Brewing has always been about more than just the beer, with sales and marketing skills as important to your popularity and therefore, the sustainability for your brewing business. Today’s brewer also has to get to grips with in house canning, bottling and labelling lines.
Taking canning and label application in house by partnering with a reliable labelling company means you can bring newly brewed beers to market in mere days. It allows our clients to take control of their deadlines and be more innovative and responsive to consumer demand.
If you are considering making the switch to a high-speed labelling line, we have put together our ten top tips to help you along this journey!
- It’s critical your label supplier is fast and reliable because once you start canning and labelling in house, the pace can pick up quickly making it essential to get your supplies as and when you need them.
- You need to have confidence in your label supplier’s understanding of the specific requirements for machine applied labels.
- When labelling at high speed, insist on a high-slip varnish finish to your label as this avoids scuffing your precious design!
- Separate, digitally printed labels give you far more flexibility than pre-printed labels, thanks to the ability to make changes or add new products to the range without high minimum orders and long lead times.
- Ensure you have covered all of your bases on your labels and in addition to having eye-catching branding, they also include the alcohol and calorie contents of your brew. Ask friends and family to proof check these and make sure you haven’t left anything out!
- Label liners/backing papers must be suitable for high-speed labelling. You need a strong backing paper or plastic liner, with a minimum cut on your label, as it will be put under significant tension. If the backing snaps in the middle of a run, it can cause chaos – so avoid this at all costs!
- Ask for the maximum roll diameter your machine can accommodate. Big rolls reduce stopping and starting and therefore minimize the risk of anything going wrong!
- Any good labelling company should provide you with a free sample roll for testing on your applicator line. This is helpful during the installation process in ensuring everything is correct prior to production.
- Make sure you are working directly with a label manufacturer and not just a broker or you will end up paying too much for your labels.
- The internet is a wealth of information! Be sure to watch Youtube videos on canning and labelling in action to pick up trade secrets and learn from others mistakes and successes.
Whilst there are many canning and label companies out there, they are not all created equal so choose carefully and ask for recommendations from successful breweries whose work you admire and have a similar setup to you.
One of our clients, Cloudwater strongly recommends their ABE Lincan 60 canning line for example, but there is no one size fits all solution so be sure to seek advice and recommendations from other breweries and research all the options well.
As for labelling, PeterLynn are always happy to assist with advice so feel free to reach out to us.
