AWT Labeling & Packaging

Retirement is indeed a wonderful thing.  Although I’m not quite 100% retired, as I’m still consulting up a storm for the AWT mothership a solid 2 or 3 days a month through the end of 2017, most of the time I can sleep in, have a beer or two for lunch, and forget which day […]

Once again HealthPack, this year in Denver, was a fine way to augment your medical device packaging knowledge, both by listening to the presentations and by hanging out and exchanging info and BS with colleagues, customers, and suppliers. Because of heavy snowfall in the area this year and potential avalanche danger, two intrepid colleagues from an […]

So far, retirement has been everything I have hoped including some trips, some paddling, chasing deer, a bit of volunteer work, and adult beverages whenever the urge strikes. I do have to suck it up and put in about three days a month working in the sticker business, a schedule I kick myself for not […]

A couple years ago I wrote a blog post on dies, technical and informative but deadly boring. The topic does need some expansion, especially with multiple shapes on a laser sheet label set as well as the intricate back and front cuts on a variety of multiple purpose TTR label sets and closure / tear […]

One of the more interesting aspects of medical device manufacturer’s view of the label industry is their belief that our raw material suppliers, the folks that produce the label stock that we convert, actually care about the time it takes for device manufacturers to qualify a new material. The unvarnished truth is that they just […]

The one certain thing about developing new labels for the medical device market is that you know for before you begin that you are not going to be cut loose to come up with the best, most innovative, cost effective, and unique solution. What we label guys all want is to be handed the saxophone […]

The continuing trend of corporations to focus almost exclusively on shareholder value, rather than stakeholder value (eg customers, suppliers, employees, etc.), has made the cost of everything an overriding concern.  My theory is that companies that ask for a 5% cost reduction per year are somewhat math impaired because at some point we suppliers would […]

I thought it would be good to get a blog post out before the big event starts in Louisville tomorrow. Packing? Heck, I get that nailed 15 minutes before I leave for the airport. The other thing I need to get done are the slides for my mini presentation at the Standards Update session. Longtime […]

Once again the English language proves to be a baffling tongue. Depending on context the word die can either mean the singular of dice, the act of ‘taking the dirt nap’, or a complicated cutting tool for making labels. Sometimes I think a rotary cutting die for labels can cause almost as much angst as […]

The year is drawing to a close and the holidays and their accompanying chaos are hard upon us. Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, or even Festivus (the holiday for the rest of us), the swirl of additional activity and mega multitasking is inescapable. So rather than some weighty blog post on some obscure labeling […]