Greg: Hello, and welcome to our newest video bite. Where we bring you the latest news and products for our industry. I’m Greg Hrinya, editor of Label & Narrow Web and it’s a pleasure to sit down with Dillon Thomas – VP of Sales at Atlanta Label.
Label converters have been tasked with optimizing their efficiencies and Digital Printing has emerged as a key component of that success. To learn more about Atlanta Label and how digital printing has optimized their business, I’d like to welcome in Dillon Thomas. Dillon, thank you so much for joining us today.
Dillon: Of course, thanks for having me Greg.
Greg: So Dillon, to start out, what can you tell us about Atlanta Label?
Dillon: Atlanta Label is a family owned and operated company. We have been operating for over 40 years in the Metro Atlanta area. We have both Digital and Flexographic print capabilities. I’d say that above all else we pride ourselves on quality and customer service. We just want our customers to leave every interaction knowing that we have their back, and it’s important for us customers to feel that – not matter the situation – we are going to do whatever we can to help support their brand.
I’d say internally, we have put a lot of time and effort into rebuilding our company culture, improving our production processes, as well as implementing new equipment. In the past few years, we have experienced a lot of growth & we are really excited for the future.
Greg: That’s really good to know. Speaking of equipment, what is it like to have digital and Flexo in your shop?
Dillon: It’s good for our customers! With the flexographic capabilities for the medium to long run jobs and digital for the short run, and honestly it is just a value add for our customers.
Greg: That’s great. And what prompted your initial investment in digital printing & what was the learning curve like?
Dillon: So, a couple years ago we had the opportunity to get into the nutraceutical space, so we forged a relationship with a printer down the road and started outsourcing. Well… it was good and we built that initial book of business, but as the book of business grew…. Lead times extended out, quality wasn’t as good, so we knew we had to pull the trigger on bringing digital in-house.
So, we ended up choosing to go with Durst in-house and the learning curve wasn’t bad – it was just the initial installation of a new piece of equipment. The first month was a little rocky, but we never missed lead times and quality exponentially increased. It really wasn’t bad! Through the installation, our team had a good grasp on the equipment and what to do.
And then working with Durst – I mean – We could call them, they would be on the phone with us, or they would remote into our system, and if we had any other issues they would be in-house within a day or two. So, it was smooth to say the least.
Greg: There are a lot of digital print manufacturers out there, what was the driving force behind going with Durst?
Dillon: Durst was just excellent from the beginning. From the initial interactions, to taking us to see a Durst in action at other facilities, to negotiations on pricing; It was just a pleasure to work with Durst. Ultimately, they just treated us like we would treat our customers, which is hard to find. So, I think Durst, after dealing with other suppliers, they are just second to none. It was just an amazing experience from the beginning.
Greg: And what can we expect from Atlanta Label in the future?
Dillon: Yeah, we just expect to work on our sales and continue to grow. Hopefully we will be buying and implementing another Durst here soon.
Greg: That’s great. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us Dillon.