It's Not Just the Coffee Creating the Latest 'Buzz' at Rowland Coffee Roasters; Conversion to B&H Shrink Labeling System translates into savings and new promotional opportunities for purveyors of the finest Cuban espresso coffee.
Rowland Roasters' recent acquisition of longtime rival Café Bustelo tripled the company's market share, forcing a re-evaluation of their production operation. Rowland rolls out an average of a million one-lb. (401) and 200,000 three-lb. (603) cans per month. With approx. 60,000 sq. ft. for offices, manufacturing, warehousing, and shipping, space is tight. In the past, using lithographed cans with their high quality images and beads helped foster the renown of top Rowland brands like Café Bustelo and Café Pilon. But the 18 different SKUs made inventory of the various lithographed cans cumbersome.
José Alberto Souto, son of José Angel and VP of Production and Procurement, says, "We always had 6 or 7 trailers, each holding 50,000 lithographed cans, parked out in back of the plant. Plus we were always running out of one type or size of can. That's when B&H Labeling and their roll-fed shrink labeling came into play. As soon as I saw a shrink-labeled can, I knew it was what we needed to solve the problem. With the B&H system, all we need to buy is the plain tin cans on a just-in-time basis and then apply the different labels." Rowland now stores all of the labels used for the 18 SKUs on six to seven pallets, saving up to 7,000 sq. ft. of warehouse storage space.
The look of the finished product was a critical consideration. John Paul, José Alberto's son, notes, "At first we were afraid of how the shrink label was going to look. After all, with the litho cans, they shine and sparkle. But after seeing the shrink label, we couldn't tell the difference. The seam on the litho can was the only way we could tell the difference – it was unbelievable." Once the family was convinced that the shrink label looks as good or better than lithographed cans, the decision was easy. José Alberto and John Paul worked with B&H Labeling Systems on the purchase and installation of the BH8000G roll-fed labeler and the patented BH700 Endura® - a shrink-labeling system that can handle the company's 1- and 3-lb. sized cans at a rate of 400 per minute. And the system fits into a very compact 12x20-ft. space.
The B&H system applies biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) labels made by ROI Technologies. This film was jointly chosen by ROI and B&H because of its unique shrink characteristics. Tim Roberts, president of ROI, explains, "The BOPP labels can wrap around and conform to the contours of Rowland's coffee cans without any distortion to the label or image. They only shrink into the bead and not from the top and bottom, so all portions of the 'shiner' or can are covered."
Cost reductions in space and materials mean Rowland realized savings of almost 10% per can. "When you consider the number of cans we run and do the numbers, the B&H system pays for itself rather quickly," says José Alberto. The shrink-labeled can also offers greater marketing and sales opportunities.
"With lithographed cans, you would have to insert a coupon directly into the coffee," says José Alberto. "With the B&H system, all we need to do is change labels for special promotions, like at Christmas time. Coupons are also easy to add to the labeled cans. This was a major attraction, a marketing tool for us."
The conversion to the B&H labeling system helps make José Alberto quite optimistic about the future success of Rowland Coffee Roasters. And José Angel is also thrilled that the future of Rowland will continue to prosper in the hands of a third generation of Souto's.
Located in Ceres, California, B&H Labeling Systems introduced the first viable roll-fed label application system in 1969. B&H is known worldwide for innovative, solution-driven engineering, high quality workmanship, and the unequaled reliability of its equipment. B&H maintains global representation to offer service and technical support to its worldwide customer base.
B&H Labeling Systems, 3461 Roeding Road, Ceres, CA 95307. Tel: 209-537-5785; Fax: 209-537-6854.