New Printed Can Minimums

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As the 2022 quickly approaches, many companies are looking forward to the New Year.  One of the world’s largest aluminum can suppliers just shocked the craft beer market and has made many breweries start scrambling to find a solution after their recent announcement.

During the final quarter of the year, can manufacturer Ball Corp. started informing breweries across that country that their minimum orders will be increased at the start of 2022.  They will require non-contract customers to order five truckloads per SKU.  This is up drastically from their previous minimum of one truckload per SKU.  Many of these non-contract customers include small and regional breweries.  In addition to the new minimum quantities, non-contracted customers will no longer be able to store excess cans in their warehouses.

Now with printed cans becoming potentially more difficult to obtain for small and medium-sized breweries, we believe that craft brewers will start looking more towards using labels on cans.

Labels on cans may seem like a step down from printed cans, but they are a great way to get your cans to pop in stores and the cost advantages are easy to realize.  Find out more about the differences between labels, shrink sleeves and printed cans here.

If you need more information about printing labels or for pricing, contact one of our label experts at Lauterbach Group at 262-820-8123 or email craftbrew@lauterbachgroup.com.

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Cover Up Those Obsolete Cans

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Shrink Sleeves

Due to a low aluminum can supply in the post-COVID beverage marketplace, beverage manufacturers like our brewery customers are finding it hard to get their products canned.

Do you have printed cans for obsolete products that you are not able to use?

Perfect!  The answer is shrink wrap labels!

Depending on your operation and output needs, getting into shrink sleeves can cost less than you may think.  We own equipment made by Accraply for converting our printed film to shrink wrap rolls and they also make shrink applicators and heat tunnels.  Shrink wrap sleeves can cover your old obsolete printed cans with 360 degrees of new product markings, reusing those old cans so you can stop spending all of your time trying to procure new aluminum cans and focus your time on making great beverages and putting them in consumers’ hands.

Need help with getting into shrink or want a quote for shrink sleeves?  Give us a call at 262-820-8123 or email us.  We absolutely love printing beverage labels and shrink and have some really cool capabilities with our state-of-the-art presses.

Cheers!

Shrink Sleeve
Here you can see the subtle difference between a gloss and matte finish

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Why Total Labeling Design Matters!

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Product Shelves

When it comes to retail sales, first impressions really matter. Consumers decide within seconds whether they will purchase a product. It is reported by Nielsen that “consumers are considering multiple options leaving huge opportunities for labels to make an impact” and “that upward of 70% of purchasing decisions are made at the shelf”.

A label design is not just what great graphic design is presented; it is the entire design of the pressure sensitive or shrink sleeve label. This includes label sizing, materials used and decoration enhancements used to highlight your products on a crowded retail shelf. The total design of a label carries the pertinent information your customer needs to develop an opinion about the quality of your product and tells a story about your product and the people behind the creation of the product.

There are simple characteristics which help create a total design that properly tells your product’s story and creates recognition.

1. Does the label size fit the product correctly in shape and fit the package properly? Are there gaps or does the label overhang the product, does the label have wrinkles when it is applied the products bottle or package?
2. Has the correct material and adhesive been selected to perform in the correct environmental setting of heat, cold or moisture?
3. Does the products package require 360 degrees of presentation to help the products presentation on the shelf which is provided by a shrink sleeve label?
4. Can simple decoration enhancement like spot gloss or matte varnishes, raised or tactile varnishes, foils and embossing help make your product stand out on the shelf?

We are obsessed with perfecting labels with our clients! Call us at 262-820-8123 or email us at craftbrew@lauterbachgroup.com for help or questions.

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Common Shrink Material

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Shrink Wrapped Can

Probrew Can

Shrink sleeving is a heat activated conforming label product.  It is widely used to attain 360 degree full container coverage without direct container printing.  This allows better cycling of packaging inventory at a lower cost.  There are multiple materials available to create the sleeves that best suit a product.

PVC- Polyvinyl Chloride

This is the least expensive option and most used (an estimated 70%) of shrink materials.  It’s best characteristic is that it has great control during the shrinking process, shrinking up to 64% at a low temperature between 122-140° F.  It offers decent clarity and scuff resistance but is the least environmentally friendly option. This material is used a lot in tamper-evident bands.

PETG HS-LV – Polypropylene Terephthalate Glycol

PETG combines high density and strength with high shrinking capability of up to 78% at temperatures of 158-176° F.  This material creates the highest quality clarity, gloss, scuff resistance, and heat resistance of all of the shrink materials.  With growing popularity, this material has become commonly used in the beverage industry.  It also maintains excellent recyclability.

OPS- Oriented Polystyrene

OPS Film generally is used in squeezable packaging.  Shrinking up to 75%, it has the lowest vertical shrink of the shrink films allowing for a very consistent and soft finish.  It has the highest yield savings vs. PETG and PVC.

PLA- Polylactide

PLA is a renewable film made from corn and plant-based resources, allowing it to be biodegradable.  This prevents recyclability but maintains environmental benefits.  It shrinks up to 72% and is FDA approved for direct food contact.  PLA is very rigid and brittle and can be the most difficult of the options to handle.

Similar to our pressure sensitive labels, we can also apply specialty varnishes on to shrink film in order to obtain a tactile or unique touch and feel on your product (see our raised varnish and spot varnish posts).

For more information about shrink or print capabilities on your product, contact us at the Lauterbach Group.

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Hand Sanitizer

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Hand Sanitizer Labels by Craft Brewers

With the high demand for hand sanitizer these days, we have found that our local brewers are stepping up to the challenge and making denatured alcohol in their facilities for hand sanitizer.  Right now, in order to allow for the increase in production, the US government through the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is temporarily waiving their need for approvals and certain permits for hand sanitizer formulas as long as it is consistent with World Heath Organization guidelines.

There are a few resources to help navigate the process and make sure that everything is on the up & up since most breweries down’t normally produce denatured (not fit for human consumption) alcohol.  The appropriate denaturants need to be added to brewed alcohol in order to allow it to be produced as hand sanitizer.  Hand sanitizer, because it is not a beverage item, is not subject to the Federal Excise taxes that beer and alcoholic beverages are by the TTB.

FDA Guidance & Policy
TTB Guidance & Policy

Since hand sanitizer is not a brewery’s bread and butter and doesn’t necessarily need as much attention to detail for marketing purposes, it might make more sense to create quick, affordable smaller labels that simply get the job done.  We have thousands of dies in our inventory to cut out our printed labels and help facilitate quick creation and delivery of those labels to you.

Find out more information about printing hand sanitizer labels with your next batch of craft brew labels by contacting us via email or phone at craftbeer@latuerbachgroup.com or 262-820-8123.

 

 

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Shrink Sleeve and Labels vs. Printed Cans

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Canned Wine, Beer and Specialty Drink:
Shrink Sleeves and Pressure Sensitive Labels vs. Printed Cans

Customers that are interested in 360° top-to-bottom graphics on cans for wine, beer or specialty drinks have three labeling options:

Printed Cans
Shrink Sleeves or
Labels

Printed cans have a high minimum order requirement -100,000 cans at a time, longer lead times – 12 weeks, and can be more expensive for small to mid-size producers who are not buying truckload quantities of a single version. Given the setup charges for art, version charges and split shipment charges for printed cans, it is not always the best choice for brands that want more flexibility with their design, and faster print-to-market solutions, and better graphic and decoration quality.

Shrink sleeves and pressure sensitive labels allow brands to trial different designs in the marketplace easily, add fun and eye catching designs to draw product attention on the shelf, and do so with very short lead-times to react to market needs. They also lower overall cost.

LOWER OVERALL COSTS / SPEED MATTERS

Shrink sleeve and pressure sensitive labels provide the ability to print only what is needed and when it is needed. They also provide the highest quality graphics, shelf value-add and product differentiation.

Our OmniMark Art Management System provides great flexibility to change or upgrade designs literally real-time providing speed to market opportunities. Why wait 4 to 6 weeks to get a design, when you could have it in days?

With shrink sleeve and pressure sensitive labels, clients do not have to invest in vast warehouse space dedicated to printed cans which consume expensive warehouse costs, get damaged through warehousing and material movement and become obsolete as designs change.

COLOR AND DECORATION QUALITY AND VALUE

Shrink sleeve and pressure sensitive labels provide exceptional print quality. Vignettes, background screens, vivid colors and many decoration opportunities are available, from spot varnishes, soft touch varnishes, tactile print and varnish, as well as metallics.  We invest in state-of-art digital and flexo printing equipment to push the limits of print quality and creativity.

Ink that is printed directly on cans appears muted and hazy due to the gray metallic of the can showing through the ink. The print quality simply does not provide the necessary value and shelf appeal. Shrink sleeves and pressure sensitive labels ensure your graphics pop and help your product stand out on the shelf.

For more information or someone simply to help you navigate your can labeling needs, please give us a call at 262-820-8123 or email craftbrew@lauterbachgroup.com.

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Can Label Sizes

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Are you new to the beverage industry or just need a quick lesson on can and label sizes?

There are standard sizes for 12 oz and 16 oz aluminum cans.  The canning industry refers to them in sizes that aren’t quite measured numbers.  In American Canning’s line of Brite Cans for example, they offer a few sizes like a 211-12 oz and 211-16 oz.  Of course the 12 / 16 oz refers to the volume and 211 refers to the diameter, but 211 isn’t in measured in millimeters; it actually is more of a reference than a measurement.  The first digit is the number of inches and the next two numbers are the number of 1/16 fractions of an inch.  So a 211 can has a diameter of 2 11/16 inches or 2.6875 inches.

Using my prior knowledge of geometry formulas that I learned in 7th grade (shout out to Mr. Kolosinski in Burlington WI with his πD story), circumference is equal to pi multiplied by diameter, so the total circumference of a “211” can is 2.6875 x 3.1416 or 8.443 inches.

In terms of label size, technically you could use labels that have a total width of anything up to 8.443 in, which is just a bit more than 8 7/16 inches.  Overlap could be a concern and it just looks nicer to have a bit of a margin in there,  so we tend to go with a 8.125 or 8 1/8 inch label.

The label height that you want is easier to measure on the can itself.  For the 12 oz cans, our standard is a height of 3.625 inches (3 5/8 in).  For the 16 oz cans, our standard is a height of 5 inches.  In fact, the bulk of all of the labels that we produce for craft brewers and beverage customers are using the dimensions of 8.125 x 3.625″ for the 12 oz cans and the dimensions of 8.125 x 5″ for the 16 oz cans.

At the Lauterbach Group, we keep many sizes of dies (the tools that cut after a label is printed) in stock that can be used for bottle and can labels, but if you need a custom shaped or sized die, after customer approval, it only increases your overall turnaround time about a week.

Find out more about our labels by contacting us at craftbrew@lauterbachgroup.com or calling our craft brew label number directly at 262-820-8123.

**Update** Be aware that in this post-COVID day and age where it is getting harder and harder to find your standard aluminum cans, we have found (especially for the 16 oz pint aluminum cans) that they are not all the same!  When the circumference is smaller, that means that the can will be taller in order to fit in the same volume, which then could also affect how the label looks on the can.  Think more margin on the top and bottom of the can and a slightly smaller gap where the label meets.  Take a look at this mocked up demonstration of a label for our awesome customer Raised Grain.  The can on the left is 207-16 can vs. a standard 211-16 can on the right.  The 8.125″ x 5″ label on the right is much more fitting.  The can on the right used to be the standard size for a 16 oz can and now… well you get what you can find.

Cheers!

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Collage

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Looking to change up your printed labels?  With our collage feature, you can choose what image elements you want to display randomly across your artwork, and our software will make up to 20 unique label patterns.  This software allows us to control variables like repetition, rotation, size, overlap and spacing between elements.

You can go from subtle like this example by Raised Grain Brewing all the way to extreme by using different colors and dissimilar elements.

Find out more information about collage printing and other cool features by contacting us at the Lauterbach Group, craftbrew@lauterbachgroup.com or calling us directly at 262-820-8123.

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Holographic Foil

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Our Group works closely with our suppliers to develop creative ways to improve or add unique decoration enhancements for our clients. Over the years, we have worked closely with ITW Foils on many projects and with great success. Over the past few months, we have worked with ITW Foils on a line of holographic foils that can bring eye catching differentiation to a product label and doing so with great value. We are excited to present this technology to our clients.

Please take a look and if you need more information, please contact us at craftbrew@lauterbachgroup.com or 262-820-8123.

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Peek-a-boo Labels Up Close

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Craft Beer Labels by Lauterbach Group is proud to announce our latest innovation in pressure sensitive labels and packaging.  Introducing Peek-a-Boo® Powered by Lauterbach.  Peek a Boo® is a unique way to add dimension to your existing label.  Peel away the top label portion of your label to reveal a hidden message, pattern, promotion or coupon.

Have more to say?  You can add up to 40% more information using this Patent Pending technique Powered by Lauterbach.

After Peeling the top layer to reveal the bottom design, the label can be up-cycled into a decal or bumper sticker.

Luchador Sticker

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