So what is the British Retail Consortium?

The British Retail Consortium is one of the leading trade associations in the UK representing all forms of retailers from small, independently owned stores, to big chain and department stores. The BRC is recognised for its powerful campaigning and influence within government, as well as being a provider of in-depth retail information.
The BRC produces Global Standards that manufacturers have to comply with in different product areas such as food, packaging and consumer products. These industry-wide standards for food quality and safety are recognised and used throughout the world.

What does this mean for AJS Labels?

As a company we are eager to perform to the very highest standards of quality, hygiene and safety. We gained the ISO 9001:2008 management standard in 2006 as part of our drive to improve quality. We are delighted to have maintained this level through re-certifications every three years.
BRC certification has taken us a step further. With a strong quality culture in place we used ISO:2008 as a platform to build and base our BRC policies on. The two work together to ensure that all of our self adhesive labels are produced in a hygienic environment & consistently meet a very high standard for quality and product safety.

What does this mean for our customers?

It means that if you need self adhesive labels that have been printed in a clean and hygienic environment, or if your labels must be applied to food packaging and require BRC certification, AJS Labels are here to help! Call us on 01903 731 212 to speak with our award winnig Customer Service Team or e-mail us on sales@ajslabels.com.

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BRC Certification opens doors for AJS Labels

30 neighbours from 8 companies came for a curry.

Over 30 neighbours from Littlehampton’s Lineside Industrial estate came to enjoy a curry and to get to know others from around the estate. RINKIT Ltd, our closest neighbours showed support by bringing 10 of their staff.

Rob Lowe, RINKIT Ltd said, ‘It was a pleasure for the Rinkit Team to visit AJS Labels and enjoy a wonderful curry in aid of FEAST. After learning about the work that FEAST undertakes through the information on display during the Curry Kitchen, we were all proud to be able to offer a little bit of support to such a worthy charity.’

AJS Labels family and friends came too.

Grandparents, mothers, children and friends were also tempted by the April sunshine and the excellent food. A team from one of our major customers was on site to trial a new label range and were delighted to join in. 

 ‘It was great that so many were here today,’ said Managing Director Andrew Scrimgeour. ‘There’s already talk of doing something similar again next year!’

Guest of honour stole the show.

All proceeds from the day went to FEAST India, the charity supported by AJS Labels and by owners Jayne and Andrew Scrimgeour. Fr Jeremias who founded FEAST and was visiting the area to promote the charity, enjoyed meeting everyone and dishing out the curry. He even did a spot of washing up!

‘Thank you to everyone for coming today and helping to make a difference to the poor,’ he said. ‘I will remember today for a long time!’

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AJS Labels celebrates it’s 3rd anniversary with charity Curry Kitchen!

Great food!

The Curry Kitchen will be run on Thursday April 12th from 1.00pm until 2.00pm at AJS Labels.  The food will be excellent – we’ve enlisted the help of Arundel’s finest Indian restaurant, The Magna Tandoori. For just £4 you can enjoy a fabulous curry and rice – can’t be bad!

Great cause!

Every penny AJS raise will go again to FEAST (www.feastindia.org.uk), the amazing grassroots charity that we support in India. What’s more, Fr Jeremias, who runs the charity, will be joining us on April 12th to meet the AJS team. FEAST was founded by Fr Jeremias in 1998 to support the poor children of the fishing families in Tamil Nadu, a neglected and bypassed area of southern India. This support has been extended to serve the poor, irrespective of caste or religion and now includes Hindus, Christians and Moslems. FEAST is a great power for good in the very difficult lives of these people who receive no social security, sponsored health care and only limited opportunities for basic education.

Jayne Scrimgeour, co-owner of AJS commented, ‘I’ve visited the charity five times now and am more impressed with the work it does each time I go. It’s great that, as a company, we can help in a small way to make a difference.’

Come and join the AJS team!

We’d be delighted if you could support us on April 12th and join us for a curry. Please email norma.watts@ajslabels.com if you’d like us to save one for you!

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Come and join AJS Labels for a Curry!

Expert learns more about wine labels technology

Neil Libby, wine expert and educator, came to get a better understanding of the production processes behind wine labels. Neil has over 37 years’ experience in education, Hospitality and Catering. He recently set up vin-ed, a professionally run company that specialises in wine courses together with tutored wine tasting events. Vin-ed is currently running a series of very successful WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) classes at Highdown Vineyard, Worthing, Sussex. Neil was particularly interested in learning more about the complexities of wine label printing across a number of our presses.

Robert Joseph, noted wine journalist, recently tweeted: ‘Anyone who does not occasionally buy a wine based on its label is missing out. Labels are part of the fun of wine.’ Growers around the world have traditionally paid little attention to their wine labels, relying on grape and reputation to sell their wine. There are wineries that have not changed their wine labels design in over 60 years, as in the case of Château Simone, however others hire designers every year to change it. Wine labels are becoming more playful and inviting in an attempt to make selecting and purchasing wine a less intimidating and more fun experience.

Wine labels competition is launched

Our second visitor of the week was James Graham of UKVINE, a website dedicated to wine grown and produced in the UK. UKVINE contains a lively mix of news & features that touch directly on wine produced in the UK. James came to AJS Labels to discuss the newly launched designs on wine, a competition for labels on English and Welsh wine.

James says: ‘It has long been my belief that the label on a bottle of wine is a key trigger to its purchase or sampling. Wine in England and Wales have some very good, and very poor, examples of label designs.’ design on wine aims to act as a forum to measure and increase the general standards of wine label design for UK-producers. ‘The success of New World wines can be attributed to striking graphics as much as the quality of the product. UKVINE wants to lay down a challenge to UK wine growers: do your labels match up to the best on the market?’

Digital printing – the perfect solution for wine labels

James was very interested in the digital capability at AJS Labels. ’We’ve invested heavily in the last twelve months, very much with the UK wine growers in mind. Our state-of-the-art digital press is ideal for the short label runs that many of the UKs smaller producers require,’ said Director Jayne Scrimgeour. ‘Couple this with our high-spec finishing kit and we can add a whole range of exciting embellishments to the wine label to really make it stand out on the shelf.’

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Wine labels enthusiasts visit AJS Labels

AJS Labels are looking to invest in a new conventional label printing machine. MD, Andrew Scrimgeour and members of the production team travelled to Europe last week to benchmark some of the latest presses.

Reflecting on the trip Andrew said, ‘If you thought label printing was complicated, you should see the complexities behind making the machines that print the labels!’

Nilpeter impress in Germany and Denmark

The team visited one of Germany’s largest and most successful label companies, Rako. The company uses flexo, letterpress, silkscreen, digital, offset and gravure printing processes across 45 label printing machines. Rako’s has an impressive array of modern equipment from leading label printing press manufacturers, in particular Nilpeter.

The AJS team then moved on to Denmark to meet the owner of Nilpeter, Lars Erickson. Andrew and Lars first met in the early 90’s when Andrew introduced Nilpeter into the Leeds-based label printer, Jarvis Porter. ‘Nilpeter have continued to make some outstanding investments in machine manufacturing making them one of the top five quality engineering manufacturers in Europe. That’s pretty impressive,’ said Andrew.

MPS set a very high standard

Next stop was Holland where AJS visited a number of label printing companies together with MPS. MPS produce unique printing presses aimed at the high end of the label, flexible packaging and carton board market. The company was founded in 1996 by both the co-Managing Directors of MPS: Mr. Bert van den Brink and Mr. Eric Hoendervangers. The founders reviewed all the label printing presses on the market & decided that there was space for a new machine that incorporated the best of existing technology, together with new innovation. In a short space of time MPS has grown from zero to become one of the leading machine manufacturers in the world. AJS were impressed by many of the features on their new servo-driven, flexo combination presses.

Wayne Hodder, AJS Printer commented, ‘It’s been a very informative few days and a great opportunity to see the latest label printing machines. Technology is definitely moving very fast and from my point of view, the speed of make-ready and ease of operation are most impressive. The skill of the operator might not play such a key role going forward.’ Wayne completed his 5 year apprentice at the London College of Print and has been a printer for nearly 33 years.

AJS continue the search for the best label printing press

The AJS team have now returned to base and are drawing comparisons between the offerings.
‘The trip has helped us to move on a stage in terms of our decision-making,’ said Operations Director, Phil Smith. ‘We are now in a position to score prospective suppliers across 14 categories including competitiveness, quality of machine build, innovation and after-sales service. The hunt goes on!’

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AJS Labels head to Europe to look at the latest label printing technology

Self adhesive labels printing technology is moving very fast and it was with this in mind that the AJS Labels team set out on a fact finding mission. MD, Andrew Scrimgeour, together with members of the operations team, headed north to see some of the latest technology working in situ, before making their decision on which new investment to make. They visited two of the largest self adhesive labels printing companies in the country, Paragon and Norprint.

Self adhesive labels press Mark Andy impress with speed of make ready

Paragon is the largest manufacturer of self adhesive labels for food products in the UK and the fastest growing independent food packaging supplier across Europe. The company prides itself on installing new technology and the AJS Labels team were excited by their latest self adhesive labels presses.

‘It’s been a very worthwhile trip. We can always learn from visiting other label companies. The speed of make-ready and change-over on the latest Mark Andy presses are very impressive, making them highly competitive in the fast moving food market,’ said Operations Manager, Martin Birch.

Fond memories for MD Andrew Scrimgeour

The team then moved to another leading self adhesive labels supplier, Norprint. Part of the Magnadata Group, Norprint boasts the largest single production facility in the UK with over 30 presses on site running 24 hours a day.

It was a particularly emotional day for Andrew. ‘It’s my first time back on site since leaving the company almost 17 years ago. It’s been great to see some old friends and to hear about Norprints success around the world with Magnadata. I gained my first experience of self-adhesive labels at Norprint, so today has brought back some old memories.’ Andrew joined Norprint in 1990 as Marketing Manager before progressing to Director General Manager. The AJS team were shown around the site by Chief Executive, Roy Colclough.

AJS Labels Operations Director, Phil Smith summed up the trip, ‘We’ve had an excellent few days. It’s been good to see the new machines working in a practical environment rather than a demo centre. We’re now looking forward to travelling to Europe to see what other machine manufacturers have to offer.’

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Search for new self adhesive labels press

AJS Labels have been working with UK cosmetics retailer The Body Shop for more than 15 years, supplying self adhesive labels to meet their precise requirements. The labels designs are vibrant & exciting and require flexo & screen printing of the highest quality.

The Body Shop hosted its own 2012 Supplier Day in London last week, focusing on key challenges and expectations for the future, and re-emphasising its individuality and uniqueness in business.

The Body Shop’s Suppliers Day was hosted by the firm’s operations team and brought together a selection of suppliers from Europe, Asia and North America to engage suppliers with its strategy.

The event brought together existing and potential suppliers from around the globe with the objective to strengthen relationships and to engage suppliers with the company.

The day was a chance for The Body Shop to:

- Explain their strategy for 2012

- Share 2012 challenges & targets

- Reinforce the 5 supplier KPIs (Service level, Quality, Cost efficiency, Sustainability, NPD + Innovation)

The day was opened by Director of Sourcing, Jerome Courtaigne, who welcomed suppliers to the day. This was followed by presentations from key Directors across the company.

The Body Shop, for the first time, incorporated prestigious awards for the best performing suppliers of 2011. Congratulations to toiletry & cosmetics manufacturer & AJS’ customer, LF Beauty who collected the top award for the Best Overall Performance FG Supplier and Pack Supplier.

Three members of the AJS Labels team attended the day: MD Andrew Scrimgeour, Operations Director Phil Smith & BSI Account Manager David Wooster.

“It was an excellent day”, said Andrew. “We now have a much clearer understanding of The Body Shop’s priorities & strategies for 2012.”

“The day was extremely informative and a great way to see so many of our customers under one roof!” commented David.

Phil Smith stressed, “The Directors shared their vision for increased business, centred on support from key suppliers. They emphasised the need for increased performance based on improving speed to market from NPD right through to product delivery. We know what is expected from us & will work hard to achieve this in 2012.”

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AJS Labels attends The Body Shop Suppliers Day

Jayne & Andrew Scrimgeour were very impressed with the advances in technology as seen at the 2011 Brussels Label Expo, and made the decision to reinvest in new self adhesive label printing press. Over the next few weeks MD, Andrew Scrimgeour & Ops Director, Phil Smith, will be visiting short-listed machinery manufacturers across Europe.

Key selection criteria will be:

• Speed of make ready
• Quality of print
• Consistency of print
• Reliability
• After sales service

This will be a big strategic decision for AJS Labels. It will probably put the marker down as to which supplier we partner with over the next 5-10 years. “Total capex & life time costs will be of course critical & are likely to be a competitive area”, commented Andrew. “Last year was very much about ensuring our digital printing capability was the best that anyone could offer. Now, having bedded down this investment, we are ready to take another step forward with our conventional & combination printing.”

AJS Labels has already been recognised as one of the leaders in quality in both conventional label printing & digital label printing, having picked up several industry awards over the last few years.
“Our philosophy is to continually invest & refresh our asset base”, said Ops Director, Phil Smith. “We have an exciting year ahead!”

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AJS Labels to invest in new label printing technology

This success was recognised recently at the 2011 Profit Track Awards. R&R was judged the clear winner having recorded a leap in profits of 210% a year from £1.5 million in 2006 to £43 million in 2009. The league table featured other well-known brands including online card retailer Moonpig.com (No 3), racing team McLaren (No 4) & online bookmaker bet365 (No 13).

In our first year supplying R&R Ice Cream, AJS Labels has delivered more than 50 million labels over approximately 100 different SKU’s.
Quality, customer service and delivery on time and in full, are our priorities and our 2011 OTIF figures for R&R are very encouraging.

No. of labels printed 50,011,000
% of labels rejected 0.03%
OTIF 99.40%

Lynsey Pearson – R&R Supply Chain Co-Ordinator commented, “The team at AJS Labels is excellent, always a pleasure to work with… if only all our suppliers were as reliable and as easy to deal with”

We were very pleased with this feedback & look forward to providing them with an excellent service in 2012.

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AJS Labels’ great performance

Congratulations

 to AJS Labels Sales Director,

Tim Gittings!

Tim is celebrating a significant birthday & we’d all like to send him our very best wishes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM!

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Tim has something to celebrate