text:
Could a Simple Urine Test Detect Early-Stage Alzheimer's Disease?
Image by monte_a via Shutterstock
Researchers from China have discovered a potential new biomarker in urine that could lead to earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common form of dementia that impacts around 5.8 million people in the United States. Individuals with AD experience progressive memory loss and cognitive decline that can severely impact daily functioning.
Although healthcare providers can prescribe medications that help slow the progression of AD, they are most effective when given in the earlier stages of the disease. Therefore, early detection is critical.
Currently, diagnosing AD involves cognitive assessments, medical testing to rule out other causes of memory decline, and brain scans — including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), or positron emission tomography (PET). Still, these may be inconclusive, leading to delayed diagnosis.
In addition, these tests can be expensive, invasive, or expose people to radiation, making them more challenging to use as routine AD screening tools.
Recently, a cross-sectional study published November 30th in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience found that levels of urinary formic acid, a metabolic product of formaldehyde, were higher in people with Alzheimer's — including those in the early stages of the disease.
These results suggest that urinary formic acid could be a potential biomarker for screening and diagnosis of early-stage ED.
Could a urine test detect Alzheimer's?
The scientist's previous research found a relationship between formaldehyde levels in urine and cognitive function, indicating that urinary formaldehyde may be a potential biomarker for early AD diagnosis.
Building on their earlier findings, the research team investigated the relationship between AD biomarkers in the blood and urinary formic acid — a by-product of formaldehyde. They recruited 574 participants from the Memory Clinic of Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital in China to conduct the study.
The scientists divided the participants into five diagnostic groups. Among them:
71 had normal cognitive function.
101 had subjective cognitive decline (SCD).
131 had cognitive impairment without mild cognitive impairment (CINM).
158 had mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
113 had a diagnosis of AD.
Then, the team administered standardized tests evaluating the participant's memory, language, executive function, and visuospatial abilities. They also drew blood samples to determine AD-related blood biomarker measurements. In addition, they collected morning urine samples to measure formaldehyde and formic acid levels.
After analyzing the data, the scientists found that urinary formic acid levels were higher in all Alzheimer's groups compared to those with healthy cognitive function. In addition, the data showed that as the disease progressed, urinary formic acid levels trended upward.
The team also compared urinary formic acid and formaldehyde levels with AD blood biomarkers. They found that combining all three potential biomarkers could enhance AD prediction accuracy for different stages of the disease. Moreover, urinary formic acid levels showed more prediction accuracy than formaldehyde.
The study authors suggest that formic acid urine testing could be a simple, convenient, and inexpensive way to screen people for AD in its early stages.
Limitations to the study
According to the study authors, the connections between formaldehyde, formic acid, and Alzheimer's are still unclear. Also, the PET and CT scan data sample size was not adequate to draw definitive conclusions, especially in participants with normal cognitive function. Therefore, more long-term follow-up studies are needed.
However, in a press release, the study authors said, "urinary formic acid showed an excellent sensitivity for early Alzheimer's screening."
"The detection of urine biomarkers of Alzheimer's is convenient and cost-effective, and it should be performed during routine physical examinations of the elderly," they concluded.


text:
Q: Building project for production causes error within mock file with Jest I have this mock within a mocks folder (React project). This file is named as getEnvironmentContextMock.ts
import { getEnvironmentContext } from "../apis/environmentStrategy";

const getEnvironmentContextMock = jest
  .fn(getEnvironmentContext)
  .mockReturnValue({
    identity: process.env.REACT_APP_URL_IDENTITY,
    company: process.env.REACT_APP_URL_SUBSCRIPTION,
    client: process.env.REACT_APP_URL_CLIENTS,
    orders: process.env.REACT_APP_URL_ORDER,
  });

export { getEnvironmentContextMock };

And when I try to generate the build for production

*

*Exclude node_modules

*NODE_ENV=production

*npm i

*NODE_ENV=production

*npm run build --prod

I have the following error within the mock file:

Cannot find name 'jest'. TS2304

My jest.config file
/** @type {import('@ts-jest/dist/types').InitialOptionsTsJest} */
module.exports = {
  preset: "ts-jest",
  testEnvironment: "jsdom",
  globals: {
    "ts-jest": {
      isolatedModules: true,
    },
  },
  transform: {
    "^.+\\.jsx?$": "babel-jest",
    "^.+\\.tsx?$": "ts-jest",
  },

  // Runs special logic, such as cleaning up components
  // when using React Testing Library and adds special
  // extended assertions to Jest
  setupFilesAfterEnv: ["@testing-library/jest-dom/extend-expect"],
  moduleNameMapper: {
    "\\.(css|less|sass|scss)$": "identity-obj-proxy",
    "\\.(png|jpg|gif|ttf|eot|svg)$": "identity-obj-proxy",
  },
  moduleDirectories: ["js", ".", "node_modules"],
  moduleFileExtensions: ['ts', 'tsx', 'js', 'jsx', 'json', 'node'],
};

And my tsconfig file
{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "es2016",
    "module": "esnext",
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
    "strict": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "lib": ["dom", "dom.iterable", "esnext"],
    "noImplicitAny": false,
    "strictNullChecks": true,
    "noImplicitThis": true,
    "alwaysStrict": true,
    "allowJs": true,
    "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,
    "noFallthroughCasesInSwitch": true,
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "resolveJsonModule": true,
    "isolatedModules": true,
    "noEmit": true,
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "types": ["jest"],
    "typeRoots": ["./types", "./node_modules/@types"]
  },
  "include": ["src"],
  "exclude": ["node_modules", "**/*.spec.ts", "**/*.test.ts"]
}

Any thoughts on how to fix that?
The build works if I change the mock file name extension to test.tsx, but I don't it as it is not a test file, just a mock file.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
jurnalnasional.com
Cambridge Judge Business School is celebrating Black History Month 2022The School will host a panel discussion on 18 October 2022 exploring organisational cultures that create inclusion and belonging. Panellists include Dr Bola Grace, Founder/CEO of Orishi, providing Inclusive Innovation solutions, Dr Othman Cole and Womba Lagrue. Othman is a senior member of Faculty at CJBS and Womba is the newly appointed Chair for the University of Cambridge, Race Equality Network.
Max Silin Meimei Zhao Max Silin and Meimei Zhao, Executive MBA students at Cambridge Judge Business School , were named to the annual Best & Brightest Executive MBA students list by business school publication Poets & Quants, which is now in its 8th year. Cambridge Judge Business School Executive MBA students Max Silin and Meimei Zhao are named to the annual "Best & Brightest" list by business school publication Poets & Quants. Your subscription includes a free digital edition of every issue of Technology Record. Businesses need to develop their cyber-resiliency by examining their business practices, and stopping, continuing or starting cybersecurity measures. With outdated delivery systems at many hospitals and clinics, mistakes can lead to costly duplication of services and poor patient outcomes. Our skill set covers the entire range of building services engineering across a wide range of client sectors.
For example, the latest Wi-Fi based billing systems now come in a single appliance, rather than a collection of hardware. Read more about using payment cards for your business, or – if you have concerns about keeping your PoS systems safe – see point-of-sale terminal security. These statistics highlight the importance of cyber security for business.
These four tools could enable the future of AI in healthcare
Conference at Cambridge Judge Business School explores the development of Health Care Utilities that scale up innovations to reduce the cost of medicines and other health care products. The average UK household spends £41.70 per month on subscription services, compared with an average of £51.65 in 2021, and jurnalnasional.com £45.50 in 2020, according to research by Barclaycard Payments. The bank's third annual study on the 'subscription economy' looked into how demand for sign-up products and services had evolved following growth throughout the pandemic and the impact of consumer spending in light of the cost-of-living crisis.
Technology Airbnb bookings hit a record high Airbnb bookings have hit a record high despite the cost of living crisis across the world.
This tendency is notably obvious among the 24% of businesses that keep their gear for seven years or more, long after warranty terms have expired.
In this episode of the Construction Talk Podcast, Peter Haddock sits down with Matthew Ayres, group managing director of The Bennie Group, to talk about how early technology adoption can generate and harvest data, diversity and inclusion, and new talent.
"The social contract between venture capital and society is not working.
A 2022 UK government survey found that in the preceding 12 months, 39 per cent of UK businesses identified a cyber attack.
"There are many good health care innovations, but they're local – they don't scale," said Stefan, who last year with Carter co-authored an article about HCUs published in NEJM Catalyst, a publication of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The National Science Foundation has declared a $25.4m investment to improve innovative projects in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is critical to safeguarding infrastructure, keeping supply chains… It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation. The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our lives—from culture to business, science to design.
Advancing lidar systems with chip
As employees work from home, companies are becoming more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Defending against cyberattacks increasingly means looking for patterns in large amounts of data – a task AI was made for. Technology Samsung unveils repair mode to prevent data leakage Samsung Electronics has unveiled a "repair mode" to prevent user data from being leaked if their device has to undergo a …
Articles on Information technology
To mark International Women's Day, Alexandra Leonards spoke to a group of women leading the way in the technology industry about the hurdles they have faced, their career highlights, and how tech companies can help to facilitate a fairer and more diverse sector. He's responsible for developing identity, Microsoft 365 security, and other cloud service solutions – and keeping our clients abreast of the latest technology trends. PoS or point-of-sale systems have been around for a long time, but have recently seen some innovative changes.
The initiative is led by Cambridge MBA students Ihor Kravets, who is from Ukraine, and Olivia Wenig of the US . A UK initiative led by two Cambridge MBA students and Professor Mark de Rond of Cambridge Judge Business School seeks to document war crimes in Ukraine through drone-delivered images. Litigation funding shouldn't be confined to London, says Executive MBA graduate Jack Bradley-Seddon of Cambridge Judge Business School, so Thaxted Capital provides small-case litigation funding in the North and Midlands areas of England. In a summer when the UK is recording its highest ever temperatures, it's timely that a new research group – the Energy and Environment Group – has just been launched in this Department. Cambridge Advance Online, is a new venture between the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Press and Assessment. The venture offers short online courses for professionals, all taught by University of Cambridge academics, sharing something of the unique experience of studying in Cambridge with a much wider audience.
Posted on September 13, 2022 Author jimmyCategories GeneralTags information, technology
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Mara Kozelsky is Associate Professor of History at the University of South Alabama.
Few rural southerners have Eastern European surnames and mine was unique for my small hometown. While my career did not move in the direction of my Czech ancestry, having this heritage gave me an awareness of the region from a young age. I can also point to Samantha Smith as an early, and perhaps more direct, inspiration. We were both 10 years old when she protested nuclear weapons in a letter to Andropov, and I avidly followed her visit to Russia in 1983. The spirit of cooperation Samantha represented stayed with me, and my first trip to Russia in 1994 was with a Peace Exchange Program.
As I traveled through Russia, Ukraine and Poland in the 1990s, I was struck by the emergence of national identities connected with religion. As a historian, I wanted to better understand the origins of religious nationalism in this part of the world, which led to my first book, Christianizing Crimea (Northern Illinois U Press, 2010). Focusing on the first half of the nineteenth century, the book shows how the Russian Orthodox Church revived ancient Orthodox legends to recast Crimea as the Cradle of Russian Christianity. Then, the spread of Orthodoxy contributed to the consolidation of empire in southern Ukraine and Crimea. Recently, the idea of Crimea (and Kyiv) as the Cradle(s) of Russian Christianity has reappeared in Patriarch Kirill's Russkii Mir platform and was invoked by Putin to justify annexing Crimea.
A chapter in my book explored Orthodox nationalism during the Crimean War, and I felt it barely scratched the surface of a much more complex conflict. We know very little about the Tatar mutiny during the war and exodus after; wartime scorched earthy policy and requisitions; religious tensions associated with the conflict; and so on. My current book in progress, therefore, examines the civilian experience of war. I have published aspects of this study in articles and in Russian-Ottoman Borderlands: the Eastern Question Reconsidered, which I co-edited with Lucien Frary (U of Wisconsin Press, 2014). Finally, I occasionally still present and write about Archbishop Innokentii (Borisov) the prelate who led the Christianizing of Crimea in the 19th century, and who ranks among the most important theologians of the Russian Orthodox Church.
ASEEES is a critical resource for scholars in the field. When budget cuts threatened the Russian language program at University of South Alabama following retirement of our language professor, I called upon ASEEES for help. Past President of ASEEES Diane Koenker along with other scholars kindly sent letters to the administration in support of retaining the tenure-track line. These efforts helped secure the hiring of an energetic Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian, Dr. Nicholas Gossett. We are continuing our advocacy for a tenure-track line, and can envision calling upon ASEEES again. Beyond advocacy at the local and national level, ASEEES provides important opportunities for intellectual exchange and collaboration. I am indebted to many wonderful scholars associated with ASEEES for their insights and support over the years.
I like traveling, reading, gardening, and can do a variety of DIY projects. I also write fiction to relax and have completed 2 novels.


Barreña Agirrebeitia, Andoni (1993) Haur euskaldunen hizkuntzaren jabekuntza-garapena: Infl eta Konp funtzio kategorien erabileraz. (Basque-speaking children"s language adquisiton: use of the functional categories INFL and COMP). Other thesis, Universidad del País Vasco.
This list was generated on Mon Apr 22 08:09:06 2019 CEST.


Nobu London Old Park Lane is proud to present the very finest in private dining experiences. Our in-house private dining room is adjacent to the main restaurant, located on the first floor of the Metropolitan Hotel.
This versatile space has played host to a wide variety of personal celebrations and corporate occasions. During the day, natural light streams through the skylight atrium, while at night the room can be darkened to create a more intimate environment with soft lighting.
To discuss how we can transform your celebration at Nobu London, get in touch.


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text:
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Inc (HY) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript
Motley Fool Transcribers, The Motley Fool
Motley Fool February 27, 2019
Logo of jester cap with thought bubble.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Inc (NYSE: HY)
Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Feb. 27, 2019, 11:00 a.m. ET
Prepared Remarks
Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Good morning. My name is Chris, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Hyster-Yale Materials Handling 2018 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)
Christina Kmetko, you may begin your conference.
Christina Kmetko -- Investor Relations Officer
Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our 2018 fourth quarter earnings call. I am Christina Kmetko, and I am responsible for Investor Relations at Hyster-Yale. Joining me on today's call are Al Rankin, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hyster-Yale Materials Handling; Colin Wilson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hyster-Yale Group; and Ken Schilling, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Yesterday evening, we published our fourth quarter 2018 results and filed our 10-K. Copies of the earnings release and 10-K are available on our website. For anyone who is not able to listen to today's entire call, an archived version of this webcast will be on our website later this afternoon and available for approximately 12 months.
I would also like to remind participants that this conference call may contain certain forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements made here today in either our prepared remarks or during the following question-and-answer session. We disclaim any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, which may not be updated until our next quarterly conference call, if at all. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties was set forth in our earnings release and in our 10-K.
Also, certain amounts discussed during this call are considered non-GAAP. The non-GAAP reconciliations of these amounts are included in our earnings release and available on our website.
Now let me discuss our fourth quarter results and activities. I will discuss the highlights first, and then get into the details. In the fourth quarter, the global lift truck market continued to grow strong, albeit at a slower pace. The strong market combined with increasing momentum from our strategic initiatives helped us generate a solid increase in our fourth quarter lift truck shipments and 18.7% increase in bookings and a 30% increase in our ending backlog over the respective 2017 periods.
Our average sales price per unit in backlog increased over both the 2017 fourth quarter and the 2018 third quarter. This is because we shipped more lower-priced units during the quarter, while shipments of higher-priced units including Big Trucks were lower primarily because of continuing supplier shortages. We are addressing this issue and expected to be broadly resolved by mid-year.
On a consolidated basis, our revenues increased to $837.7 million, up from $795.5 million last year, driven by increases in revenues at all three of our businesses. The lift truck revenues included $22.7 million of revenues on shipments of 1,600 units from our Maximal subsidiary, which was acquired in June 2018. Despite this revenue growth and improved operating results at Nuvera and Bolzoni, we reported a consolidated operating loss of $3.4 million and a net loss of $1.2 million, or loss of $0.07 per share.
Last year we had operating profit of $15.9 million and a net loss of $2.4 million, or $0.15 per share. But last year's net loss included $18.4 million of unfavorable tax adjustments related to the 2017 tax reform legislation. Our core lift truck business Hyster-Yale Group showed a fourth quarter consolidated revenue increase, with revenues of $794.2 million, up from from $751.6 million last year. However, this segment primarily are Americas division, also drove the decrease in our consolidated results.
Our lift truck business, operating profit decreased to $4.2 million in the fourth quarter, down from $23.7 million last year. The decline occurred because of material and freight cost inflation, including import tariffs, net of price increases we have implemented, as well as manufacturing inefficiencies caused by supplier parts shortages and an increase in warranty expense. We also had higher operating expenses due to an increase in incentive compensation, resulting from an adjustment for the net impact of tariffs on our full year 2018 results, as well as an additional -- as additional investments in the expansion of our industry focused sales and marketing teams and increased product development costs to support a planned major upgrade to one of our core product platforms.
I would like to point out that we are still experiencing a lag between when we implemented price increases and when we actually realize those price increases in our unit revenues. The Americas, which is our largest segment implemented price increases during the first half of the year and a tariff surcharge in November 2018 to offset material cost inflation in tariff, but the fourth quarter operating results continued to reflect a $5.7 million shortfall resulting from this lag. Impact of this lag on our full year results was $25.7 million.
While the fourth quarter results were not what we expected for the full year, our Lift Truck business still generated $67.5 million of operating profit and $56.7 million of net income, despite many external challenges and conscious decisions made to incur additional cost to accelerate the execution of our strategic initiatives.
Moving to our Bolzoni segment, Bolzoni reported net income of $400,000 and revenues of $50.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2018, compared with net income of $600,000 and revenues of $49.4 million in last year's fourth quarter. Bolzoni's operating profit improved to $1.9 million in 2018, up from $1.4 million last year.
Bolzoni's revenue increase was primarily the result of higher volumes in the EMEA market and operating profit increased mainly because of improved margins on products sold, partly offset by higher operating expenses, resulting from the continued implementation of Bolzoni's strategic programs, specifically to increase its presence in North America.
Finally, at our Nuvera segment, Nuvera reported revenues of $10.6 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $400,000 in the prior year. During the fourth quarter Nuvera recognized revenues that have previously been deferred on fuel cell battery box replacements sold to Hyster-Yale Group our Lift Truck business.
These revenues were eliminated in consolidation, but Hyster-Yale Group also recognized revenues on the battery box replacements previously sold to the third-parties. Nuvera's fourth quarter operating loss decreased to $9.8 million from a loss of $13.9 million last year. This reduction was mainly because of the absence of a $4.9 million asset impairment charge taken in 2017 and product development funding received from third-party customers. This improvement was partially offset by the recognition of higher warranty expense, higher employee-related costs and an increase in product development and production start-up costs related to Nuvera's third-party development agreements that we discussed in previous quarters.
As I'm sure you noted, we provided a new investor perspective in our fourth quarter earnings release rather than a detailed 2019 outlook. We trust you will find this of greater value as it lays out the path we expect to follow over the medium to long-term period, as well as give any perspective on 2019. As we said in our earnings release, we are undertaking the largest set of transformational programs in our company's history, and we believe these will help us attain a much higher level of competitiveness, market position and economic performance over the next three to five years.
We have spent a lot of time over the past few years communicating our six strategic initiatives, and many of the projects we are undertaking to execute these initiatives. We believe many of these programs are moving toward completion, in total, these projects have acquired significant upfront expense and capital expenditure investment and cover a very broad range of activities for each of our three businesses.
Over the course of 2017 and 2018, these investments both expense and capital, increased significantly. We expect to continue to make investments in 2019, but we believe the return from these investments have started to be realized and is expected to increase over the next three to five years. While the early part of 2019 is expected to reflect the investment in all of these programs. The second half of the year is expected to be significantly improved in comparison to the second half of this past year.
Efforts in our Lift Truck business to find offsets to the tariff driven unprecedented material cost inflation witnessed in 2018 are expected to mature during 2019, and efforts to abate the most critical supplier issues, which are still having an impact on our production lines are under way with most expected to be resolved by the middle of the year. In addition, our current lift truck backlog contains certain deal-specific pricing agreements at less than target margins to gain targeted accounts and for which margin improvement efforts will take some time to mature. These deals will also have an impact on profitability, mainly in the first half of the year.
However, we do expect margins to recover from the 2018 material cost inflation and the strategically priced deals by the third and fourth quarters of 2019. In this context, we expect 2019 operating profit at Hyster-Yale Group, the Lift Truck business to improve over 2018, but results in the first half of the year are expected to be lower than the first half of last year, and then improve in the second half. Beginning in 2020, further improved results are expected with significant continuing increases through 2023.
Bolzoni's results are expected to improve in 2019 and in the following years with a target of 7% operating profit margins being reached in the shorter-term. Nuvera's results are expected to improve moderately in the first three quarters of 2019 with a break even target for both the fourth quarter and for the 2020 full year. At each of these three businesses, the investments being undertaken are expected to lead to increased operating profit through higher volume, decreased product costs and improved pricing, partially offset by a higher level of operating expense.
As a result, overall we expect 2019 consolidated operating profit to increase significantly with the improvement coming in the second half of the year. Of course, the absolute level of profitability will reflect actual market demand levels. Our company is currently forecasting strong but moderating market levels in 2019 and a resolution to Brexit in a way that does not significantly harm our company's business prospects.
Before I open up the call for questions, I wanted to make a comment about our cash position. At December 31st, our cash was $83.7 million compared with $220.1 million at the end of 2017. Our debt balance was $301.5 million, up from $290.7 million at year end. The decrease in cash and increase in debt were primarily driven by the acquisition of Maximal and an increased investment in working capital.
That concludes my prepared remarks. I will now open up the call for your questions.
(Operator Instructions) Your question comes from Joe Mondillo with Sidoti & Company. Your line is open.
Joseph Mondillo -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst
Hi, everyone. Good morning.
Good morning, Joe.
Alfred M. Rankin -- Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
First off wanted to ask about the supply chain constraint challenges that you've had, just sort of what the status is and sort of how you're thinking about, how this progresses through 2019?
Colin, do you want to answer that?
Colin Wilson -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Joe, if you split it down by locations out of the area that we've been impacted the most has been in Nijmegen on our Big Trucks. Three or four month ago, we were facing issues with around by 20 suppliers, right now it's down to three and we have plans with each of those that will see us work our way out by the end of the first quarter and really touch upon all of our backlog issues by mid-year. We are facing some other issues to a smaller magnitude in North America, again we have plans for all of those and we're working our way out from those and again come -- end of the first quarter, we expect to be in much better shape than we are right now.
Okay. Any -- just regarding sort of the delays in shipments and such? Just curious if you're -- what your customers are saying, any issues with, I don't know, order cancellations or just any issues with what your customers are saying regarding this delays?
Well it's -- whenever you delay shipments, you don't typically have heavy customers, we've managed to work our way through with most. We haven't had any cancellations. I would say we've had to push lead times out. So our lead times are in 20 -- depending upon location, but in Europe we are sitting on our Big Trucks anywhere from 24 to 28 weeks, and the Americas it's probably roundabout the 32 week line. Some customers won't wait that long, so we have lost a few orders, but it's only a few on lead time. But again, we expect to work our way out of this as we will go through the first quarter and to the second quarter.
Okay. And then on price cost side of things. At this point, is it just like are things sort of put in place where you think relative to where the cost of materials and such are in place and now it's just the catch-up? And if so, what point in time do you sort of see things catching up to normal margins related to price cost?
Well, whatever we put a price increase in place, we give 30 days notification of the price increase, and typically what happens is, we get a flood of orders coming in to beat the price increase. And we are looking at ways in which we can potentially stop that from happening going forward. But we have this as you know on the backlog. I mean, a large part of the backlog is at oil pricing, I mean anything new going into the backlog now, is at new pricing. So that needs time to work its way out, it really given the length of -- the size of our backlog, we see it starting to get better in the second quarter, getting much better in the third and basically be fully recovered and that's the key thing, the flow business and what's going into the backlog now is, is it pricing that basically reflects full or almost full recovery of the wave of inflation we saw last year.
And I'd just add that inflation appears to be moderating, it's a little bit early days this year, but it appears to be a little bit lower than our expectations were. So some of the stresses in heavy equipment market supply chain seem to be abating a little bit.
Okay. Yeah, I figured that much, so now sort of a catch up. In terms of market demands, I'm curious to see what kind of trends you're seeing geography wise and even more so based on types of trucks, given some slowing environments in these industrial economies. I would be -- I would think that potentially some of your heavy-duty high priced heavy trucks would potentially be seeing a slowdown. But could you just talk about sort of the geographies, the trends and type of truck orders, how things are trending there?
I think the overview comment, I'd make first and then ask Colin to follow-up is that, we haven't seen any particularly consistent trends at this point. We have seen some month-to-month fluctuations and we're at a time, where we're watching each of the different types of trucks by class in a particularly focused way and by capacity, to look for indications, which we can monitor pretty much month-by-month with the considerable accuracy, especially in Europe, Middle East and Africa and North America, but really globally as well.
Because, we at least think that we ought to think that there are caution lights out there and we're going to watch it like a hawk. But at this point we haven't seen any consistent indicators of the downturn. Now certainly, we have seen a moderation in the growth rates at this point. And so, we're not assuming that anything is going to be moving up as rapidly as it was. That's kind of the overview, I'd have. Do you want to add anything to that, Colin?
I mean the demand in the fourth quarter was still up on a global basis over the prior year and the prior year was a very strong fourth quarter. But as Al said I've said, I mean, we've seen some moderating. And also the market was very heavily to started last year because of the -- again, because of the price increases, some manufacturers are putting in place where people were pulling forward orders. So again, global demand was up a couple of percent, the Americas was down in the fourth quarter, but we're not overly worried about that. Again, because we saw very strong quarters earlier in the year in order to beat the price increase.
Our markets in Brazil, which was an important market for us, is really recovering nicely, was up almost 40% in the year-over-year. The European markets were up, Western Europe was up a little, Eastern Europe was up a lot, Middle East and Africa was down and even the JAPIC markets, China was up a couple of percent in the fourth quarter, I mean significantly down on the growth rates we've seen of late.
So we see markets moderating, but as be probably see markets continuing to moderate going into 2019, but we're still looking at a very strong market. And as far as the Big Truck demand is concerned, I mean it was very strong in 2018 and we expected to continue to be strong, maybe is not quite at the levels of '18 into '19. But again, we saw a very strong demand from around the world. And we look at it by segments to Al's point, so we look at what's happening in ports and terminals, we look at what's happening in steel, we look at what's happening in mining, we look at what's happening in concrete, we look at what's happening in a model. And most of those segments are still very robust. And so we don't really see any decline, significant decline in our demand.
In fact, as we're stopping in our lead times and as we go through the first and second quarters, we're hoping that's going to actually provide us a stimulus going into the second half.
Yeah, and I think I'd add to that. And this is strictly from a market point of view as opposed to how we're positioned to gain share, that I certainly hope that markets around the world except where they've been depressed in areas like Brazil, moderate. We're at a high level, as Colin indicated, and to have them rise over these high levels by anything significant is just really inviting a bigger downturn later. And so, we're quite happy to go back to the low growth rates that have characterized really the years since the beginning of the upturn in 2008, 2009 rather than see these volumes continue to increase from where they are.
And in addition to just the cyclical impact, the supply chain base isn't really in place to support continued increases in the volume in any kind of efficient way. And so, for that reason as well, we hope they're moderate. On the other hand, we're going to keep our eyes very carefully focused on whether we see any downturns, even if they're not general, we want to be able to plan our production and inventory levels line-by-line in our factories to minimize our inventories and manage efficient production. So we've got a tremendous incentive to watch the numbers that you are asking about.
Okay. Is there any way you can have a sense of sort of what the product mix maybe looks like for 2019 versus 2018? Because I know that can fluctuate margins quite a bit. Your margin -- your backlog is quite strong on it relative to a margin basis because you're seeing some delays in these Big Trucks shipments. Does that mean that maybe we could think that product mix is positive for 2019 or is it still sort of too early to tell in how maybe the back half?
Well, in terms of shipments, I think it's probably fair to say that we have a reasonably rich backlog at the moment, some of it because of the supply constraints that you mentioned. But I think our earnings release has some specific comments about the value of the backlog and the value of the backlog per unit in a way that I think is beneficial to us, that's particularly important too, because some of the unit volumes, the unit areas of the market that have grown the fastest are in Class 3, which are in some cases extremely low-value trucks. And so the units have become a far less important indicator backlog than the dollars in many ways, Colin.
Yeah I mean, and Joe, if you look at the perspective that we put in the earnings release and think about what we've talked about in our investment days and investment decks, we're really putting a lot of emphasis on our new industry focus and we have emphasized in the industries basically, we'll provide a richer mix of products. And so it's -- from a market share perspective, every unit counts as one, but we're really looking beyond that now and focusing on value segments, by value I'm talking about high value, not only high value of the truck, but also what margins are available from the types of customers that we can sell to. So focusing not on just volume growth, but also on growth of margin dollars and margin percent.
And that's a particularly important point that we tried to bring out in the investor perspective that we've got a lot of programs, projects, individual projects that have been -- that are supporting our six strategic initiatives. And those are coming together at an increasingly rapid rate, at roughly the same period of time. So you have our increases in sales coverage, our industry, strategies and the industry focus in our sales activities, products and a variety of other support activities, all of which are designed to enhance the value of our backlog and increase our market share position in these more attractive market segments we go forward.
Doesn't mean we're ignoring the others, we are increasingly using low-cost countries in some cases for some of the low-value items, particularly some of our customers find that they don't need all the capability that had and they're happy with a lighter duty product in some of those low value segments. But I might add, we've got even in the higher value segments, especially for Asia, and the developing countries, we have a new line of utility of products that are all coming into the market that's happening basically as we speak, throughout beginning now and throughout 2019. So there is a lot of new product activity occurring in the next couple three years, that should have a very big impact pretty much on across the Board on our high value lines.
Okay, great. Wanted to have a couple of questions on Nuvera. Could you update us with the China bus project and what you're doing there? And sort of I don't know if you can give us any timing of when delivery start, it seems like most likely maybe by fourth quarter, because that's when you're sort of projecting break even. And then in terms of sort of your well, maybe you can address that. Could you just update us on the -- what you're doing with that China project?
We're still in development, we are getting quite advanced in terms of our ability to deliver and the projection of our fourth quarter results reflects what we -- not only the output from these developments, but also increase in our BBR business, as we complete the transition of the BBRs to Greenville plant as -- and start ramping up the volume with the new product designs that we've got coming out.
We've got two significant projects going on in China, and they're a little bit different than our traditional projects, and even different from the BBR business, because they have -- they've have been structured with significant payments to us for development work that's associated with developing the specific capabilities that are necessary for that particular customer relationship. So there is a -- not necessarily a direct parallel between unit shipments and the receipt of reimbursements for expenses that we're incurring with the margin along the way.
So, there are lot of things that are happening. If we look at the plan, they come together as we said in the earnings release in the fourth quarter. And I'll make no mistake, there is plenty of challenge left for the team at Nuvera to get all those pieces to come together, they too have supply chain issues that they have to work through, they tend to be a little different than the ones we have now in the forklift truck business, but they're still significant as new components are released and we move toward their cost objectives, and the BBRs and the new components in the new engines in the bus business that you mentioned.
But there is nothing fundamentally, that isn't moving in the right direction from our point of view. At this point, we'll watch it carefully and give Nuvera every support that we can, we having some very knowledgeable and capable people and our supply chain activities in the forklift truck business and on some of these contract negotiations with suppliers, they can be very helpful to the Nuvera people. And so, we're working it on a comprehensive basis to get keep us moving in the direction that we outlined in the earnings release.
Okay. It seems like relative to how you sort of phrase things in terms of guidance last quarter, compared to this quarter, and maybe I'm reading into this too much. It seems like maybe you're more optimistic of hitting that break even target by the end of this year. Just regarding the phrasing in the press releases if you compare the two. Is that correct? And if so, what gives you more confidence? Or is that -- am I just over reading it?
Yeah, it's very difficult to say with clarity. What I would tell you is that the team at Nuvera is committed to trying to achieve those numbers and they have a plan to do it, and a lot of things have to come together. But if you go back earlier two, three, four quarters ago, we didn't have the clarity to be able to define the plan with that kind of precision. So yes, in that sense, we have a more defined plan. But still a lot of things have come together and everybody is working to try to make that happen. But certainly, we feel we've got a more defined pathway at this point. You want to add anything to that, Colin?
No, just I mean, we're confident in terms of the outcome. Timing is -- fourth quarter is not very far way, as we've made two commitments, one to be break even in the fourth quarter and the other to be break even in 2019 --
Sorry, 2020. So, are we confident in terms of the path that we're on? Yes, we are. Are we more confident in three months ago? I think, what we're more confident in is the people that we're working with in China, who are testing our technology and testing our fuel cells are coming back and telling us, we have a superior master. And all of the indications are that these are going to be very successful for us. And we're talking to other people, not only in China, but in another parts of the world who are attracted to -- we regard as the best fuel cell in the market. So I think in terms of the reaction from customers, yes, we're more confident. I would say, we're probably in the same position as we were three months ago with respect to the fourth quarter. And probably feel more confident about 2020.
Okay. Just last question regarding Nuvera. Could you talk about competitions? I know sort of the BBR side of things, as one competitor, is that same competitor competing at the same level in terms of fuel cell engines and stacks? So when you say you have the best engine worldwide or you think you do, is that the one and only competitor on that side or are you one of the only providers of that?
Well, it's a very narrow group of players at this point. But there are others that are making efforts to come into the marketplace. We -- still we think we have the leading technology at this point. To answer your specific question about our competitor in the forklift truck business and the BBR business. To some degree for a long time they sourced some of their core components including stacks from another company. And that company is in the business of competing with us and others in China and other places in the fuel cell stacks side of things. We think we have better technology than they do, but that's kind of the basic framework that I would give you.
In the end, automotive applications are going to play an important role in this, whether it's in China or in America or Europe, there is a lot of interest on the part of automotive OEMs in fuel sales. And it's a little different application, but some of the technology is broadly applicable. But we feel good about our competitive position. I think, we would say that we don't want to get too far out in front of ourselves at this stage of the game. We got a lot of work to do with these two significant contracts in China and our BBR business in the US, plus some heavy-duty experimental applications that are mainly in the US -- demonstration applications is the better word that are mainly in the US that are going to lead to electrification and fuel cell applications for our heavy-duty trucks for specialized work environments, at least in the beginning. So that's kind of the overview that I would give you. You want to add anything to that, Colin?
No, you got to think about, which are you talking about, when you're talking about competition. I mean clearly on the BBR side, it's Plug Power, they were the like first to market in North America, they are very North American centric, although they're trying to get into China, that's what, what we believe.
On the engine side, fuel cell stack and engine, it's probably Ballard, I mean, they are the biggest competitor. We do have other smaller competitors in the US and a couple of coming out of Europe. But again, we look at our technology and we spent a little bit of time looking at our competitors. But it's really the confidence we've got comes from what the people that we're partnering with tell us in terms of the power density that comes out of our unit and it's not just a small amount, better -- I would say very, very significant amount better, and that's a very powerful selling proposition.
Okay. Last quick question for me, just regarding cash flow. Your inventories were up 30% at the end of 2018 and I understand that probably a good part of that is related to the delays in shipments and just the productivity issues that you've had in 2018. But you're also ramping up this Nuvera project with the China project. I'm just curious of what -- how you're thinking about working capital needs in terms of the use of cash for 2019? And then also, what you're thinking about CapEx for 2019?
Ken, do you want to talk about that?
Kenneth C. Schilling -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Sure. Yeah, I think --
(Multiple Speakers) purpose it by saying that there's been no question that the inventories are higher than we would like, as we closed out 2018, we think it's extremely important to manage those very carefully and we've got really a special effort focused on making sure that we have a system that is as resilient as possible in dealing with some of the shortages and their buildup of inventories, as you can imagine having one component short and big truck means a lot of inventory is sitting there waiting for that final component. And as we indicated, we think we can get that part of this to clear sometime during the first half or so. But then we do expect to have more business in 2019, so they're based on basement increases. Ken, you want to take it from there?
Yeah, I think you laid it out perfectly. I mean our issue is the inventory that we hold primarily related to supplier constraints, we weren't able to churn that inventory into products sold, obviously that's the miss on the top line, sales line that we would have -- we were forecasting as well as you were. We performed well with payables and obviously receivables were down because of the shorter shipments. We're watching it carefully managing through the process and we expect to provide the working capital needed to fulfill the backlog that we have, which is a strong backlog in terms of what percent of the year is covered and as you pointed out, the average unit sales has grown to $27,000 in spite of the fact that now we include Maximal which has a quite a bit lower average sales value per truck at this time.
And don't forget, we have had an acquisition that is increasing some of the absolute numbers. So we do tend to watch our days of inventory on hand, and even -- and we're same with receivables and payables, so that we're looking at our total working capital on that kind of a basis and it gets adjusted for the volumes, whether they're newly acquired volumes are not. Certainly, as the business begins to fall and Nuvera begins to fall into a fully commercialized mode, it will be building some inventory. We have had -- I should go back to say that, we have some isolated cases of forward purchases of engines that are related to the movement of the Tier 5 engine production and --
Brexit --
And we have some extra inventory that's associated with unknowns about Brexit. So there are a number of one time things in addition to just the some of the supply chain things, I suppose there are one time too. We've got a pretty good record of managing our working capital efficiently and effectively. But I think it requires special effort when we have as many one times things going on as we do.
Joe, your second question was CapEx and our forecast is $79.1 million for 2019, it's predominantly focused in product development in IT systems and in the development of our manufacturing capability to produce those new products, as well as at the forklift company, as well as at Nuvera with the fuel cell engines.
Okay, great.
(Multiple Speakers) that we said in the press release. I believe that, we got a lot of expense and lot of CapEx associated with these -- this set of projects that Christy described as we're basically transformational in our views and in our objectives.
Okay. Great. Thanks a lot. Good luck, and thanks for taking my questions.
Okay. Thanks.
(Operator Instructions) This concludes the Q&A portion of the call. I'll now turn things back over to Christina Kmetko for any closing remarks.
Thank you. That concludes our call for today unless, Al or Colin, you have any further comments you wish to make.
No, further comments.
Okay. Thank you everybody for joining us. We appreciate your interest and if you do have any follow-up questions, please reach out to me, my number is available in our earnings release. Thanks so much, and have a great day.
Thank you for participating in today's conference call. This call will be available for replay beginning at 4:00 PM Eastern Time today through 11:59 PM Eastern Time on March 6. The conference ID number for the replay is 5938819, again the conference ID number for the replay is 5938819. The number to dial for the replay is 800-585-8367. This concludes today's conference call and you may now disconnect.
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text:
(function () {
  'use strict';

  describe('metadata.service', function () {

    beforeEach(module('horizon.app.core.metadata'));

    var nova = {getAggregateExtraSpecs: function() {},
                getFlavorExtraSpecs: function() {},
                editAggregateExtraSpecs: function() {},
                editFlavorExtraSpecs: function() {},
                getInstanceMetadata: function() {},
                editInstanceMetadata: function() {} };

    var glance = {getImageProps: function() {},
                  editImageProps: function() {},
                  getNamespaces: function() {}};

    var cinder = {getVolumeMetadata:function() {},
                  getVolumeSnapshotMetadata:function() {},
                  getVolumeTypeMetadata:function() {},
                  editVolumeMetadata: function() {},
                  editVolumeSnapshotMetadata: function() {}};

    beforeEach(function() {
      module(function($provide) {
        $provide.value('horizon.app.core.openstack-service-api.nova', nova);
        $provide.value('horizon.app.core.openstack-service-api.glance', glance);
        $provide.value('horizon.app.core.openstack-service-api.cinder', cinder);
      });
    });

    var metadataService;

    beforeEach(inject(function($injector) {
      metadataService = $injector.get('horizon.app.core.metadata.service');
    }));

    it('should get aggregate metadata', function() {
      var expected = 'aggregate metadata';
      spyOn(nova, 'getAggregateExtraSpecs').and.returnValue(expected);
      var actual = metadataService.getMetadata('aggregate', '1');
      expect(actual).toBe(expected);
    });

    it('should edit aggregate metadata', function() {
      spyOn(nova, 'editAggregateExtraSpecs');
      metadataService.editMetadata('aggregate', '1', 'updated', ['removed']);
      expect(nova.editAggregateExtraSpecs).toHaveBeenCalledWith('1', 'updated', ['removed']);
    });

    it('should get aggregate namespace', function() {
      spyOn(glance, 'getNamespaces');
      metadataService.getNamespaces('aggregate');
      expect(glance.getNamespaces)
      .toHaveBeenCalledWith({ resource_type: 'OS::Nova::Aggregate' }, false);
    });

    it('should get flavor metadata', function() {
      var expected = 'flavor metadata';
      spyOn(nova, 'getFlavorExtraSpecs').and.returnValue(expected);
      var actual = metadataService.getMetadata('flavor', '1');
      expect(actual).toBe(expected);
    });

    it('should edit flavor metadata', function() {
      spyOn(nova, 'editFlavorExtraSpecs');
      metadataService.editMetadata('flavor', '1', 'updated', ['removed']);
      expect(nova.editFlavorExtraSpecs).toHaveBeenCalledWith('1', 'updated', ['removed']);
    });

    it('should get flavor namespace', function() {
      spyOn(glance, 'getNamespaces');
      metadataService.getNamespaces('flavor');
      expect(glance.getNamespaces)
      .toHaveBeenCalledWith({ resource_type: 'OS::Nova::Flavor' }, false);
    });

    it('should get image metadata', function() {
      var expected = 'image metadata';
      spyOn(glance, 'getImageProps').and.returnValue(expected);
      var actual = metadataService.getMetadata('image', '1');
      expect(actual).toBe(expected);
    });

    it('should edit image metadata', function() {
      spyOn(glance, 'editImageProps');
      metadataService.editMetadata('image', '1', 'updated', ['removed']);
      expect(glance.editImageProps).toHaveBeenCalledWith('1', 'updated', ['removed']);
    });

    it('should edit volume metadata', function() {
      spyOn(cinder, 'editVolumeMetadata');
      metadataService.editMetadata('volume', '1', 'updated', ['removed']);
      expect(cinder.editVolumeMetadata).toHaveBeenCalledWith('1', 'updated', ['removed']);
    });

    it('should edit volume snapshot metadata', function() {
      spyOn(cinder, 'editVolumeSnapshotMetadata');
      metadataService.editMetadata('volume_snapshot', '1', 'updated', ['removed']);
      expect(cinder.editVolumeSnapshotMetadata).toHaveBeenCalledWith('1', 'updated', ['removed']);
    });

    it('should get image namespace', function() {
      spyOn(glance, 'getNamespaces');
      metadataService.getNamespaces('image');
      expect(glance.getNamespaces)
      .toHaveBeenCalledWith({ resource_type: 'OS::Glance::Image' }, false);
    });

    it('should get instance metadata', function() {
      var expected = 'instance metadata';
      spyOn(nova, 'getInstanceMetadata').and.returnValue(expected);
      var actual = metadataService.getMetadata('instance', '1');
      expect(actual).toBe(expected);
    });

    it('should get volume metadata', function() {
      var expected = 'volume metadata';
      spyOn(cinder, 'getVolumeMetadata').and.returnValue(expected);
      var actual = metadataService.getMetadata('volume', '1');
      expect(actual).toBe(expected);
    });

    it('should edit instance metadata', function() {
      spyOn(nova, 'editInstanceMetadata');
      metadataService.editMetadata('instance', '1', 'updated', ['removed']);
      expect(nova.editInstanceMetadata).toHaveBeenCalledWith('1', 'updated', ['removed']);
    });

    it('should get instance namespace', function() {
      spyOn(glance, 'getNamespaces');
      metadataService.getNamespaces('instance', 'metadata');
      expect(glance.getNamespaces)
      .toHaveBeenCalledWith({ resource_type: 'OS::Nova::Server',
                              properties_target: 'metadata' }, false);
    });

  });

})();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Blog Home / Customer Testimonials & Spotlights
Not Your Average Licorice, Not Your Average Label Printer
During a trip to Denmark, AstroNova met with luxury licorice company Lakrids by Bülow to see how they use their QuickLabel QL-300 to print quality, high-end labels to complement their brand.
Now a luxury licorice brand with global reach, Lakrids by Bülow got its start in 2007 when the first shop was opened in Svaneke, Denmark. The shop was an instant hit with locals, and the product seemed to be so popular, keeping up the demand was a challenge. But, just a year later, in 2008, they scaled production to meet the demand, opened their first factory, and installed a licorice machine. From there, the operation only grew bigger. Especially once Lakrids did what was said couldn't be done – coat the licorice with chocolate.
Over a decade later, with a vision to spread the love for licorice around the globe, Lakrids has built itself into a high-end, luxury brand with fans around the world. Making their products all on-site with raw materials, Lakrids prides itself on not being your average licorice. Now, with over 25 locations globally, operations have understandably expanded to meet demands, and Lakrids has added the QuickLabel QL-300 to its production line and uses it to print its high-end labels on the tops of their product jars.
The Power of CMYK + WHITE to Create High-End Labels
While QuickLabel was there, Lakrids expressed their appreciation and excitement about the quality of the white color, which influenced their decision to purchase the QL-300. With a desire to truly create something special, quality and branding are of utmost importance.
So, when Lakrids was searching for a labeling solution, they were looking for a solution that would heighten their brand and, ultimately, add value to it. Lakrids wanted to print brilliantly beautiful labels to match the aesthetic of the brand, which is where QuickLabel came in.
Tage Kusk, Technical Director at Lakrids by Bülow, said, "The QL-300 prints extra-wide like we needed to have the right background for our labels. The labels printed on the QL-300 look magnificent."
Kusk continued, "We get the labels on the same day, and we can change the design if we're not satisfied since we have the flexibility to do so." "Having the capability of printing with the white toner gave us a perfect look. The QL-300 can do so much more than you expect."
It's All in the Packaging
Lakrids by Büllow takes pride in not just selling a product but selling a design item. They've found their customers enjoy the look of the product, and for this, Lakrids has become an icon.
"The thing our customers should know about Lakrids by Büllow is that its quality and we care about every little part; not just the core part that you eat, but also about the packaging and labeling.", said Kusk.
"We make the world love licorice!"
Looking to Print Labels In-House?
If you're interested in learning more about how you can print dynamic, luxury labels on-demand, feel free to contact us to schedule a virtual demonstration or speak with one of our specialists!
German Winery Prints Unique Wine Labels In-House
AstroNova traveled to Ockenheim, Germany, to check-in with Weingut Schäfer-Zimmermann and see how they use their QuickLabel tabletop label printer to print wine labels in-house and on-demand!
In Ockenheim, Germany, you'll find an area where wineries and vineyards are plentiful. There, nestled in an idyllic, rural area, is Weingut Schäfer-Zimmermann, a family-owned winery. With acres of land being passed down from previous generations, the winery has been cultivating vineyards in various locations around Germany, including Gau Algesheim, Dromersheim, and Budesheim. Their range of products and offerings include white, rose, and red wines as well as sparkling wines, cocktails, and fruit juices.
QuickLabel® visited the winery to see how Weingut Schäfer-Zimmermann is using their QuickLabel QL-300, a five-color, toner-based label printer. Drawn initially to the QL-300 because of the opaqueness of the white color output and the quality of labels printed, they're now able to overprint a variety of details, including gold embossing, onto preprinted wine labels with the help of the QL-300. With a selection of award-winning wines, across various international markets including America, Japan, Spain, Italy, and England, having eye-catching labels to complement the product was essential.
Efficient, In-House Labeling
According to Co-Owner, Florian Zimmermann, another reason Weingut Schäfer-Zimmermann chose the QL-300 was due to the amount of corporate and foreign customers who request custom labels.
"We can use it to fulfill individual customer requests because it's the only printer that can print in white. We have a lot of dark labels, including black ones, so white is very useful for emphasizing colors."
"….Each time we went to the printer, we had to discuss, clarify, and then wait until the labels were ready to print and could be handed over to us." continues Zimmermann. "It took about 1-2 months before we'd finally have the wine to the customer, and that led to additional costs…So now, I can sit down with the picture or layout from the customer, and I'm done and have the labels run in 15-20 minutes."
With five generations of experience harvesting and perfecting their line of wines, Weingut Schäfer-Zimmermann has their process down to a science. With the addition of the QL-300, now, like their wines, their labeling process has become more natural, too. "The QL-300 has made the process much easier. Now our customers don't have to wait months until they can get bottles with their own labels on them. We spent a lot of time looking for a printer that simplifies all of these things; printing in white, printing images, not just labeling in color…and then, we found it.", says Zimmermann.
"The printer is very easy to understand. We can now make custom labels without any great losses. If you order from a wine wholesaler, then you order a large amount; in the end, you have a lot of labels leftover that you just throw away."
With the QL-300, Weingut Schäfer-Zimmermann now has the opportunity to produce short runs. Therefore they can meet the variety of individual customer requests they receive, provide their customers with unique souvenirs, offer a large variety of wines – both new and vintage, and provide products for special events like birthdays, anniversaries, or weddings.
Looking to Print Wine Labels In-House?
If you're interested in learning more about how you can print wine or beverage labels on-demand, feel free to contact us to schedule a virtual demonstration or speak with one of our specialists!
Domaine De Baudry Prints Marmalade & Confectionery Labels In-House
Local French favorite confectionery, Domaine De Baudry, uses a QuickLabel® QL-300 to efficiently print premium, high-quality confectionery labels on-site.
In the quaint town of Saint-Hilaire de Pionsat, located in the heart of the Auvergne region, in a scenic, charming village, you'll find Domain De Baudry. A multi-generational family-owned marmalade and confectionary company, equipped with an on-site factory, store, museum, and restaurant, Baudry is a local favorite.
Making and packaging their regional products all in-house requires a reliable, quality, labeling solution.
Vincent Bône, Baudry's Company Manger, speaks highly of the company legacy and products.
Bône's father was a farmer and started the company in the 1970s on a raspberry plantation, where Baudry still resides today. Once a small operation, today, they have more than 150 varieties of jams. With the introduction of the QuickLabel QL-300, a five-color toner-based label printer, Baudry can now quickly and effectively label their products.
Small Batches and Efficient Labeling
"Before we got the QL-300, we used laser-color photocopiers with cutouts – very tedious work. The printers we worked with had problems with deadlines, quantity, and with stock", said Bône. "When I saw the QL-300, I thought it was the machine we needed."
Using local whole fruits, all-natural flavors and traditional, family recipes, Baudry creates, labels, and sells a variety of products. From marmalades to wines, beers, honey, and a wide selection of oils, Baudry needs a reliable labeling solution suitable for a full line of products.
"…The QL-300 allows us in small quantities and in a flexible way, to make rolls and adapt them to our automatic labelers. So it's rather simple to make labels with the QL-300", says Bône.
Label Durability
Baudry prides itself on seeking the "good taste of our childhood." Since the family takes a lot of pride in crafting these gourmet products, and their branding holds a lot of significance, they needed a solution that wouldn't cause label wear or tarnishing over time. Because jam has a long shelf life, label durability was a priority to the family when searching for a labeling solution. Luckily, they were able to find that required durability with the QL-300. Says Bône, "what's nice about the QL-300 is that it allows us to go farther in the offer we can make to our customers, so now we can offer Kraft labels, transparent labels, and completely white labels."
Looking to Print Product Labels In-House?
If you're interested in learning more about how you can print beer labels on-demand, feel free to contact us to schedule a demonstration or no-obligation consultation.
MultiMarketing Uses TrojanLabel Finishing Press for Efficient, Quality Production
During a trip to Denmark, AstroNova met with MultiMarketing in Kolding, Denmark, to see how they use their TrojanLabel® T4 to meet customer demands.
MultiMarketing, a commercial printer, owns a TrojanLabel® T4, a robust, stand-alone, advanced label printing finishing press, which they use for printing quality, branded products for a variety of customers.
Originally started fifteen years ago from a kitchen table, Palle Østergaard, Director, struck out to make MultiMarketing different than other printers in the industry by focusing on small-quantity, high-speed production. "When we first saw the T4, we were really excited," says Østergaard. "We could put a roll on the T4, print on it, laminate it, cut it in the right pieces, and roll it up….we have cut our production time from a couple of days to just one day."
Flexible Packaging Solution
From flexible packaging requests, such as water bottles, bags of chips, candies, and snacks, to a variety of other promotional products like stickers, companies depend on MultiMarketing to create quality, branded advertising materials. With rapid transitions between productions, MultiMarketing can provide thorough, speedy, quality assurance.
Having the T4 on-site allows for quick turn-around time on orders for customers. They pride themselves on their ability to meet customer demands, typically on the same day, and produce high-quality products, which they attribute to the addition of the T4 to their production line.
Kenneth Bryhl, Head of Marketing, attributes the T4 to its production efficiency and product durability. "Now we can do everything in one run," says Bryhl. "The durability is very important to us because we print on so many different products."
With their materials stored on-site, MultiMarketing is always ready to print. Ease-of-use, color quality, and the intuitive TrojanControl software installed on all TrojanLabel products are just some of the key features MultiMarketing values in the T4.
Looking for an All-In-One Solution Press?
If you're interested in learning more about how TrojanLabel can add value and efficiency to your production needs, please contact us to schedule a free, no-obligation demonstration.
Dry County Brewing Uses a QuickLabel Printer to Print Beer Labels In-House
QuickLabel traveled to Kennesaw, Georgia to see how Dry County Brewing Company uses their Kiaro! D digital tabletop label printer to print beer labels right in their own facility.
After first tasting a locally brewed pale ale from his college town brewery, Trey Sinclair, President & Co-Founder, was compelled to recreate that experience for other entry-level beer drinkers.
Sinclair explains, "At Dry County, we really try to emulate that experience – making really good, world-class craft beer for folks who are trying beer for the first time."
Today, Dry County brews a variety of IPA's, ales, stouts, and lagers at their facility in Kennesaw, Georgia. Finding a more cost-effective and flexible labeling solution in QuickLabel's Kiaro! D, they are now able to easily print beer labels on-demand, such as custom orders and seasonal brews, as well as labels for their taps, kegs, and more.
Trouble-Free Label Compliance
Because of the Kiaro! D was designed to produce labels that withstand multiple environments and contain all required FDA and TTB information, it became very simple for Dry County to stay on top of labeling regulations.
"That's where the Kiaro! D comes in handy – allowing us to produce high-quality packaging on a small scale. Without that type of technology, we wouldn't be able to do so."
– Trey Sinclair, President & Co-Founder
From hand sanitizer to water-submersion, ice resistance, and more, the label materials used with the Kiaro! D is ideal for beer labeling applications. These label materials, all manufactured in-house, are refrigerator-friendly and can even be applied while wet or removed to recycle their bottles.
Using the Kiaro! D label printer and QuickLabel's label design software, Dry County is also able to print alcohol percentages, nutrition facts, ingredients, volume, government warnings, and other requirements regardless of the bottle or can shape.
Small Batches and Seasonal SKUs
One of the greatest benefits the Kiaro! D provided Dry County was the ability to cost-effectively expand its product line and print custom orders. This includes producing seasonal products and variations such as summer ales, winter lagers, and holiday products in small batches.
"We're able to label seasonal beers, very small quantity beers, and even specialty beers without worrying about minimum order quantities."
Dry County also took advantage of introducing multiple SKUs and product sizes from bottles, to cans, to growlers and more.
Without having to worry about minimum order quantities and overstock, the Kiaro! D has allowed Dry County Brewing to save time, reduce their cost-per-label and eliminate minimum order quantities.
Leveraging the Brand with Labels
In such a competitive industry, it takes more than the quality of the product to stand out on the shelves.
Sinclair reveals, "The craft beer space is a really crowded one. I'd like to think we make great beer here at Dry County, but there are a lot of local and national breweries that make great beer as well."
Sinclair continues, "You have to have the whole package…literally. The label we put on it, the can we put it in, it's all very important to the brand and the brewery."
With the help of the Kiaro! D, Dry County quickly obtained full control over their labeling process and prints their professional, consistently branded labels as needed.
"We can print one-off stickers to hand out to people at festivals or tap stickers for our handles. We really leverage the Kiaro! D across a lot of different realms of packaging."
Taking advantage of its flexibility, for instance, Dry County even began using the Kiaro! D to create labels for their beer taps, kegs and promotional materials like bumper stickers! This allowed them to creatively get their logo out there and generate brand awareness in more ways than one.
Sinclair concludes, "The Kiaro! D has helped to both cut costs and save time here at Dry County Brewing. It's really important for us to be able to have the labels on-hand when we need them, and the Kiaro! D allows us to do just that."
Looking to Print Beer Labels In-House?
If you're interested in learning more about how you can print beer labels on-demand, feel free to contact us to schedule a free demonstration or speak with one of our specialists!
About Dry County Brewing Company
Dry County Brewing Co., located in Kennesaw, GA, produces a wide variety of craft beer and hosts regular events such as Friday Flight Nights, Sunday Yappy Hour, Tuesday Trivia, and seasonal events like "Boos and Brews." To learn more about Dry County Brewing, visit them on their website at www.drycountybrewco.com or follow them on social media @drycountybrewco.
Stanley Black & Decker Prints Professional Hardware Labels In-House
Stanley Black & Decker's East Longmeadow, Massachusetts facility specializes in manufacturing the strongest, fastest, and most durable band saw, jigsaw, and hacksaw blades on the market. QuickLabel traveled to their facility to see how they use their Kiaro! K-100 label printers to ensure their labels reflect the quality of their product as well as advance their production line.
Watch our video to see how one of the country's leading tool brands benefits from printing labels in-house and on-demand.
Kiaro! K-100: The Ideal Hardware Labeling Solution
"From what we were getting when we printed our previous labels to what we're printing now – I was just blown away."
– Sean Wylie, Team Leader, Paint/Print/Pack Department
Stanley Black & Decker produces a wide variety of industrial tools, fasteners, and security products for well-known brands such as DeWalt, Craftsman, Lenox, and more.
Within their East Longmeadow, MA facility, Stanley Black & Decker creates professional hardware labels using their three Kiaro! K-100 label printers, which include specific text, barcodes, color codes, and photo images. These labels are applied directly onto saw blades and other product carton labels sold to businesses such as Home Depot, Lowe's, and ACE Hardware.
For these labels to be accepted and placed in-stores, they are required to meet stringent retail regulations. An easy, in-house labeling solution, QuickLabel allows Stanley Black & Decker to produce not only compliant but professional hardware labels that stand out on the shelves.
Sean Wylie, Team Leader, Paint/Print/Pack Department, states, "I believe product packaging is very important here. We have blades that are for metal cutting, wood cutting, blades that cut different thicknesses of metal – all of that needs to be represented on our labels. Anything we put our product in, we want it to stand out."
SAP Software Integration
Stanley Black & Decker uses a global SAP software system to manage data across multiple product lines and business departments.
The Kiaro! K-100 label printers were able to seamlessly integrate with their SAP system through a custom-developed manufacturing floor application, allowing product images, branding, and other product data to be accurately printed on all their product labels.
This allowed them to easily update labels as needed, in the quantity they needed, without hassle.
Working with the Kiaro! K-100's as an IT developer for their SAP system, Anatoli Vishnyakov, states, "Now, we don't have to keep a pre-printed stock of labels, so we print-on-demand as many labels as we need at that specific time."
Wylie adds, "My favorite trait of the Kiaro! is the ease-of-use. It's pretty simple – when I need it, I can print it."
The Benefits of Printing Professional Hardware Labels In-House
"My favorite trait of the Kiaro! is the ease-of-use. It's pretty simple – when I need it, I can print it."
By integrating QuickLabel Kiaro! K-100 label printers into their business, Stanley Black & Decker saw an increase in time, flexibility, and speed of production, as well as higher durability and quality of their labels.
About Stanley Black & Decker
Stanley Black & Decker is a leading tool brand company, producing a wide variety of industrial tools, fasteners, and security products for well-known brands such as DeWalt, Stanley, Craftsman, Lenox, etc. Their East Longmeadow, Massachusetts facility specializes in manufacturing the strongest, fastest, and most durable band saw, jigsaw, and hacksaw blades on the market. More information about Stanley Black & Decker can be found at www.stanleyblackanddecker.com.
Jody's Popcorn Labels POP!
In Virginia Beach, Jody's Popcorn sells freshly made, caramel-coated, chocolate drizzled and savory popcorn snacks. With their unique line of product flavors, they rely on their Kiaro! label printer (our updated printer is the QL-120X) to produce the famous popcorn labels that pop!
What Makes It Gourmet?
Michael Katz, Vice President of Jody's Popcorn, explains, "People often ask what gourmet popcorn is. What gourmet means to us is that we use the highest quality ingredients that we can find because we are very concerned about our flavor profile and the quality of our product."
We traveled to Virginia Beach to get a taste of what Jody's Popcorn is made of and see how they use their QuickLabel printer to make their popcorn labels look as good as their freshly popped batches taste.
It's About Quality AND Quantity
"Our quality is not just about the product, but the overall experience at Jody's," stresses Katz, "At our oceanfront store, we make freshly popped popcorn right there."
While the quality of their popcorn is a priority, their quantity demands (no matter how big or small) are important to them as well.
Michael Katz explains, "The oceanfront store grew in popularity. We had lots of demand for our products, so Jody's leased facilities that we're able to produce much larger quantities of popcorn. We were then able to label that product and offer a much wider variety at our oceanfront store, also satisfying the needs of wholesale customers."
But with that expansion, Jody's needed a reliable printer that could take on their growth, as well as take care of quick in-store demands. As the business grew, so did Jody's product line. It became less affordable to order thousands of popcorn labels for all of their many flavors, changing order sizes, and special requests for custom labeling.
"What we had before was outsource printing," explains Katz, "We were making a lot of products and sending a lot of products to be outsourced. But the cost of having all that inventory sitting on our shelves didn't seem to make much sense."
QuickLabel Meets Jody…
Looking for a short-run labeling solution, Jody's found QuickLabel Systems and the Kiaro! label printer.
Katz quickly discovered how easy it was to operate a Kiaro!, stating, "My concern then came, how difficult is that to operate? And it was really very simple. Anybody that could operate a printer can operate this printer."
"When I first saw the Kiaro!, my initial impression was, 'Wow! It's not drab, and I'm not interested in printing anything that's drab.' So I really connected with that," reveals Katz, "Once I looked at it operate, I was impressed with the quality of what was being 'spit out,' if you will, as the finished product. These labels were just coming off and they were beautiful."
QuickLabel's Kiaro! Saved Them Time & Money
"Our ability to flourish in both the promotional products industry and the wholesale business has been greatly enhanced by our ability to create custom labels. That gives us the ability to very quickly customize a package for customers. If a particular customer wants to have their farm store on it or their gift store, we're able to produce that here, quickly, in our facility and put that on the bag and get it out the door," Katz states.
"There are times when we find that we forgot to order a pre-printed label and we need it right now, or we've ordered it, but there's a problem at the printing company and they can't deliver the label at the time we expect," Katz explains.
He expands,"With the Kiaro!, we not only use it to print our custom labels and small quantity product labels, but we also use it as a back-up printer. We can print exactly the same label we send out for our large-runs of pre-printed labels and the Kiaro! labels look indistinguishable from an outsourced label. It is really a wonderful situation."
"The Kiaro! printer has saved Jody's time and production. The amount of time it takes for us to produce a custom job has decreased greatly. We can literally have somebody walk into the printing area and say 'I need this' and turn it around in 10-15 minutes," concludes Katz.
To learn more about how the Kiaro! the color label printer can save you time, money, and provide you with gorgeous customized color labels, click here.
Or contact us today by giving us a call, sending us an email, or deciding to schedule your own Kiaro! demonstration!
About Jody's Gourmet Popcorn
Jody's Gourmet Popcorn of Virginia Beach, VA makes fresh, delectable kettle corn, caramel corn, and flavored seasonal popcorn for all the world to love. Shop in-person at their beautiful oceanfront store at 31 Ocean Shops, or online at www.JodysPopcorn.com.
If you'd like to sell Jody's Popcorn in your own retail store, wholesale pricing and quantities are available. Jody's makes a great fundraiser for your school or organization with custom packaging for special events and other special orders.
To contact Jody's, please call 866.797.JODY or visit their Facebook page.
Browndog Creamery Keeps it Cool with Freezer Safe Labels
With an ever-changing variety of ice cream flavors as evocative as Dragon Bite, Tuscan Sun, Buttered Berry Brioche, and French Press Mocha, the owners of Browndog Creamery needed freezer safe labels and a labeling solution that could adapt to label changes on-the-fly.
For example, they may need 20 freezer safe labels for Triple Vanilla this morning, and 15 for Mystery Cookie this afternoon. Luckily for owners Brian Scherle and Paul Gabriel, they found the Kiaro! label printer (our updated printer is now the QL-120X) to print labels for their pints of ice cream on demand, in the exact quantity that they need.
Watch How Browndog Uses the Kiaro! for All Their Gourmet Creations:
Browndog Creamery, a "micro-creamery" located in the heart of downtown Northville Michigan, west of Detroit, brings customers delicious and unique handcrafted ice creams.
Being a micro-creamery, as explained by co-owner Paul Gabriel, "basically means that we make our ice cream in very small batches. We're not a mass factory where we make thousands of gallons of ice cream. We make about four or five gallons at a time for each flavor."
Browndog Creamery's unique flavor combinations are all created in-house by Gabriel and Scherle. "I always tell people I refuse to make butter pecan, so instead we make a bourbon pecan," said Gabriel. "For our Cinco de Mayo we made a Holy Guacamole ice cream, and that's the type of stuff that we really like: the really unique, creative stuff that you're not going to find anywhere else. "
The Perfect Freezer Safe Label For Every Single Batch
Browndog rotates flavors of ice creams so frequently because each batch made in their micro-creamery is only a few gallons. Even before they opened their business, they knew that using pre-printed labels wouldn't make any sense, because buying minimum orders of labels would lead to excessive costs and way too much label inventory for their small backroom.
"I knew we would be running small batches of ice cream and I didn't want to take an inventory of a hundred or a thousand labels of one flavor because I knew we might only need ten," said Gabriel. "The Kiaro! has been a wonderful fit in our business to allow us to make these very small run labels and customize them to everything that we needed to do."
"Being able to create products and without having to go to a mass printing," has been a boon to business said, Scherle. "Using the Kiaro! printer to label our ice cream, and to create amazing and attractive packaging is just part and parcel of creating our products."
Scherle described his first impressions of the Kiaro!, "When it was delivered I found that it's bright purple. Upon seeing it, I was pleasantly surprised that the Kiaro! looks as fun as it is to use. It's a good addition to our shop."
Kiaro! Labels Handle Freezing Temps
One of Browndog's chief concerns was whether or not their Kiaro! labels would stand up to the freezing temperatures necessary for storing ice cream.
"The synthetic material that we use for the pint labels is pretty resistant to water and we actually label the pints after they've gone through the freezing process," said Gabriel. "We were a little skeptical about how they would adhere to a frozen pint, but the Kiaro! labels do quite well."
"It's surprising how fast the printer is," said Gabriel. "We have taught some of our employees how to use the Kiaro! and besides its flexibility and other benefits, it's also very easy to use. The first time one of our managers used it she thought, 'oh goodness I have to print out 150 labels that are going to take all day' and they started to come out and she was trying hard to keep up with the printer, and roll labels up so they weren't all over the floor, it was actually quite humorous," added Scherle. "The print speed is amazing."
More Questions About Label Printing?
The Kiaro! digital label printer lets you print gorgeous labels while reducing excess label inventory, saving you time, and allowing you to make more money. The Kiaro! gives you control over your entire labeling process, and allows you to more affordably label your products.
Contact us today to schedule your virtual demonstration.
About Browndog Creamery…
Browndog Creamery is a gourmet ice cream shop and dessert bar on East Main St. in Northville, MI. "Browndog started off as an ice cream line, but we also now have a retail space where we sell t-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, and gift cards; along with our own unique blend of coffee," said co-owner Brian Scherle. "Plus, we now have a pastry chef who is making anything from a simple ice cream cakes all the way up to wedding cakes and specialized cookies, so we're becoming a full-fledged creamery and dessert bar."
Stop by their gourmet ice cream shop and dessert bar on 118 East Main St. in Northville, MI, visit them on Facebook, follow them on twitter @browndogcreamery, and stop by their website Browndogcreamery.com
Don't forget to follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and connect with us on LinkedIn.
Doc's Tea Prints Bottled Tea Labels On-Demand
Doc's Tea is a handcrafted, small-batch beverage brewed by a family of dental health professionals dedicated to a healthy lifestyle. Recently, Dr. Ken Banks, owner of Doc's Teas, began printing his own bottled tea labels with the Kiaro! inkjet label printer (our updated printer is the QL-120X) in order to increase productivity, reduce cost, and dramatically improve label quality on all of their products.
"When I first saw the Kiaro! print I was amazed," said Dr. Ken Banks, "I was impressed with the application process of the labels with our bottles and the look of the labels."
We traveled to the home of Doc's Tea, Inwood, West Virginia, to document how the maker of healthy, low-sugar, bottled sweet teas has increased their production speed, reduced their costs, and enhanced the look of their labels by using a Kiaro! label printer to print their own labels.
"We make our product on demand so that we can deliver a fresh product, not one that's brewed, bottled, and then stored," said Dr. Ken Banks. Because Doc's Tea doesn't allow their teas to sit on shelves, they needed a solution that allowed them to print labels instantly, which eliminated the waiting time and inventory difficulties that come with ordering outside labels.
"The Kiaro! label printer fits in so well for us because it is allowing us to do small batches, to have high-quality labels, not to have a large inventory," says Dr. Ken Banks, "it allows us to brew on demand and to print on demand."
Doc's Tea, and countless others, have found that printing labels on-demand and in-house just makes sense. Schedule a virtual demonstration a label printer with one of our regional sales managers, who will take a Kiaro! to your facility, and show you what an in-house label printer can bring to your business.
Amoretti Prints Beautiful Gourmet Food Labels
In Oxnard, California, just a short drive north along the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles, is Amoretti, one of the country's premier makers of gourmet ingredients and high-end flavors.
How Amoretti perfects their high-end flavors so perfectly is a secret, known to only a select few who work in their kitchens. How they package those products at a professional level is a different story: they use the QuickLabel printer.
For chefs interested in using the most premium quality ingredients, Amoretti products are a must-have. The dedicated staff at Amoretti has found that in order to present their products on the top shelf, a QuickLabel color label printer is equally essential.
Amoretti's Use of the QuickLabel Color Label Printer Leads to Success
1000's of Ingredients, 1000's of Gourmet Food Labels
Because Amoretti makes hundreds of different products, and constantly innovates new flavors to fulfill customer demands, they invested in three QuickLabel color label printers to print their gourmet food labels.
Some Amoretti flavorings sell faster than others, and predicting demand for every single flavor is impossible – so Amoretti prints their own professional labels, and never wastes time, money, or valuable inventory space.
"I first looked at purchasing the Kiaro! because we developed so many new products every day," said Roland Cooper, CIO of Amoretti, "and it just doesn't make sense for me to develop a product, create a label, and have it printed [elsewhere]." Because of the versatility and immediacy of printing with the Kiaro!, you'll never worry about wasted extra labels that you'll never use, and never waste labels that grow obsolete on your own warehouse shelves.
Fast, Beautiful Labels
"Our products are high-end pastry ingredients. We're on the top shelf," says Nick Squires, IT and Social Media coordinator. "Our Kiaro! printers allow us to look that way."
Standing out on the shelf is imperative for anyone in the food business; whether in grocery stores or at farmer's markets, the labels need to grab the shopper's eye.
"A business owner should really look at the Kiaro! as a way to make their products look better, and to draw attention to their products. They look very professional," says Cooper.
The Kiaro! label printer makes labels in stunning quality, at extremely fast speeds (8 inches per second) to keep up with even the fastest production schedule, and to get foods out at their freshest. "The labels come out so fast that we're able to get them to the warehouse within minutes of their request," says Victoria Casey, a graphic designer at Amoretti. "When printing from the Kiaro!, the colors are true to what we're seeing on the monitor, true to what our designers are seeing, and true to what our labels have always been."
Because of the Kiaro! prints in astonishing 1200 dpi, you can print the most intricate, readable barcodes for any P.O.S. The fine detail is perfect for nutrition labels which contain a lot of information in a small amount of space.
"And you don't need to have a highly trained staff to run these printers," adds Cooper.
Beautiful Labels for Top-Shelf Products
Nick Squires also said, "Having the Kiaro! printer has allowed us to expand the quality of our nice-looking labels onto more products. They're more attention-grabbing, they look better. We used to have a lot of products that just had simple black and white labels," but with having three Kiaro! label printers in-house, it "allows us to print very nice full-color labels for all of our products."
"The Kiaro! has allowed us to sort of put a visual statement on our products," said Squires, "Our products are the high-end pastry ingredients in the pastry ingredient world. Our Kiaro! printers allow us to print full color, very professional-looking labels, allow us to put our products on the top of the shelf, and have them look like they belong there."
Amoretti, and countless others, have found that printing labels on-demand and in-house just makes sense. Schedule a demonstration of a QuickLabel or TrojanLabel printer.