Jonny Lyman is sales and marketing director of Links Labels, a successful business in Bourne that is very much smaller than the magazine printing business in the same Lincolnshire town. But it does not play second fiddle to the larger company in terms of innovation and progressive thinking.
Links prints on flexo, Indigo and inkjet presses and converts plain labels for printing on thermal or laser printers. The self adhesive labels it produces cover the range from security, peel and reveal, industrial and embellished labels for chemicals, medical, cosmetics, food and drink, nutraceuticals and e-liquids or vapes.
It might have continued in this vein. However, says Lyman, “for a very long time a number of our customers have asked that could we do for them with cartons what we do with our labels. Could we support them by having everything produced in one place under one roof? Until now we have always said No.”
That has changed and Links Labels is now producing cartons albeit with a limited range. “We can’t compete with the volume carton converters, but we have customers that need smaller sizes and small volumes for product launches or where they have multiple skus and are struggling to find reliable supply,” he says. That supply has frequently come from China and resulted in over ordering to ensure stocks do not run out with an obvious impact on waste. Local production changes this.
This is the type of problem that Links intends to solve for its label customers, delivering long runs of the same design to multiple short runs of different designs. It has added an AB Graphic Big Foot finishing line that can emboss, varnish, hot foil stamping, embossing and screen print on both labels and cartons.
Once sheeted, the cartons are cut and creased on a Uchida and then glued and folded on a Moll that was installed only weeks ago. There is no pretence that this will cope with every kind of carton. “We are not set up for crash lock boxes for example,” says Lyman. “But so far everything has come together nicely. And we can give customers the best overall package for their packaging.”
