Although Governor says it's sometimes hard to get close to manufacturing firms, he also strives to establish open lines of communication and determine when and how often they like to be contacted. He often visits, calls and sends email messages to manufacturing customers--especially after their orders ship. "That's the difference between a document specialist and an order taker," Governor says.
Making a Mark With Tags
Scott Johnson, owner of Bakersfield, Calif.-based distributorship Calforms, often hops into his pickup truck and drives to the Californian countryside to visit cotton farmers. Ten years ago, when he was trying to break into the state's cotton industry, he discovered farmers often were using inadequate tags. Although he didn't sell tags at the time, Johnson knew they were the key to winning the accounts.
When the farmers harvest cotton, they form 40 x 80-foot cotton bricks called "modules." The farmers then send the modules to co-op gins, which are owned by groups of farmers. When a module arrives, a worker marks it with a 5-part manifold tag that identifies who farmed the cotton, the field it was harvested from, the type of seed used, the type of cotton (acala or pima) and the trucking company transporting it. After weighing the module, the worker marks it with a second tag detailing this information. The worker then places the module in the gin yard, where it sits until it's made into a bale of cotton. Afterward, a worker weighs the bale and subtracts that weight from the weight of the original module, then writes the final weight on the tag.
After speaking to some cotton farmers, Johnson learned that a national printing company was printing the tags using regular bond and carbon paper, then providing the farmers with expensive plastic bags ($1 each) to protect the tags from harsh weather. Unfortunately, workers often forgot to place the tags in the plastic bags or they wouldn't properly seal them. Harsh weather destroyed tags that weren't properly protected.
After researching tag materials and the cotton industry, Johnson designed tags that fit each farmer's specific needs and eliminated the need for them to buy costly plastic bags. The tags were made from synthetic materials, including Tyvek® and Valéron®. Manufactured by Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont, Tyvek is composed of very fine, high-density polyethylene fibers. It's vapor-permeable, but resistant to water, chemicals, abrasion, punctures and tears. Valéron, manufactured by Houston-based Valéron Strength Films (an ITW company), is a high-strength, specialty film resistant to harsh weather, smudges and tears.
The farmers still wanted the tags to be bagged, so Johnson decided to do some bargain shopping. He drove to a local Costco store (a members-only, bulk goods store) and purchased plastic sandwich bags, which cost the farmers only 1 cent per bag. Johnson's thriftiness and use of synthetic materials allowed his company to break into a lucrative industry and add tags to its list of product offerings.
Synthetic Materials Key to Winning Accounts
The last time Governor of P&W Marketing counted, at least 10 aluminum-extruding plants existed in Youngstown, Ohio. It made sense to him to target the industry for tag sales. Today, P&W Marketing provides industry basic tags such as #5, #10 and manifold tags as well as inventory and shipping tags.
NOMEX® tags account for seven percent of P&W's sales. Manufactured by DuPont, NOMEX is a synthetic, thermal- and flame-resistant material that withstands extremely high temperatures. P&W Marketing provides aluminum-extruding industry clients with NOMEX tags, which they attach to hundreds of pieces of aluminum that are heated in ovens for eight hours at a time. Temperatures can reach up to 400 F, but the tags remain attached to the aluminum throughout the heating process.
P&W Marketing also provides manufacturing firms with Valéron tags. Several years ago, Governor discovered that one of his manufacturing clients was having label problems. It was buying thermal transfer paper labels from another supplier and applying them to wood pallets, but the labels were falling off. Governor introduced the manufacturing firm to Valéron tags, which they could staple to the pallets. P&W Marketing has provided the tags ever since.
Governor says simply asking the right questions leads to lucrative tag sales. "I concentrate on the tag's whole life process--I become the tag," he says, laughing.
Kara Gebhart, a freelance writer in Cincinnati, is a former assistant editor of Print Solutions. Email us your comments at bholt@printsolutionsmag.com.
5 Tips for Selling Tags
1. Let customers experiment. A customer of Hampton, Va.-based distributorship Business Forms Specialty submerged a sample tag in a cup of water for a week to see if it would hold up. Barbara Bliley, the distributorship's owner, sold the customer the #8 tags which were made of Tyvek®, a water-resistant material composed of very fine, high-density polyethylene fibers that can be written on with waterproof ink.
2. Go high-tech. Many manufacturing firms benefit from thermal transfer tags that can be bar coded with variable data. These tags often are imaged on site. Check out "RFID Tagging Systems" on page 42 for information on a high-tech tagging system.
3. Get hip with tag lingo. Distributors who have a complete understanding of tag lexicon are able to communicate better with tag manufacturers.
4. Ask the right questions. Distributors should ask customers a variety of questions to understand their tag needs. Possible questions include: What's the tag's purpose? How long does it need to last? Where will it be used? What's the acidity of the tagged product? How will the tag hang? Where will the tagged product be stored (indoors or outdoors)? Will the tag be subjected to moisture or heat? Will the tagged product be shipped and, if so, how often? Will the tag need to be printed with water- or fade-resistant ink? Will the tag be bar coded?
5. Add value. When selling tags, offer printers and ribbons as well. Learn about printer makes and models and offer equipment maintenance and training. If your company doesn't have the resources to provide such products and services, team up with a manufacturer.
RFID Tagging Systems
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is hot. Unlike bar codes, information can be obtained from RFID tags without physically scanning them because RFID uses radio waves to identify objects. As long as a tag is within a specified range, its information can be obtained.
Columbia, Md.-based Matrics Inc., a provider of electronic product code (EPC) compliant RFID technology, recently announced a contract with McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. According to a press release, Matrics will supply RFID tags to help the airport track passenger luggage.
"As each piece of luggage will have a RFID bag tag attached, visibility of the luggage as it moves to its destination will be improved," says Liz Churchill, Matrics' director of marketing. If security concerns arise, luggage can be identified immediately and diverted for additional sc reening, Churchill says. Lost luggage and flight delays due to excess baggage in cargo areas also will be minimized.
RFID technology extends beyond airport applications. According to Churchill, the retail industry already is embracing the technology. Products with EPC RFID tags can become "smart" products. Whenever someone moves a tagged product, the time, date and location can be recorded instantly. Also, there's no need to break down a pallet of 100 products for scanning. As the pallet passes by EPC RFID readers/antennas, each of the products can be scanned and recorded instantly. According to Churchill, this means improved accuracy because human intervention is not needed to identify products.
"Wal-Mart has asked their top consumer product good suppliers to use EPC RFID on their pallets and cases by January 2005," Churchill says. "RFID will have a huge impact on all supply chains in the next few years."
