The Label Printers was founded in 1967 by three entrepreneurial letterpress printers. Their focus on reliable service and consistent quality earned them the reputation as the printer for the Chicago business community. When Gerry Chouinard, Don Tade, and Ted Risch brought Bill Kane into the fold in 1970, the stage for a future family enterprise was set.

After joining the company in 1970 as the seventh employee, Bill Kane became the fourth partner in 1977. The four partners were determined to continue to provide their, primarily industrial, customers durable labels, with a focus on quality and service, and the company continued to add capabilities as their customer base grew.

Under the leadership of Bill Kane, who became CEO in 1993, The Label Printers acquired a small, local label printer in 1996, which launched the company into the world of multicolor, prime label printing. Another acquisition in 2002 would round out their capabilities, which now include flexographic, rotary letterpress, and digital printing services, and secure their place in the prime label market.

Today, The Label Printers manufactures and distributes custom labels, packaging materials, and packaging solutions to thousands of customers in 25 countries from its 94,000 square-foot facility in Aurora, IL.

The Label Printers has always been a family affair. As a small operation, it has been common to bring family members or friends into the business. Joe Kane, Bill’s son, joined the company in high school running a shrink tunnel. After starting full-time in 1996, and now the vice president of technology and a partner, he has done just about everything but run a press.

Lori Campbell started her four decade tenure with The Label Printers as a receptionist. Finding the business of making stickers fun, she decided to “stick around.” Now leading the company in the role of president, Campbell says that they have always had a culture of promoting from within when possible. “Our internal training programs allow us to cross-train as well as foster an environment where growth within the organization is encouraged.”

This philosophy means a majority of their employees are long tenured, which makes for a deep bench of expertise and experience.

A Jack of All Trades
According to Campbell, there is a sense of pride throughout the company in being a jack of all trades. “We don’t have just one niche, we have business in almost every market.”

Having such a broad customer base is beneficial to the company because it gives them exposure to many different applications, which often comes in handy when faced with new challenges. “It amazes me how often we find solutions to a problem in one market by looking at a completely different application.”

Being both nimble and willing to try just about anything to find a solution for their customers has given The Label Printers an extremely loyal customer base, including some strategic partners that have been with them for over 45 years.

Reliability and quality have been a cornerstone of what drives the company and they take being reliable to their customers very seriously. “We are cautious about what we commit to, we won’t take orders that we don’t think we can deliver or guarantee.” says Campbell. Not overpromising and setting appropriate expectations gives them the reputation of reliability not many others in the industry have.

A Human Touch
The Label Printers prides itself on the company’s exceptional customer service, which includes being flexible to the customers’ needs. Using customer part numbers versus their own, offering custom inventory management programs to match customer needs, and guaranteeing their ship dates so customers can plan their production confidently makes The Label Printers a truly exceptional partner. They work hard to keep their relationships with customers intimate, and engage as humans with their customers versus relying on automated systems whenever possible.

As Campbell put it, “With us, customers can still deal with a human. Online tools are great, but at the end of the day sometimes you just want to talk to someone.”

Opportunity for change
When it comes to technology, Joe Kane says The Label Printers has always been thoughtful when adding new equipment. Utilizing existing technology whenever possible but upgrading when needed to be as efficient as possible has always driven their decision making.

“We try to use what we have until it no longer serves our needs. We also take very good care of the equipment that we have.”

Having a fully in-house maintenance team allows them to perform regular preventative maintenance and keep their equipment operating at top performance. Having been with their existing plate supplier for years, Joe Kane shared that they knew about MacDermid and their system but had never really looked at it, thinking the transition would be too much trouble. As their existing plate supplier’s prices continued to increase, however, they knew they had to seriously look at other options.

The Label Printers has worked with APR for many years, mainly for their consumable supplies, and have relied on the APR team as a trusted partner. As Lori Campbell states, “APR has people who aren’t just smart, but are recognized experts in the industry. They have always been a reliable resource for us and we knew if APR recommended something, it would be worth us taking a look.”

As they worked with the APR team on a new solution, they started digging in to ongoing issues with hybrid screening, something they had never successfully achieved. After in-depth investigation, excessive testing and lengthy discussion, it was determined that the plate material wasn’t good enough to hold the dot size that was needed. With the support of APR’s technical experts, The Label Printers installed a new MacDermid plate system.

With MacDermid they were able to achieve both cost savings and quality improvement, now having the ability to successfully do hybrid screening. APR had done extensive testing to determine the minimum dot size that could be held, so they could employ hybrid screening when desired. According to Joe Kane, “Because of the testing that APR did in  advance, on day one, it started working. We now have capabilities we couldn’t use before and are yielding better quality materials for our clients.”

Now reaping the benefits of improved productivity, cost savings and additional capabilities The Label Printers couldn’t be happier with their decision to make the switch or their decision to work with the technical experts at APR. Joe Kane concludes, “APR was there every step of the way, on site helping to make adjustments to get us up and running with the new system.”