GURNEE, IL—Domino has produced a video to celebrate and honor ASL Print FX in its success, continued growth and winning formula for providing “brand differentiation” for its customers. Making its customers’ brand vision a reality.
ASL Print FX is a premier supplier of pressure-sensitive labels. As described on the homepage of its website, “For over 50 years, ASL Print FX has been Trusted to Bring your Brand Vision to Shelf.” The company provides custom labels to happy customers all over North America.
Domino caught up with Travis Pollard (vice president and general manager – Napa, CA) and Stacy Daly (executive vice president) to learn more about their business and the secret to their success. ASL also shared some exciting news about what’s next for their company.
Pollard began, “ASL is a brand built on trust. It’s also a brand built on understanding, and it’s a brand built on not only advancing our own initiatives, but those of our customers.
“We currently have 10 employees, we’re doubling our size, and we’re growing exponentially. We have two facilities in the greater Toronto area; one facility in Winston-Salem, NC; and our facility here in Napa, CA. Our primary market is wine and spirits, but we’re a fine printer for all different types of products. And we do that through efficiencies, and we execute at the highest possible level in the industry.”
Pollard continued, “Every label that we print is its own custom project. It can require foil stamping, or embossing, or variable data or sequential numbers, and we have the tools to do that with our MPS EF SYMJET ‘powered by Domino’ hybrid press.”
ASL Print FX added this hybrid press to its label printing arsenal for a total solution. It provides versatility and unlimited possibilities which allows the printer to compete in several markets at the same time. Couple that technology with a culture of innovation and a highly trained and knowledgeable workforce. ASL believes that surrounding great people with new technologies enveloped in a package of service, is a wonderful recipe that is hard to compete with.
Daly explained that having the right label printing equipment is essential in not only delivering on the project, but in helping customers achieve their vision. “I like to say that when people walk into this building, I want it to feel like they’re on the Starship Enterprise. We research very well to find the right equipment that complements our customers’ vision… that’s our mission statement… to bring your vision to life. I believe that the inkjet technology is the future, because it does stretch the envelope of what we do every day.”
Pollard then provided a quick overview of its hybrid press. “This is our MPS EF SYMJET. It’s a hybrid press that combines digital and flexographic printing. It comes with a web cleaner, corona treater, lamination tower, a Domino print engine, flexographic print stations, rotary photopolymer embossing, rotary magnetic die cutting, and it’s all controlled at this console by one operator in one pass.”
Daly said of Pollard that his approach with customers is first-class. “He doesn’t try to sell people; he tries to offer solutions. If they need something tomorrow, we’ll bend over backwards to make that happen.”
Their sense of urgency, their wide breadth of capabilities, and the care taken to help customers achieve their vision is a winning formula for ASL Print FX. “We print labels for companies of all sizes. So, if you’re printing 100 cases of wine labels versus several million, we have the tools in our toolbox to support all levels of growth. We won a First Place Award at TLMI for a label called ‘15 Minutes of Fame’ for Anarchist Wine Company. The wine label was designed by a San Francisco designer… her name is Jenny Doll… and absolutely on the cutting edge of design. And that’s how you win awards through a partnership of collaboration, of understanding the technology, and delivering on the brand goal,” said Pollard.
Daly added, “So, all of the labels that are best of show in all of these different countries’ associations meet and then they decide who was the best of the best. This gentleman who I respect a lot… I got a phone call, I picked it up, and all I heard was ‘Now that’s impressive.’ We win a lot of awards. We’re not alone. There’s a lot of our competitors that win a bunch of awards, but we hold our own… that’s for sure.”
Domino asked ASL Print FX: ‘What’s next? What does the future hold?’ Pollard said, “We view Domino technology as our future. And the partnership that we have has been incredible. The Domino Difference is the level of support we receive, bar none. Tom Grencik and his team are the best in the business, and they always take the time to teach our operators more about the equipment so that we’re self-sufficient. It’s a win-win proposition.”
Daly added, “Our future for us now is we’re buying another Domino for Canada, investing in that future now will pay off dividends. Every year, every month I see us growing more and more, and Domino digital technology is getting us closer to a platform where we’re starting to remove variables… that’s the win. I’d like to thank Domino for their partnership with a great piece of equipment that we’re enjoying working with. I truly, truly enjoyed this experience and Domino keep up the good work and we’ll continue to purchase.”