Printed Shrink Sleeves Gone Wrong

Have you ever picked up a product from the shelf and noticed that the image on the shrink sleeve label is visibly distorted or twisted? What about when the printed shrink sleeves are applied in a way that makes the barcode or text illegible? Both of these cases have a major impact on the way customers view your brand, but they also create problems at the register that can keep people from buying your products altogether.

Common Shrink Sleeve Problems

Distorted shrink sleeves are only one type of problem that manufacturers face with their labels. Shrink sleeves that are run with improper heat settings often don't adhere to the product the correct way, causing tearing or other damage, or not meeting the expectations of a tamper-proof seal. A lack of understanding of how the printed shrink sleeves work often leads companies to use bad designs on their labels, which result in ugly labels all around and problems with barcode scanners in retail locations.

How to Fix Your Shrink Sleeves

The best way to ensure you are getting a high quality shrink sleeve application is to use the right equipment for the job. Pack Leader offers several shrink sleeve labeler models which are designed to work with different sizes of containers. They also include state-of-the-art technology which manages the temperature of the machine to get the best possible results, as well as sensors that keep shrink sleeves properly aligned with the product to avoid twisting in the shrink tunnel. Pack Leader also recommends making your barcodes vertical on your product so that they shrink evenly on the container instead of becoming stretched around the circumference of the container, which ensures readability at the register.

Printed shrink sleeves are very popular in a variety of industries as they provide a solid seal around the neck of products to keep them safe. However, poorly done shrink sleeves can hurt not just the way the product performs, but consumer's perception of how much you care about their safety. Using the right equipment goes a long way towards getting the results you want and showing customers that you care about all the details, not just what's on the inside.