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Part 1: Perfect Sticky Label Needs

Part 1: Perfect Sticky Label Needs

by | Oct 22, 2018 | Filling Services

Getting sticky labels right

If you want that perfect package to product fit that screams quality to your customer and you plan to use sticky labels, then knowing how to make the perfect sticky label for your product container is essential.  To do this you should know a few things about how automated labeling machinery works.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this 3 part article.  This first part discusses how your label area should not contain any complex curves.  In part 2, we list the different types of labels we can apply to your container and how to design a label shape that plays nicely with automated machinery.  Finally, in part 3, we discuss the material and conditions by which you should manufacture your labels in order to keep rework and scrap rates low.

 

Private Label Salt Products

Selecting Your Product’s Container

Where the label goes on your personal care product’s container and how that area is shaped is an important consideration when choosing containers.  Many containers have something we call complex curves.  Complex curves exist where concave or convex angles or planes intersect on the container.  This is especially concerning when it happens in the labeling area of the container.  An example of a container with complex curves in the labeling area is the deodorant bottle pictured to the left.

Picture Left: The deodorant bottle pictured has complex curves in the labeling area beneath the cap.  Interestingly, there is a small area on the lower cap area that would work with a wrap-around label.

    Why curves in the labeling area are a problem

    A label likes to follow the direction of a curve as it is being applied by an automated labeling machine. When multiple curves meet on a container in the labeling area then the label must negotiate and compromise its continuity between the curves. This situation typically results in crooked, pinched, broken, non-applied, or wrinkled labels. The sharper the angle between intersecting curves, the greater the likelihood of misapplying a label. However, this also means there are some cases where labels can be applied in areas where multiple curves meet.

      Private Label Salt Products

      Putting the principle to work in an example

      The container to the left has an hourglass design but it’s depth (base) is rectangular shaped.  Consequently, this container has complex curves, but only on the sides and not on the front and back facing areas.  This container would be an ideal candidate for a front-back label (discussed in the part 2), but not a wrap-around label.  Even though the front face is slightly curved, this isn’t a problem.  Labels don’t mind following a curve; they just don’t like trying to follow multiple curves.

        CONCLUSION

        If you’re thinking to yourself, “So my container just needs a flat space (curved plane) for the label,” then you are not far from the mark.  However, whenever the plane of the label area is intersected with another curve (or plane), new complications tend to arise.  BPI Labs always tries to complete a test on your bottle’s label so that you can have the certainty that comes from a test.  Before you go, you should look at label shape and material in part 2 of this article to see why those variables are so critical.

        Continue reading about ideal label shapes and some important limitations on dimensions.

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          Our Formulas Have These 6 Things for Completeness

          Our Formulas Have These 6 Things for Completeness

          by | Oct 21, 2018 | Formulation

          Introduction

          BPI Labs’ formulas contain 6 elements that assure product perfectiveness each time we manufacture your personal care product. Does your formula have these? If not, then you probably don’t have a production-ready formula. If you want to know how we transition incomplete formulas into production-ready formulas, click here.

          The six things your formula needs

          To manufacture your personal care products accurately and consistently your formula needs the following six things.  These essential elements can be found in the formulation template we’re providing: Click here to download our formulation template.

          1. Specific gravity

          Your formulation’s specific gravity is a ratio of the weight of your formula compared to the weight of water in some known volume unit.  We need this ratio to determine the weight of your batches and each ingredient in the batch of product formula.  Our customers always order some number of units at some volume, like fluid ounces, and we will use specific gravity to convert their order into a mass measurement, like pounds.  Manufacturing in mass measurements is how we can produce your product perfectly each time, and specific gravity is the ratio we need to make the volume to mass conversion.  Read more about this here: Your Cosmetic Formula Needs Specific Gravity.

          2. Weight-on-weight percentages of ingredients

          Knowing each ingredient’s weight as a percentage of the whole formula assures manufacturing accuracy. Once we are aware of the weight-on-weight percentage of each ingredient, we can determine the amount of each needed for any batch of product, down to the gram, no matter the size of batch.  For example, if water is 10% of the formulation composition, then to make 10 lbs of product, we will need one pound of water.

          3. Supplier of ingredients

          Not every supplier makes an ingredient the same way. For example, one supplier may make the ingredient glycerine with 98% glycerine and 2% water, while another supplier’s glycerine may contain 90% glycerine and 10% water. Knowing the supplier for each ingredient of your formula and the supplier’s trade name for that ingredient guarantees we make your formula exactly the same every time.

          4. Processing instructions

          These instructions will include the instruments essential to mixing your product and when to add, mix, chill, or heat your product’s ingredients and to what degree. If a compounded product is heated for too long, for example, and too much water evaporates, it can ruin the entire batch. Processing instructions are another element needed to create a consistent product every time.

          5. Specification sheets

          This sheet describes the qualities of your product regarding look, color, viscosity, feel, etc. It allows us to compare your product to what we manufacture to certify your product is manufactured according to specification every time.

          6. Formula Number

          A formula number is your product’s name-tag at BPI Labs; it is what we use to identify your product. The formula number changes between versions of your formula, and the formula number helps us gather the correct ingredients and materials when we manufacture your product. You will also use your product’s formula number when submitting a purchase order.  Click here to discover how a formula is different from a recipe.

          Conclusion

          BPI Labs guarantees consistent manufacturing results with these 6 essentials.  Every formula at BPI Labs has these essentials in addition to a record of production, which includes any troubleshooting we did to bring your product into specification.  We always review these historical records before production to verify we’re ready to manufacture your personal care product the right way every time.

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          Turning Your Recipes into Cosmetic Formulas

          Turning Your Recipes into Cosmetic Formulas

          by | Oct 20, 2018 | Formulation

          Why we need your recipe to be a formula

          We use the language of recipes and formulas to make a distinction between a product that is ready to be manufactured and one that is not. If you have instructions to manufacture a product that is measured in volume, or it doesn’t have weight-on-weight percentages, among some other aspects, then you have a recipe, and it isn’t ready to be manufactured. BPI Labs regularly turns recipes into formulas, and you should read on if you’d like to know how and why we convert recipes to formulas.

          The downside to a recipe

          A recipe of a personal care product will often take the form of a list of ingredients, each with a volume measurement, that equal some amount of product when combined. Examples of volumetric measurements include gallons, liters, quarts, tablespoons, or fluid ounces among some others.  Baking a cake is a perfect example of a listing of ingredients, with corresponding volumetric measurements, and a final result (1 cake).  Though recipes can help us bake a delicious cake, they prevent consistent and accurate manufacturing in a cosmetic manufacturing environment.  For example, volume measurements using large measuring cups would be laborious with over-pouring and cleanup, and inexact since we’d be eyeballing messy measurement lines.

          The mixing tanks used by BPI Labs are also large, opaque, and do not contain measurement marks like a common measuring cup. The constant movement (agitation) in a tank makes it difficult to get an exact understanding of how much product has been added or is needed. Moreover, air is often added to a mixture while mixing, which increases the mixture’s volume.  Finally, volumes can be deceptive since ingredients can expand and contract in warm or cold temperatures.  A chemical that is stored at fifty degrees Fahrenheit in a warehouse can expand as it sits in a 70 degree Fahrenheit manufacturing area, and we’re typically heating or chilling your mixture in a mixing tank to create your personal care product.

          The upside to a formula

          A formula for a personal care product is made with mass measurements. The amount of each ingredient needed to make your product is determined by the weight of each ingredient in grams or pounds. The advantages to using a scale instead of volume measurements include getting more exact measurements (down to fractions of a gram), not worrying about expansion or contraction of an ingredient’s volume during production, and the ability to scale the size of a batch up or down quickly with precision.

          Scaling a batch up and down in size is simple when using mass measurements and with formulations that call for percentages of each ingredient.  If 500 gallons of product is needed to fill 4000 bottles, then we can use something called the specific gravity equation to translate 500 gallons into pounds or grams of product needed.  Scaling a batch becomes as simple as looking at the percentage of an ingredient called for and multiplying it by the pounds of product needed, which we got from the specific gravity equation.  For example, if the formulation calls for 50% water (among other things), then we just need to multiply 50% by the total pounds of product we intend to manufacture.  Now we know how many pounds of water to use.  Maybe we’d like to make the batch 10 pounds larger; how much more water would we need?  We’ll just add another 5 pounds of water.

          By the way, if you’re interested in learning about specific gravity then read our post here.

          Translating recipes into formulas

          If we are asked to produce a recipe, the first thing we will try to do is convert it to a formula.  We begin by trying our best to follow the recipe’s instructions and create a sample.  Next, we’ll record the weight of each ingredient we used, weigh the final amount produced, and then measure the specific gravity.  We’ll send the sample to our customer for their approval. Assuming the sample is approved, we’ll turn our notes on the weights of each ingredient into a percentage of the total amount produced and record this into a formula with the specific gravity.  After these things, we will have the ability to create any amount of product requested and use the right amount of ingredient down to fractions of a gram.

          Conclusion

          There is significantly more to a formulation than a listing of ingredients, percentages called for, and the specific gravity.  You can look at our post on the six things every formulation needs here.  Otherwise, you can trust BPI Labs to help you purchase a formulation or transition a recipe you own into a production-ready formulation your customers will be happy with every time.

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          Part 3: Perfect Sticky Label Needs

          Part 3: Perfect Sticky Label Needs

          by | Oct 19, 2018 | Filling Services

          Part 3: Sticky labels continued

          Any manufacturer will tell you that scrap and rework make manufacturing vastly more expensive and time-consuming.  The wrong label material makes rework and scrap likely, so you should keep reading to see what kinds of labels keep your jobs cost-effective.

          You’ll read about the three properties your label media/material must have to keep scrap and rework minimal in this article.  You will also read a little about our label testing, and we’ll provide you with a link to download our label specifications sheet for your reference.

          You can download our label specifications sheet here.

          Manufacturing Your Product’s Label

          Before having your labels made, be certain they have the following three properties:

          Semi-permanent Adhesive: A label backed with semi-permanent adhesive will prevent product scrap. Left behind residue from a bad label will cause us to scrap the product unit because a new label won’t apply correctly and it won’t look good either.  With semi-permanent adhesive, a label will peel off your personal care product’s container without leaving any residue behind.

          Plastic Material: A Labels work best when your label is made from plastic material. When your label is made of paper, it is more likely to tear or wrinkle when applied by an automatic labeling machine. Paper labels also make any rework much more difficult to complete. The plastic label will have a backing, and it is okay if the backing is paper, which is typical.

          No Deep Die Cuts: A Die-cutters carve out the shape of your label design into the label’s plastic material when manufactured, like a cookie cutter. A die-cut is too deep when it has pierced past the plastic material and into the paper roll backing to which your labels are adhered. Often a deep die-cut will cause your roll of labels to rip in half during labeling, and production can continue only after the the label machine is reset, which can take several minutes. You can imagine how long production will take if this happens every third label.

          Don’t order your labels before we’ve tested them at our facility.  First, send your label manufacturer our label specifications sheet.  Then have them produce a small roll of about 10 labels to have BPI Labs test.  We will verify that the test labels are compatible with your product’s container and our automatic labeling machines.

          You can download our label specifications sheet here.

          Conclusion

          BPI Labs has seen many customers dismayed with how poorly their labels performed in manufacturing, and we highly encourage our customers to benefit our learned lessons. Ordering labels made of the right material and testing your labels before purchasing them guarantees you will not lose money on scrap, rework, redesign, lost time, and repurchase of labels.

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          Part 2: Choosing an Organic Standard

          Part 2: Choosing an Organic Standard

          by | Oct 18, 2018 | Formulation

          How an organic cert. was made for personal care

          Previously discussed was the USDA NOP’s organic standard and the inherent challenges in using it to certify organic personal care product. 

          In this post we’ll discuss the creation of the NSF/ANSI 305 standard, which was established in 2009, and a little of how the market is responding to this certification.

          What is the NSF/ANSI 305 standard?

          The NSF/ANSI 305 standard was created in 2009 to fill the need for an appropriate organic personal care products standard. This standard is the only American national standard for the manufacturing and labeling of personal care products that contain organic ingredients and make organic claims (Oregon Tilth).

          NSF International, the creators of this standard, are a highly reputable public health certification agency recognized by the FDA, EPA, and the USDA for their work in non-food compound product registration.  The American National Standard Institute (ANSI), a non-profit organization that assists in the development of U.S. voluntary national standards, assisted in the standard’s development and adoption.

            How ANSI/NSF 305 works

            Like the USDA NOP standard, the NSF/ANSI 305 standard places restrictions on the materials and ingredients used to formulate and manufacture products. The most beneficial element of the NSF/ANSI 305 standard is that it allows organic ingredients to be processed with manufacturing methods and with substances not authorized under the USDA organic certification. These allowed methods and substances have been examined by the NSF International Joint Committee on Organic Personal Care and approved for organic personal care use.  Check out Oregon Tilth’s NSF/ANSI 305 Fact Sheet here to learn more about the standard.

            A few of the standard’s requirements include:
            • At least 70% of your product must be made with USDA NOP approved organic ingredients
            • No GMO-derived ingredients in your product
            • No petrochemical based ingredients in your product unless they are approved by NSF International
            Labels you can use

            Certification under this standard allows personal care products to make a “contains organic ingredients” claim. Your product’s packaging can also feature the NSF International label alongside the certifying agent’s label, Oregon Tilth in our case, to assure customers the product has been evaluated and holds up to organic standards.

            ​​Wholefoods Recognizes the Importance of NSF/ANSI 305

            Wholefoods is a proponent of this new standard, and we are sure to see others.  Back in 2010, Joe Dickson, the Global Quality Standards Coordinator at Whole Foods Market and a member of the National Organic Standards Board, stated that Whole Foods Market will require any personal care product sold in their store making a “contains organic ingredients” claim to be certified through the NSF/ANSI 305 standard. Dickson explained the importance of Whole Foods Market’s decision in enforcing the NSF/ANSI 305 standard in this statement:
            “This will make it easier for shoppers to trust organic labels in our stores, and help the organic personal care products’ market evolve and grow” (Dickson)**.

            **The blog article was located at: (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/whole-story/huge-step-organic-body-care)

              Conclusion

              Two organic standards are available for your product, but only one of them was designed with personal care product in mind.  It’s important to understand the differences of these two standards since they impact how and when you can bring product to market.  Being an organically certified manufacturer for years, BPI Labs stands ready to help you organically certify your personal care product.

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