After some time working at Atlanta Label, I finally ran into the term “Label Converter” as a definition for what we do. I had always referred to us as a “Label Printer”, “Pressure Sensitive Label Shop”, or “Print Shop” when I explained what we did to others, so I decided to do a deep dive into the origin of the term. We are referred to as a Label Converter in Georgia – but what does that really mean?
Conversion – The process of changing or causing something to change from one form to another.
We take rolls of material and transform them into labels, so this makes sense. These labels have to be printed onto paper & cut into the desired shape. However, the term is mainly referring to the machinery that is used & a specific part of the process.
Conversion machines exist in many industries & are simply just machines that alter the form of a product that runs through them. In the print world, conversion machines could also refer to the machines that cut material rolls (That we order to print on) into a desired size. They also refer to the Flexographic presses we use in particular.
With our Flexographic jobs, the converting process is preformed on the Flexo press itself. Not only will the press print the design, but it will also cut the labels to their desired shape, add laminate, and add any other finishing modifications if needed (Foil, UV, Etc). Any printing of colors is not really considered conversion, but cutting, laminating, adding other objects to the final sheet would be considered conversion in our world. The same is not true for digital printing presses, which work in tandem with a finishing unit.
So, there you have it. We are a Label Converter because the final steps in label conversion happen here. You can still call us a print shop if you want, but a Label Converter would be the more correct (And fancy) term.
Here is a detailed article on Web Converting that I found helpful:
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