,” is the ideal tool that can benefit from package appeal because of its stimulating label that fits all shapes and sizes. We’ve come a long way since the dull milk carton!

In my next blog post, also dedicated to the sleeve and dairy products, I’ll show how the sleeve label encourages co-branding opportunities.

A BUYING GUIDE: WHAT FOR?

Through our various market studies or through talk from our partners, it seemed obvious to IMS that the increase in business needs concerning label printing required clear and adapted solutions. Today, our partners’ printing needs have never been so numerous and diverse: compliance, orders, inventory, distribution, archives, invoicing, shipping, medical identification, asset tracking, advertising, private label…and the list goes on!

IMS’s mission has always been to satisfy the constantly changing industry needs. Case in point when This is the meticulously chose the best models of the most popular label printer brands, such as Zebra, Toshiba TEC, SATO and Datamax-O’Neil, or even Colordyne, VIP Color and SwiftColor.

To clarify and better guide our partners, IMS has brought to you a tool that links its customers’ needs to its adapted printing solutions. At the end of the day I always thought that a specific need should correspond to THE adapted solution. With the Buying Guide, consider it done.

USER MANUAL

The Label Printer Buying Guide is accessible online and can be downloaded in PDF format.

A simple and user-friendly table of contents:

The table of contents mentions the manufacturers of the printers, which are classed according to the printer type: thermal or inkjet colour printer.

All the links are clickable. You can go directly to the manufacturer’s page or to the colour printer category in just one click.

Quantitative and qualitative information:

1. An image of the model.

2. The brand, a sign of quality.

3. The print mode. Direct thermal or thermal transfer, for barcode printers or colour inkjet printers.

4. A general description to give a general idea of each product.

5. Practices and recommendations, classed by application or industry.

6. The resolution. The higher the resolution, the more accurate the printing.

7. The max print speed. This is important for high printing volumes, for example.

8. The max print width, which depends directly on the label width.

9. Media types. These can be labels, ribbons or ink cartridges, depending on whether the printer is thermal or inkjet.

10. A link for ordering is located directly on the text “Click here.”

11. A brochure for each printer, accessible in just one click in PDF format in the section “Additional notes.”

Our attentive team of experts

IMS hopes this guide will be useful in your search, but don’t forget that our team of experts is available to respond to all your questions and to provide you with additional information about label printers.

Like with PACKEX, where we were in Toronto last May and in Montreal just before the winter holidays, the exhibitors at EastPack have a common goal: to learn about the latest packaging trends. Technology, material, equipment and services will have the place of honour in many booths and during various seminars and conferences held on site.

To find us

EastPack will take place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, located at 1101 Arch Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit the event website.

IMS will be at booth number 621 during the entire show:

• Tuesday, June 18, 2013, from 10:00 am till 4:00 pm
• Wednesday, June 19, 2013, from 10:00 am till 4:00 pm
• Thursday, June 20, 2013, from 10:00 am till 3:00 pm

The sleeve in the spotlight

Whether you prefer to call them sleeves or sleeve labels, they’ll have a special place at EastPack since they’re experiencing continual growth in North America, namely in the manufacturing and food sectors that are constantly looking for new packaging solutions. In addition to its many advantages, the sleeve offers a large selection regarding its design: the choice of film, the type of sleeve and the type of application are just a few examples of the many customizable features.

If you haven’t already done so, I recommend visiting our mini-site dedicated to the sleeve. Many colourful pages of technical information await you at imsinc.ca/sleeve/en.

Meet our experts

Besides our products, you can also communicate with our experts, who look forward to welcoming you at our booth:

We look forward to meeting you!

When the time comes to put a profession and an employee in the spotlight, we have to make a choice: determine what aspect of our company we would like to promote and who would be the designated person to do the job. After choosing our profession-employee combo, there needs to be an interview.

Star employee: a project in several steps

It’s important to get a “feeling” for the employee so as to properly promote him or her. The experience and the notoriety of a company like IMS go through each member of the personnel and promote the members, which also adds value to their professions as well as the skills and qualities that they require. The next step consists in researching possible advances within the profession and possibilities to explore for those looking to enter the profession. When this is all done, picture-taking constitutes the final step, and then voilà!

Flexographic printing, production of sleeve labels, printer maintenance, estimating, invoicing, etc….the possibilities are endless. To date, four employees have accepted to present their profession and others will follow this autumn.

No vacation for our blog!

Until then, our blog won’t take a break. We’ll keep serving you informative and entertaining blog posts that are related to this industry that has fascinated us for over 50 years: product identification.

The summer schedules are gaining popularity among businesses and quite fit with the most popular summer benefits coveted by employees. A study conducted by the firm Office Team found that 37% of the respondents wanted to finish earlier on Friday, just less than the 44% aspiring to flexible schedules.

Customers are not affected by the summer schedule

For those of you who are already customers of IMS, you know how customer satisfaction is at the heart of our concerns. So if, for others, shutting down earlier on Friday may, at first glance, seem to penalize the customer, but it is definitely not the case. Those Friday hours are spread throughout the week so the total of business hours remains the same. As a matter of fact, IMS opens a half hour earlier during the summer.

From June 28 to August 30, 2013, our opening hours will be:

IMS has introduced the summer schedule three years ago and the employees are very satisfied about it. First, getting a longer weekend is good to boost the team’s morale, and, in addition, it is a significant advantage for families and those who leave the city towards campsites and cottages. Have a great summer!

During those two years, we have been able to witness the exceptional performance of that manufacturer’s range of products. All the installations we did at our customer’s premises were successful, and let me tell you that they were impressed by the performance delivered by Cognex products!

Advanced data capture technology

Cognex Dataman 8000 barcode reader

Cognex offers the most advanced technology available for 1D barcode and 2D matrix code reading. Regardless of the barcode symbology, size, quality, printing method, or surface the codes are marked on, Cognex can read it! As a matter of fact, “We can read it!” is the company’s slogan!

Perfect for hard-to-read barcodes

Combined with the best performing hardware on the market, in both handheld and fixed-mount reader formats, Cognex can successfully read codes that other readers can’t. As a result, image-based readers are rapidly replacing laser scanners in a wide range of manufacturing and logistics applications.

Free seminar

In order to present its technology and its products, Cognex will be offering a free seminar to anyone interested. (Please note that the seminar will be held in French.)

Place: Montréal
Date: June 12, 2013
Hour: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

There will be an occasion to see demonstrations of the performance of these products, and also to ask all the questions that you may have for your personal needs.

Don’t miss your chance to attend a great presentation, register today!

On the menu of May’s issue are not one, not two, but six informative featured articles.

Tomorrow, don’t miss:

The sleeve industry

This article will help you understand why the sleeve is viewed today as having the most potential for growth within the packaging industry. You’ll soon want to put them everywhere!

 Datamax-O’Neil’s Mobile Power Unit

The manufacturer Datamax-O’Neil has come along with a surprising mobility solution for thermal transfer printers. More details in this article!

 Labelling solution for wine bottles

After the success of its presentation at PACKEX 2013, in this article we’re presenting our very new semi-automated labelling solution for wine bottles with two labels of different widths. Very innovative!

The SwiftColor colour printer

This May newsletter is also the occasion to learn more about the latest newcomer to IMS: the SwiftColor SCL-4000. You’ll learn about its operating system, different uses and operating environment. This way, you’ll know it inside and out!

Upcoming events

This May issue will be the last one before autumn. But don’t be disappointed: you know how much IMS enjoys opportunities to get in touch. That’s why you’ll find a list of the trade shows in which IMS will participate. Come and meet us!

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