Regulars / The Mike Fairley column | 33press. Effective and effcient press set-up, better press management, “It would be nice to think that the latest control and label inspection systems, accurate label counts, and careful handling, storage and packing of fnished rolls, investment can be made from can all have an impact on reducing productions costs.Thirdly, what impact will rising interest rates and high infation retained profts, but rising costs, have on the label and packaging industry? Certainly, any label converter or industry supplier looking to borrow money for a major infation and squeezed margins will investment can expect steadily rising interest rates over the coming likely make this harder to achieve”year, probably even longer, bringing with it a decreasing purchasing power. It would be nice to think that investment can be made from investment in new equipment that will makes factory life or retained profts, but rising costs, infation and squeezed margins will jobs easier. likely make this harder to achieve.Secondly, something which has not always been high on the must-have list when investing in new label machinery – Preparedenergy-effcient equipment. Is the proposed investment designed A further impact of infation is that most materials and labor to conserve energy? How does it compare with other makes or will increase in price, in which case the label business will need models? Does the manufacturer know what the energy usage of to charge accordingly to stay afoat. This will mean assessing the the machine is at different running or idling speeds? What is the goods and services that bring in business the most and the least optimum press performance? Maybe we will eventually get to the in value. Noting what competitors are doing. Always have an stage when label presses come with their own energy smart meters. emergency plan. It is best to be prepared.It has certainly been encouraging to note over the past year To add a word of support and encouragement, the label that a number of label press, ink curing and ancillary equipment industry has seldom achieved annual growth below GDP, even suppliers have already been increasingly promoting energy saving during the most diffcult of times. It continued to grow last and/or environmentally optimized capabilities, on-off functions to year, and is expected to achieve growth again in 2022 – but few eliminate energy use in stand-by mode, or real-time data collection forecasters expect life to be easy. But, as Gloria Gaynor might sing, from hundreds of events per second to identify bottlenecks and ‘We will survive.’optimize performance. Expect more of the same in the coming year.The same kind of approach should be applied to minimizing For more Mike Fairley columns, go to waste. Optimum handling and storage of labelstock needs to be www.labelsandlabeling.com/contributors/michael-fairleyemphasized to reduce materials wastage before it even gets to the Let the SLEEVE-WATCHER fnd defective sleeves. Not the end customer. WWW.INTRAVIS.COMApr - Jun 2022