How Digital Label Presses Take the Sting out of Ingredient Changes

If you sell labels into the consumer product markets, you know how frequently those labels change. When this occurs, it leaves your customers hanging with obsolete inventory as they race to reprint those labels while wondering how much those changes are going to cost them. Those changes not only cost them in obsolete labels, but in the now obsolete products to which those labels are applied.

Digital label printing has changed the landscape for food and beverage customers. With the ability of digital label presses to print shorter runs cost-effectively, the need for frequent ingredient changes has become far less disruptive, both to your customers’ supply chains and to their bottom lines.

Why do food and beverage labels change so frequently?

• Regulatory requirements: Governments often update food labeling regulations to enhance consumer safety. Examples include new allergen labeling requirements, updated nutrient content claims, and improved ingredient definitions.
• Supplier changes: Food manufacturers may change ingredient suppliers due to factors such as cost, availability, or quality. Any change in ingredients requires a new label.
• Product reformulations: Companies may reformulate their products to improve taste, nutritional content, or meet consumer preferences. When the ingredients change, the label does, too.
• Allergen concerns: As food allergies become more prevalent, there is increased scrutiny on allergen labeling. Manufacturers may update labels to provide clearer information on potential allergens present in their products.
• Consumer demand: Changing consumer preferences and trends, such as a preference for natural ingredients or a desire for fewer additives, can drive companies to change their ingredients and update labels accordingly.
• Marketing and branding: Companies may update labels to highlight new ingredients or formulations as part of their marketing strategy. Witness the growth of organic, vegan, gluten-free options. (One water bottler is now promoting its water as gluten-free!) Or they might redesign their labels to include badges, certifications, and affiliations important to their customers.

Reducing the Cost of Obsolescence

Digital label presses are game-changers in this market. Traditional printing methods often involve long lead times and high setup costs, making it impractical to produce small quantities of labels for each iteration of ingredient changes. This can result in the accumulation of large inventories of obsolete labels, leading to waste and increased costs for your customers.

The ability of digital label presses to cost-effectively print short- to medium-length runs changes everything. Distributors can order labels in smaller quantities tailored to specific batches or production runs, while keeping and reprint/update costs to a minimum. Will your customers still have obsolescence from ingredient changes? On occasion, yes. But these changes will be far fewer and less painful than they would have been.

By partnering with a vendor with a digital label press, you can help your customers keep their labels up to date without breaking the bank. Printing in smaller quantities not only minimizes waste but streamlines inventory management and reduces the financial burden. When ingredient changes occur, your customers can swiftly update and print new labels as needed.

The flexibility of digital printing also enables quick turnaround times, allowing your customers to be nimble and reactive to market changes and competitive shifts.

For distributors serving the consumer product market, working with a vendor with a digital label press has become indispensable. Ingredient labels will never stop changing, but with digital label production, the pain associated with them can be minimized.