When it comes to labeling durable goods, the label is required to last the life of the product. And to make matters more challenging, these labels are often exposed to the harshest of environments. A durable label must withstand the heat of a car’s engine or the disparate elements seen with tools and lawnmowers.

Meanwhile, these pressure sensitive materials must be cost effective, comply with a multitude of standards, and yield the least amount of waste as possible.

Avery Dennison, a substrates and adhesives supplier based in Mentor, OH, USA, has utilized its resources to develop durable portfolios for a wide range of applications. From the automotive and outdoor industries to drum labeling, Avery Dennison has responded to industry demand.

The company has the ability to offer products that have been UL certified and validated by mandates such as BS5609 chemical drum labeling, and most recently, ISO 17025.

“We’re a full-service lab,” explains Paul Purdef, marketing director, Durables, Label and Graphic Materials North America, at Avery Dennison. “We have a Global UL Client Services Lab here in Mentor, where we do a lot of the testing for all of our regions. For our customers, it makes working with UL solutions a lot easier and faster to market.”

According to Purdef, Avery Dennison has worked diligently to release a new tire portfolio, as well as products that can better handle the growth of digital printing. Specifically, the company is trying to ensure that its materials stand up for water-based inkjet printing.

“We’re seeing a lot of technology shifts from traditional flexographic printing to more digital solutions, particularly for the drum labeling and chemical area,” he notes. “Water-based inkjet seems to be a technology that people are becoming more interested in. We also have been working hard at launching a new tire label portfolio. The technology in that sector is changing from hand applied to auto-applied processes.”

Of course, every brand wants its labels to convey high quality and attractiveness, even for functional labels seen in the durables space. Not only must the label stand up to rain, snow, sunlight, and various other elements, it needs to catch a consumer’s eye, whether it be on a power tool or snow blower.

“As you buy more durable goods products today–lawn equipment specifically–people want their equipment to look nicer and cleaner, making it look newer for a lot longer timeframe,” says Purdef.

Avery Dennison has utilized its UL Client Services Lab to tackle some of the challenges associated with durable labels. Specifically, the labels are required to adhere to new materials.

“One challenge is that more and more products have shifted from metals to plastics,” states Purdef. “A lot of these specifications are moving to plastics, and brands are still expecting the same performance that they had on painted metals or other things. So, there’s a bit of an education that this process is more difficult. That puts pressure on the pressure sensitive label to stick to those materials.

“Most of the industry is actually light weighting and moving to plastic,” he adds.

Behind the UL Lab is a dedicated group of employees in place to handle the needs of converters. “You have to have a team that actually has the testing capability, and we also have to have people who can recognize a specification, destruct it, and then create a test plan to evaluate the material for the need,” says Purdef. “We have also pre-screened the ink systems to allow for ease of selection. When a customer comes in and picks our substrate, the ink systems they’re going to use, and the overlaminate solution, they can then get a UL-recognized solution right out of the gate.”

Depending on the specific application, Avery Dennison offers a host of facestocks, adhesives, tapes, and systems for asset tracking and authentication. For more information about individual needs, click here.