Postcards, a new world

Every day, lab managers strive to run productive, efficient labs; after all, important, sometimes life-changing outcomes are on the line. The rising adoption of automation means many processes that were once time-consuming and tedious are now mechanized and reliable, thereby increasing lab productivity.

One area that is easy to overlook is a lab’s system for labeling samples. In this age of rapid technological advancement, it’s no longer good practice to rely on hand labeling or laser custom printing to label tubes, vials, plates and slides-it takes up valuable staff time and the risk of error is too high. Exposure to chemicals can cause ink smears or damage to the label surface itself, leading to mistakes in sample tracking, distortion or adhesive failure.

Because of routine exposure, selecting the right label printing system for the lab is as, if not more, important as selecting quality labware itself. When determining the best label for every lab environment, there are three key considerations: materials, imaging and adhesives.

Polymer is often the best label material because it’s resistant to chemicals and performs well in hot, cold and wet environments. Material flexibility and thickness are important for custom labels applied to irregular surfaces. Thickness is also a key consideration for labware that needs to be placed in holders or racks. For barcode and other high-density data storage images, thermal transfer printing is the optimal choice. It’s the most durable and it won’t smear. Thermal transfer imaging uses a heat-activated ribbon material in the label printer or printing service, which allows users to select the image durability most suitable for their application. Laserjet-printed labels often do not offer a high enough image resolution for barcode technology. Furthermore, inkjet direct mark images smear when exposed to chemicals like solvents, and their low resolution and lack of contrast makes them difficult to scan.

Quebecor Media Inc., whose flyers land on more than half of all Canadian doorsteps each week, is set to launch its own digital flyer printing service to tap web-savvy bargain hunters.

Quebecor has a long and successful history in the nyc printing business but only jump-started its flyer presses again roughly two years ago following the breakup of Quebecor World - at one time the largest printer anywhere on the planet.

Today, Quebecor, parent company to QMI Agency and Sun Media, is back in the flyer game in a big way pumping out colourful pages for distribution in more than 150 publications across seven provinces from two high-tech facilities in Toronto and Mirabel, Que.

Business is booming, said Philippe Guay, vice president, national sales, Quebecor Media Inc.

The company recently added big names to its roster of clients including Golf Town, the Shoe Company and Jean Coutu - the largest drugstore chain in Quebec.

“We’ve been trying to rebuild this business. It’s a lot smaller than it was before,” Guay said, adding Quebecor accounts for less than 3% of the overall Canadian flyer custom printing market.

But where Quebecor really enjoys bragging rights is in distribution.

Through its impressive network of daily and weekly newspapers stretching across the country, Quebecor delivers flyers to 6.7 million of the 13 million doorsteps in Canada every week.

“We are by far the largest flyer distributor in the country,” Guay said.

In fact, declining newspaper circulation and the growing popularity of the web hasn’t cut into Quebecor’s flyer business at all, Guay said.

“The paper flyer is still as, if not more, popular than it was five, six years ago,” he said.

More than 14 billion flyers were delivered to Canadians last year, according to the Flyer Distribution Standards Association (FDSA). Some 85% of Canadians peruse flyers “often” or at least “sometimes”, its studies show.

“It’s part of the routine of a lot of Canadians,” Guay said.

“So far there hasn’t been a real good, solid alternative to paper.”

Some retailers and printing services providers are looking to branch out online however.

“It’s the other phenomenon we’ve been seeing,” Guay said.

From SourceWire

Graphics and Print, the award-winning, Telford-based print manufacturer, have been providing printing services to businesses since 1980 and their design and print regularly helps customers with community based activities. And with Children in Need just a few weeks away, they have just launched their 50/50 offer. Managing Director, Martin Kells explains:

“Customers ask us all the time if we can support them with charity and community based activities and we are only too pleased to support where we can. We know that every year, thousands of businesses need printing services for things like poster printing and flyer printing linked to the great work they do for Children in Need so we thought we would proactively offer our support this year through our 50/50 offer. Put simply, this means that the first 50 businesses who approach us for help with printing services or creative graphic design for anything to do with the BBCs Children in Need appeal, we will provide up to £50 worth of design or print free of charge. Hopefully this helps businesses to save time designing or custom printing their own materials locally, enabling them to spend more time on the fund raising side of things.”

The fact that Graphics and Print has a design studio in-house means that their experienced team of designers has direct access to the print finishing team, ensuring that at every step of the print journey, their experts are working together to deliver a quality end product for all of their clients. This is one of the many reasons why Graphics and Print are award-winning commercial printers.