Labels promote product recognition

Product recognition is critical to sales in the retail marketplace and product labels help the consumer identify the product or brand.

Most products on the shelf, in the cooler, or on racks have a label whose purpose is (not limited) to:
-identify the product
-brand the company
-describe the product
-nutrition facts (food labels)
-dosage instructions (pharmaceutical/cosmetic labels)
-weight of product (food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical)

Labels can come in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes and can be printed on paper or synthetic stocks such as metallic or holographic papers, fluorescent, foils, tyveck, vinyl, thermal, craft papers, films and plastics. Labels are often self-adhesive and have a quick setting pressure sensitive adhesive backed surface that applies to the product itself. Labels can be machine or hand applied. Some labels require a more permanent application where heavy-duty adhesives would apply (industrial labels).

Scratch Off applications have promotional aspects

The Scratch Off application can be applied to a card, label, tag or ticket. It's purpose is to conceal information by covering it with an opaque coating, inhibiting the ability to see through. The main applications are (not limited to) quizzes, pins, codes, telephone numbers, clues and symbols.
These images would be hidden under said scratch application, and revealed only when a sharp edged object is used to scratch the coating away.

These scratch off promotions could be used in  restaurants or retail stores offering a percentage off purchase or an amount of free merchandise. Scratch Off can also be used in the lotto and sweepstake market.Promotional aspects draw prospects to the scenerio of a winning chance.

Scratch Off promotions can increase foot traffic and impulse purchases. Customers may spend more time with a Scratch Off piece than another method of promotion helping with brand recognition.

Flexo Printing Offers Important Advantages

Since the beginning of the millennium, the Packaging & Printing industry has experienced some revolutionary changes. Flexographic printing has proved to be the focal point of this renaissance being the fastest growing printing technology. Flexographic printing has affected every segment of the packaging world. Folded carton manufacturing which used to be ruled by offset printing has undergone a paradigm shift towards Flexography. The reason behind this shift is quiet simple; Flexo offers more cost effective and time saving solutions in carton making as compared to offset. Several stages in off-line printing like stripping, cutting, laminating, printing and die cutting can be replaced by a single in-line process of Flexographic printing. Moreover, the labor requirement gives Flexo an upper edge over offset printing. A printing job which requires five people in an offset process can be completed with 30% less people using Flexo.

Flexo carton machines use either rotary or flat cutting tools to form the carton shape. Both dies have applications according to the number of required cartons. The Rotary die system is useful for longer runs i.e. one or more million carton production or for frequently repeated cycles. Whereas, a flat die system is more suitable due to the slower speed for shorter runs of 5,000 to 1 million cartons. There are two significant differences between these die cutting systems. First, rotary dies are far more expensive than flat dies and the setup time greatly favors the flat die system. Moreover, a flat die lends itself to quick job changes as compared to a press equipped with a rotary station.

Besides being an in-line process, Flexo offers other important advantages. U.V. (ultra violet) inks are used mostly to print folded cartons. U.V. inks are environmentally compatible and provide brilliant colors and repeatability as compared to paste inks used in offset. Flexo U.V. inks provide high scuff resistance/supporting product integrity. Another reason behind the popularity of U.V. inks is that they enhance color density and image quality while improving printing efficiency. Solvent based inks are used more with rotary speeds and must be treated as hazardous materials.

The overall reward of producing folded cartons by the Flexo process is increased efficiency resulting in lower carton costs to the end user.

Reflections

So, did my going to Haiti make a difference?  The medications and clothing brought a little short term relief.  As for as helping anyone long term, not so much but possibilities do exist.

Do I see opportunities to help create a job or make someone’s life better?  Maybe.  Lynn’s Orphanage School will need more teachers as it grows to serve more children.  The tricky part is what will these children do for jobs after they are educated.

The little import-export thing with Herberle and Patrick could work but will not be easy.

Perhaps the best thing I can do is just tell as many people as I can about what I saw and ask smart people like those that need this to help me figure some of this out.  I welcome your comments.

Did it change me?  Well, I’m pretty sure it did but I’ll let my friends, employees and family be the final judge of that.

-Jerry Shelly

New Friends

I will miss my new Haitian friends as well as those that I worked with side by side in the medical clinics.

Sister Mary I

Matthew 25 is run by this wonderful and wise lady who keeps everything on track.  She is responsible for housing as many as 25 to 30 people at once.  She sees that everyone gets fed breakfast and dinner, has a clean place to sleep and get a bath, and get from and to the airport on time.  In addition, she along with help from husband and wife team Patrick and Vivian, coordinates translators for the medical teams, does the accounting and provides whatever assistance they can to the many needs in the community.  On top of all that, she provides some of the coldest beer on the island.  If I needed a place or business run, I would look to Sister Mary I.

Sister Mary II

She is called II because Sister Mary I was at the Matthew House first.  Originally from Canada, she has been in Haiti for quite a long time.  She stands about 5’ tall and won’t tell her age but 75 may be the new 35.  Sister Mary II sings and plays the guitar and her favorite song is “House of the Rising Sun”.  I had never heard a nun sing that song before coming to Haiti.  Just another little surprise, I don’t know why but she seemed to especially enjoy the line – “Mother tell baby sister not to do what I have done”.  I really like Sister Mary II – the Singing Nun.

Heberle – pronounced Airbell (Hairball if you’re Southern)

Heberle is one of the most interesting and impressive young men I met.  We spent almost every day with him as he served as our driver, medical interpreter and friend.  He is one of the reasons that there is hope for Haiti.  Born, raised and educated in his own county, he speaks French, Creole, English and Arabic.  He works for the U.N. when he is not assisting medical teams and is attached to the Jordanian Embassy in Haiti.  He has a wife and two small children and just built a new home.  He makes a good living by Haitian standards by supplementing his U.N. salary with income that he earns by interpreting for medical teams that come through Port-Au-Prince.  He uses his vacation days in order to be able to do both.

Heberle is smart, honest, conscientious, and dependable, qualities in demand anywhere, but especially in Haiti.  I am looking into the possibility of developing a small import-export venture with him that might benefit him and his family as well as a Haitian Orphanage I have learned about.

Patrick

Patrick and Herberle are childhood friends and godfathers to each other’s children.  It is hard to talk about one without talking about the other.  They are both leaders and young men like these are important to Haiti’s future.

Patrick spends about half his time in the states working on his nursing degree and the other half in Port-Au-Prince supporting his family.  He, like Herberle, is a community leader and organizer.  He was the “go to guy” in his community after the earthquake.  Because his home was uninhabitable, he and his family had to live in a tent like everyone else in his community.  They are now back in their home but his tent is still up and he invited us for a tour.  It did not take very long.  The main problems he said were the stifling heat and the mud floor when it rained, which during the rainy season was frequent.

Patrick is Mr. Personality, never meeting a stranger, and funny.  While visiting his home, we noticed two very fat chickens in his courtyard and asked if they were pets.  He said “yes, and they have names, lunch and dinner”.

Patrick supports himself with interpreting jobs that he gets through the Matthew House, a personal sponsor that inspired him to become a nurse, and whatever else he can find to make ends meet.  It will probably take him several more years to complete his nursing degree due to his family responsibility and the way the Visa system works.

Both Patrick and Herberle are sustained and made better by their Catholic faith.  They speak of it and act it out.  They attribute much of their success to the help and support from the Matthew House and the Twinning Organization that supports it.

Nurse Lynn

Not to be confused with Nurse Ratchet in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (well maybe a little).  Lynn is one of my favorite characters of the trip.  Moving from Ohio to Nashville at the age of six, she has become mostly southernized.  She is charming, bright, witty and sweet, not to mention gracious, generous, and all the other things that S.B.’s (Southern Belles) are good at, except for one thing.  You know after meeting her in two minutes, she don’t take no _____ from nobody and you’re not going to fool her with no _____.  But, she has a very nice S.B. way of letting you know that.

Lynn is the one who inspired Patrick to become a nurse.  From what I could pull out of her, she personally funds his tuition.  She had come to Haiti for years working with Dr. Don and others providing medical assistance to thousands of Haitians while she and her husband have raised three sons.  She would not need to do anything else to be a hero to most of us.  But then she goes and does this orphanage thing.  She has established an orphanage in a small placed called Jérémie, about 150 miles from Port-Au-Prince.  She somehow feeds, clothes, and schools 50 kids on $25,000.00 per year.  Most of us in the U.S. spend more than that on one kid in a year.  She also pays for this out of her own pocket.

I call her Saint Lynn.  Her orphanage has no name, no website, it does not have 501 C status (I will be talking to my lawyer friends about that) and obviously some financial help is needed.  In order to set up the orphanage as a 501C it will have to have a name.  Lynn and I are kind of liking, Melissa and Dylan’s Gift.

The Lafonts

Joyce (Dr. Don’s wife)

Joyce and I dispensed over 1500 medications during the time we worked together at the clinics in Port-Au-Prince.  It was hot, humid, cramped quarters, and we stood for most of the entire time.  The work and living conditions are even more demanding when she goes with Don to their clinic at the other end of the island.  Having been married to a successful doctor for almost 50 years, Joyce has known the finer things in life.  Yet, in the five days working together side by side, she never once complained about the heat, the working conditions or the sparse living quarters.  Her frequent laughter kept the moral high in our on little make shift clinics.

Although she does not have a formal degree in pharmacy, she probably knows as much or more as most degreed pharmacists, especially about medicines needed to treat tropical illnesses.  She loves working along side Dr. Don and she loves the people of Haiti.  I call her Saint Joyce.

Dr. Don

He is as passionate as one can be about this work.  Although his parish back in Jackson, Tennessee helps fund these medical trips, Don spends much of his own money for medicine and other costs associated with these trips.  He was one of the few that was able to figure out a way to get into the country to administer medical help the week after the earthquake.

He has been the inspiration for those like Nurse Lynn and many others in the medical field to come to Haiti to help.  He was the inspiration for my coming.  Don is very modest about what he does so I won’t make any reference to Sainthood.  He would not like that.  He is not even that comfortable with Dr. Lafont or Dr. Don.  He just likes to be called Don.

Cholera and Clinics

The cholera problem has spawned a lot of interest in finding a solution as to how to provide clean water to the Haitians.  It will take years to build the proper infrastructure needed to provide bacteria free water through a central system.  Therefore, the emphasis is to provide individual self contained systems that will keep the cost of treatment low.  Most of the ones being developed and installed use sodium chloride instead of chlorine.

 

Two cases in yesterday and today’s clinics were the hardest on everyone.  One was a 40 year old mother of three with terminal breast cancer.  All that could be done was to give her a supply of the strongest pain pills that we had and tell her to get her affairs in order which meant arranging for someone to care for her children.  There are no hospices in Haiti that we know of.
(pictured is Dr. Don aiding patients in clinic)

In the second case, a six year old female had been raped in the Tent City next to where we are staying.  There are no pills for this.

-Jerry Shelly

Bits and Pieces

Haiti declared its freedom in 1804 from the French when the slaves revolted against their slave owners.  The French punished them by demanding restitution until the 1950’s.  No wonder the French are not liked very well.

Based on those who pay taxes, the unemployment rate in Haiti is said to be 80%.  That is not exactly an accurate figure since there are a lot of small entrepreneurs that sell things along every street but don’t pay taxes.

Leogane was the epicenter of the earthquake, population 10,000.  Ninety percent of the homes there were destroyed.

During the quake, parts of the earth looked like ocean waves, as high as three feet, according to the locals.  Our interpreters were on their way to a birthday party at a popular restaurant when the quake hit.  It hit just minutes before they arrived killing over 50 people inside, many of them were their friends.

If someone has a toothache, it is pulled, not repaired, provided he has money to go to a dentist at all.  Lynn is the head nurse on the medical team.  During our second clinic she pulled an adult tooth with her bare hands.  I try to be very nice to Lynn at all times.

Haitian time usually runs anywhere from one to two hours behind American time, and I don’t mean central vs. eastern time zones.

Most Haitians are smart, warm, optimistic, and suspicious.

Thank God I know a little something about business.  I would make a terrible doctor.  I’m not sure they want me back even to dispense vitamins and Tums.  As yet, I have produced no casualties but I do wish the Amoxicillin and children’s chewable vitamins were not the same color.

There was a lot of commotion in the streets last night.  Policemen were very visible.  It was rumored that Aristide was back in the country.  Just rumor, we think.  However, it is no rumor that Clinton will be in town today.  Wouldn’t be surprised if he put his name in the run-off election for president.

There are some 9 million people in Haiti and Port Au Prince has almost 4 million.

Our clinic Monday was held in the Citè Soliel slum.  I am told the UN considers this to be one of the most dangerous communities in the world.  We never had a moment’s trouble.  The people waited patiently to be treated, some as long as 5 hours.  They were courteous and appreciative to receive the treatment.

I am staying in what is supposed to be one of the better and safe neighborhoods of Port Au Prince.  The Internet Café across the street from our house was robbed at gunpoint on Sunday.  All the customers were robbed and no one was hurt.  It is now closed until they can hire an armed guard.  This is one example of the many dichotomies prevalent in Haiti.  Since the Café is my internet source, there will be a slight delay in posting this.

Everything runs on diesel in Haiti.  Gas is $8 (US) per gallon!

A 45# bag of charcoal costs 300 gourdes or about $12 (US).  The charcoal will last an average of 3 weeks.  Ninety percent of the population uses charcoal for cooking.  There are not many trees left in Port Au Prince.

Kenskoff is where the wealthy Haitians live.  That is where Sean Penn stays when he is in town.  One of our interpreters has seen Sean on several occasions.  He said he barely recognized him because he was dressed like a construction worker.  The locals say he has done some good work here.

More from Haiti...

Jerry Shelly