Training Support gains new customer for Amherst Label
Overview
Amherst Label, located in Milford, New Hampshire, has thrived for the past 43 years as a family-owned and operated label printer. Amherst is a leading manufacturer of custom labels, decals, tags and flexible packaging specializing in Flexographic, Digital, Screen Printing along with flexible packaging and specialty printing. They serve a wide variety of customers in diverse segments including industrial, housewares, specialty foods, medical devices, beverages, cannabis and nutraceuticals.
The company was founded in 1978 by Nicholas Calvetti, a highly successful salesperson, and longtime service-oriented entrepreneur. Within two years, business was booming, and Nick Senior asked his son Nick to join the firm. Nick Calvetti, Jr. has been running Amherst Label since his father’s untimely death in 1981.
Twenty years ago, Nick was joined by the next generation of Calvetti, his daughter Angela, and her husband, Nye Hornor. After he graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2015, the third Nicholas, Nicholas Kepka Calvetti, joined Amherst Label.
“APR’s quick response helped us to meet the timeline requested by our customer. They assisted us with training, installation and actual measurements needed to complete the certification.”
Nye Hornor
President, Amherst Label
In addition to its 40 years of reliability, Amherst Label’s key differentiators in the marketplace are its “WHY” approach (We Help You), outstanding service, open communication, the absence of sales tax in New Hampshire, being veteran-owned, green printing practices, a solar-powered facility, and award-winning innovation and labels. Hornor notes that Amherst is “customer-driven with human contact applied every step of the way.”
Challenge
Amherst Label had an opportunity to bring on a new customer in the housewares segment if they were able to provide GMI certification. Graphic Measures International (GMI) certification is a process that holds packaging suppliers accountable to established brand owner color standards. Companies like Home Depot, Target, CVS, and Walgreens only work with GMI-certified printers to ensure that their packaging looks consistent all over the world.
As Amherst Label hadn’t had any formal color management training and didn’t have the necessary equipment for GMI certification - they turned to APR for help with both the process and the necessary equipment.
APR was their first and only call because of a long-term relationship with Doug Bartlett, Business Development and Technical Support for APR, whom they had known through his many years in the industry. Since joining APR in mid-2020, Doug worked with Amherst to install a SupplySentry RFID-managed inventory system. SupplySentry is a supply management system that can be used for almost any plate-room or pressroom consumable. Supplies are placed in an RFID-enabled area (e.g., shelf, cabinet, or full inventory-managed room). All products are shipped from APR with an RFID tag, and the area keeps track and automatically reorders supplies. Amherst now purchases tapes, blades, and other supplies through APR and SupplySentry.
APR provides formal training for color management as GMI and other customer-driven color and print quality systems. Printers are increasingly being driven to use these tools to manage color and provide traceable quality and consistency with color in both conventional and digital printing. According to Hornor, “APR’s service with SupplySentry has been amazing and we knew Doug had a broad background in color, and broad expertise so we turned to them with this new challenge.”
The Solution
Doug Bartlett spoke with Jim Cutler, operations manager at Amherst Label, on a Tuesday, and recommended that they order a spectrophotometer which was delivered on Thursday of the same week. The spectrophotometer is a very sensitive device that accurately measures color and generates spectral data that can be used to compare to given targets/standards. It is critical to color management as the tool to capture this color data and guide the printer in dialing in the color to match given targets. Bartlett notes that “in the case of GMI there are very specific color targets to match and Amherst needed the spectrophotometer to measure and test samples as they printed them so they could be adjusted until they met GMI requirements. It really gave them confidence that their submissions would pass.”
Amherst Label received online training for the spectrophotometer from Techkon Friday the same week. Doug went in and worked with their Prepress/Digital Print Supervisor and the press operator the following Monday.
According to Hornor, “APR’s quick response helped us to meet the timeline requested by our customer. APR assisted us in the training, installation, and actual measurements needed to complete the certification.”
The Outcome
With APR’s guidance and Amherst’s press time, they were able to submit the necessary samples to GMI and were certified the following week. Hornor notes, “This was a team effort between APR and Amherst Label to accomplish a goal in a very short period of time. Our customer was pleased with our communication during the process, so they understood our timeline and appreciated our efforts to complete the process quickly.”
This new capability gives Amherst Label the ability to gain business previously unattainable without the GMI certification. Hornor notes that in the past, “… we did not have the ability to work with other customers who may require GMI certification. The process will start over for the new projects, but now we have the ability to complete the necessary steps for new customers.”
He concludes, “APR was great to work with, expedited the process for us as well as supplied us with the knowledge and equipment needed to move through the process. We appreciate the partnership which is part of our Painted Picture and vision for our company.”