Avoid a “Tide Pod Challenge”—Make Your Product Attractive to the Right Audience

By now, the Tide Pod Challenge has become mostly fodder for funny memes and jokes across cyberspace, but the truth is, children and teens across the country were all at risk because of it. Part of the issue that created this problem is how the product looked—both the pod and its packaging. While being meme-worthy could be an effective digital marketing vector in some regards, you do not want your brand associated with injuries and illnesses to customers because of the way your chemical product looks.

Adopt a Reasonable Look for Chemical Products

Consumers all over the world rely on various chemical products every day when they clean their homes, wash their clothes and dishes, and handle multiple household tasks. While you may want to develop an attractive product in an attractive package, you don’t necessarily want to make it too attractive or attractive in the wrong way.

Your chemical product should be designed in such a way that the average consumer can easily assume its intended use without seeing or reading the packaging and product information. However, the product information must include all the warnings and instructions necessary for a consumer to use the product safely and correctly. Part of the reason Tide Pods became a viral sensation was because they resembled gummy treats and teens knew they were dangerous, but wanted to do funny things for social media clout. Thus, the Tide Pod Challenge was created, leading to several hospitalizations and serious medical effects for those who attempted it.

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Keep Your Chemical Products Functional and Safe

If your brand produces any chemical product, you want to design the product in a way that is not appealing to younger people. Do not make chemical products that resemble food or treats and stay away from bright colors whenever possible.

This effort should extend to the product packaging you use. Do not use vibrant color patterns and be sure to include all product safety information prominently on the package. Ideally, the average customers should be able to look at your product package and quickly and accurately identify its intended uses and potential risks. There are countless effective packaging methods available for your brand, and Century Label can help you take advantage of the labeling and packaging services that will work best for your products.

With more than 40 years of industry experience as professional labeling and packaging providers for consumer products, Century Label has a packaging design solution that will work for your chemical products. We can help you take your brand imagery and create something that will not become the next Tide Pod Challenge, so contact us today for more information about the product packaging and labeling services we offer.

How Augmented Reality Stands to Impact the JanSan Industry

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In the digital age, technology advancements have affected nearly every aspect of nearly every sector of business. For example, consider the multiple ways in which the dawning of the internet has influenced how consumers purchase products from start to finish, including the research, comparison, and end purchase stages.

While it may not seem as if the packaging and label industry has experienced similar changes – after all, a printed product hardly seems capable of much technological advancement – nearly every aspect of a label is affected in some way by recent leaps in technology. Perhaps most significant is the way digital technology has enabled companies to provide on-demand product features and information, easily accessible via an augmented reality label.

What Is Augmented Reality Labeling?

Augmented reality labeling provides interactive, informational content on-demand, when the consumer scans a code with a mobile device.

How? Most AR labeling approaches follow these steps:

1. Develop an app for your brand. If your brand does not yet have an app, it is essential to develop one to house all the content you wish potential consumers to engage with. Aside from general business information, you’ll need to provide information specific to each product that you want consumers to experience while holding your product.

2. Convince consumers to utilize your app. Somewhere on the AR label, include an icon or message regarding your app, so that the consumer will download it and experience the full benefits of AR.

3. Showcase the potential for interactive content. Make certain your consumers know more content and a deeper experience with your product lie in wait with just a scan of your label.

4. Display a wealth of information. After the consumer scans your label with a mobile device, make sure it’s worth their time. Include information, video, graphics, and more pertaining to that specific product on screen, via your brand’s app. You can provide product information, training, uses, and more dependent on the type of product.

How Can the Janitorial and Sanitation Industry Benefit from AR?

While excellent examples of innovative, immersive customer experiences via AR abound among the food and beverage, wine, and personal product industries, you may be wondering how AR can benefit a practical industry like Janitorial and Sanitation. However, just like we’ve learned how much packaging and labeling have benefited from technological advancements, we’ve also come to realize just how much JanSan stands to benefit from AR.

Many products in the JanSan industry are comprised of a host of different chemicals of various compositions, with some differing only by a few key ingredients. As such, their ideal uses and the safety measures required of each vary – sometimes widely so – among products manufactured by the same brand.

Imagine the benefit of quickly disseminating all the necessary product information in an instant so that consumers can have knowledge at the tips of their fingers.

Uses for AR in the JanSan Industry

While some brands have attempted to provide additional product information in the past – usually via a link to a website the user then has to navigate independently before sifting through the contents of the site as a whole to find the pertinent information – AR provides a much more user-friendly and thorough approach. With a single scan of a product code on the label, your brand’s app will appear, able to feature product information, safety data, and more.

Far from providing a link to an external website, AR has information for your consumers in an instant and can be utilized to provide access to a host of different product-specific features. For JanSan, AR uses can include:

• Video. From maintenance and training videos to demonstrations of a product’s proper use, AR allows you to include key information that is best presented in video form – right on your product’s label. You can even include best-fit suggestions for additional products and allow consumers to find those products nearby. 

• 3D Modeling. If your product line includes machinery, consider incorporating an AR 3D model to be displayed when a consumer scans your product’s label. Such 3D models can demonstrate the proper use of your machinery or inform the user of its various uses.

• Product Information. Additional product information for the chemicals and machinery so essential for JanSan, which can be lengthy. However, due to the nature of the product, access to this information is crucial. You can use AR to provide instant access to MSDS information, safety techniques, the purpose of any active ingredients, and more.

In fact, the sky's the limit regarding the amount and type of additional information you can include with AR. Consult with a labeling expert for even more ideas regarding potential JanSan uses.

For more information about how augmented reality labeling can benefit your janitorial or sanitation industry business, contact Century Label today.

Globally Harmonized System and Why it Matters for Chemical Labels

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Countries around the world have different systems when it comes to the labelling and classification of chemical products; in fact, it is not uncommon for several different systems to be in place in a single country. This creates confusion among workers and extra costs to enforce, especially when regarding trade internationally. For this reason, the United Nations devised the idea of the Globally Harmonized System, or GHS, for chemical labeling.

What is GHS?

The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals, or GHS, creates a method of standardization when it comes to the hazards of chemical products. By using universal safety data sheets (SDS), countries will have a consistent way of communicating the potentially hazardous nature of products. The GHS system is currently considered “non-binding,” so countries are still adhering to it voluntarily.

RELATED ARTICLE: How to Create a High-Quality Industrial Chemical Label

Why is GHS Necessary?

When companies work or trade in different countries around the world, confusion can arise regarding the differences in labelling dangerous products. This is especially problematic for workers, who must understand the potential hazards of a chemical to work with it safely.

GHS stands to present a solution to these safety issues. In addition to promoting safety within the workforce, other potential benefits include:

• Increased efficiency

• Ease in trade

• Clearer regulatory 4compliance

• Reduced cost

• Better transport of hazardous chemicals

• More efficient response to emergency chemical incidents

Classification of Chemicals According to GHS

The GHS system is comprised of two main elements:

• It provides guidance on providing classification of pure chemicals and mixture in adherence to its criteria, and;

• It communicates precautionary information and hazards via safety data sheets (SDS) and labels.

With regard to labels, the GHS stipulates that certain information must appear on the label of a hazardous product. For example, in some cases, the chemical identity of a substance must be outlined. A label may contain standardized statements, symbols, or other signals that provide the classification of the chemical or mixture, along with precautions.

Labels like those set forth by GHS can help improve safety and compliance. Though the rules are currently non-binding, it will likely become more common as businesses and industry adopt the regulatory practices. Compliance with such regulation can also boost a business’s credibility. Certain countries, like Canada, have already adopted some of the GHS system and made them enforceable by law. Trade or export within these countries will require labeling that is consistent with GHS regulations.

Century Label has extensive experience in the labeling of industrial goods and chemicals. For more information about our services and ability to produce GHS compliant labels, please contact us.

How to Create a High-Quality Industrial Chemical Label

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Companies that produce industrial chemicals must meet rigorous quality control standards for various oversight agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and others. They must meet strict regulations in the creation and packaging of their products.

While these oversight agencies also require manufacturers to meet certain label standards, chemical product manufacturers can meet these requirements and take label design further to create higher-quality labels that increase product safety, provide additional clarity, and result in cleaner, simplified label designs.

Promote Safety With Higher-Quality Industrial Chemical Labels

High-quality industrial chemical labels must first and foremost meet all applicable regulations regarding label information. Once a manufacturer has determined what information must appear on a product’s label, additional consideration should be made concerning safety warnings, instructions for use, and other announcements.

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Investing in high-quality industrial and chemical labels makes this information easier to recognize and easier to read. Ultimately, higher-quality labels make industrial chemical products safer for everyone who handles them in any capacity, from distribution to end use. Make your products safer by:

• Including easier to read instructions for use on the label.

• Making safety warnings and required indicators obvious and legible.

• Creating defined areas of the label for ingredients, acceptable uses, tolerances, and other necessary information.

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Make Product Information Clearer

Industrial chemicals are used in countless applications. It’s possible for one type of chemical product to play a role in the creation of thousands of other products, and the organizations who engage in these operations must use these products as intended. High-quality labels should provide clear instructions for use, make it easy for an end user to quickly and accurately identify a product, and offer simplified but very clear safety indications. Provide additional clarity with your labels by:

• Clearly outlining the product’s intended uses and other vital information on the label.

• Using color to highlight different parts of the label, such as ingredients, uses, instructions, and safe handling instructions.

Create a Clean and Simple Label Design

Many businesses use various industrial chemicals for various applications, and label design can play a major role in how these products are used and how users interact with them. A clean and simple label design is easier to achieve when manufacturers invest in high-quality labels. A few ways to make your chemical product labels cleaner and simpler include:

• Choosing a pleasing and simple color palette for the labels.

• Selecting an easily legible typeface for the written information on the label.

• Investing in high-quality digital label printing that allows for extremely fine detail and high resolution.

Chemical product manufacturers must ensure their labels meet applicable regulations and quality control standards, but taking label design a step further can make their products more attractive, more effective, and safer for end users.

Century Label has extensive experience handling sensitive label creation and provides high-quality label printing for countless applications. Contact Century Label today to learn more about our digital printing process and how it could make your industrial chemical labels clearer, more aesthetically pleasing, and safer.

How to Use Chemical Labeling to Increase Supply Chain Safety and Efficiency

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The chemical manufacturing industry faces innumerable challenges, and many companies’ day-to-day struggles revolve around supply chain efficiency. It’s essential to streamline the supply chain without sacrificing end product value or jeopardizing important professional relationships with suppliers, distributors, and buyers. One of the most surprising yet effective methods a manufacturer can use to boost supply chain efficiency is to rethink chemical labeling.

Why Focus on Labeling?

Chemical manufacturers provide products that can pass through multiple parties until they reach their final destinations or end users. Traceability is extremely important for many chemicals, especially those beholden to federal regulation. The only reliable method of tracking a chemical product from its origin through various distribution channels to its ultimate destination is labeling.

The information that must appear on certain products’ labels is growing more complex, and labeling operations need to be tightly connected to manufacturers’ business processes. Creating an effective and efficient labeling system built upon best practices can help chemical manufacturers manage the constantly changing demands of the chemical manufacturing industry and the regulatory bodies that oversee their products.

Develop Dynamic Labeling Practices to Futureproof Your Operation

Cutting manufacturing costs is one of the best ways to streamline a manufacturing process, but it’s vital to do so in responsible ways that do not diminish traceability or the quality of the final product. A dynamic labeling system that allows a manufacturer to adjust labels as new regulations and compliance requirements appear is one of the best ways to stay ahead of the curve while ensuring long-term compliance with the regulations.

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Failing to develop a dynamic labeling system that can change with the times will lead to all types of issues. A distributor may not be able to use a recent shipment due to fresh compliance requirements and will send the product back to the manufacturer for relabeling. Some distributors or buyers will simply stop purchasing chemical products with outdated labels to streamline their own operations. These hiccups can cause significant strain on a chemical product manufacturer.

An enterprise-level labeling solution that offers the ability to automatically adjust labeling content in real time can be a tremendous asset for any chemical manufacturing organization. A proper labeling system should be able to retrieve data from multiple sources, ensuring complete compliance with all applicable regulations and compiling labels that satisfy those requirements in an intuitive format.

Work With an Experienced Labeling Provider

Chemical manufacturing companies need reliable labeling solutions to meet the ever-changing demands of a fast-paced industry. Business relationships are crucial to the chemical manufacturing industry, and an effective, dynamic labeling system can have a tremendous impact on any chemical manufacturer’s supply chain efficiency.

Century Label has more than 40 years of experience providing professional labeling solutions to partners across various industries. We can help chemical manufacturers meet their demanding labeling requirements to develop more effective supply chains. Contact Century Label today to learn more about how our labeling services can help you streamline your operations and ensure total compliance with industry regulations.