COLUMBUS, OH—Mammoth Labels & Packaging started as Boehm Inc in 1952 with a focus on office equipment, stationary, stamps and engraving. Over the years as technology changed, so did the company’s focus. It entered the label printing business with two flexographic presses in the late 1990s and continued with stamps, engraving, and industrial marking and coding equipment. In 2005, it became an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) in which the company is owned by the employees. Every employee is motivated in knowing that their hard work and personal success directly impacts the company’s success. Today, pressure sensitive labels make up approximately 70 percent of the company sales, and industrial marking and coding is 30 percent.
In February 2020, Mammoth Labels & Packaging installed the Domino N610i digital UV inkjet label press. We recently caught up with Mammoth’s President Stuart Reeve to learn more about his business, why he added digital printing to their arsenal and why he chose Domino.
How has COVID-19 impacted your business this past year?
Our base of business was impacted positively due to a large percentage of our customers being in the food and beverage industry. Our digital sales grew 93 percent in 2020.
Tell me about the type of labels that Mammoth produces, and the markets served.
We serve several markets. For our largest revenue customer, we produce secondary packaging case labels. We also design and produce pressure sensitive labels for wine, beer, spirits, CBD, food processing and candles. Knowing how different the needs are for each of these niches helps us with material and adhesive selection, applications and special effects such as embossing and hot foil.
What are your customers’ needs, requirements and expectations?
Our customers have come to know us for our quick turnaround times and hands-on customer care experience. We can take a customer’s idea on a napkin, turn it over to our graphics team and they start the design process with the customer until they are happy with the design. Then we print and ship—we can even supply label applicators, as well as marking and coding equipment (think of lot codes, date codes) for their finished product or packaging. This gives us an advantage over many competitors who do not offer the graphic services or coding equipment. With prime specialty labels, customers want unique finishes and effects. A big demand of the candle industry, and even spirits, is the use of a true opaque white for clear labels, which the Domino press helps us achieve. As our website touts, we offer “Larger than Life Packaging Solutions!”
What does Mammoth Labels & Packaging do better than anyone else?
Exceptional service and flexibility are the cornerstones of what we do better than anyone else. Our customers trust us to help solve their packaging needs—from expediting a rush order, to seeking our expertise on the best and newest substrates in the market or helping to mitigate design challenges.
Why digital? What were the drivers that made you decide “we need digital”?
Our customers are requiring shorter runs with more SKUs, which grew our outsourced digital work. We were outsourcing digital labels to another vendor. Bringing that business in-house just made sense. It gave us complete process control and increased margins.
Why Domino? Why did you choose Domino versus any other digital printing provider?
After reviewing the many toner-based and UV inkjet digital solutions, it became apparent with Domino’s throughput, quality, opaque whites and extensive color gamut, it was the best press for us.
Have you seen any changes in the types of label jobs you run or projects you pursue?
We have aggressive growth goals across all of our markets, which the Domino helps us achieve. The opaque whites will allow us to grow our candle business specifically, and we are now able to focus on the durables market, which we were limited with in the past.
What production and business benefits have you experienced from the Domino N610i?
The Domino complements our flexographic business, and we have migrated some work from flexography to the Domino to reduce waste and efficiencies due to faster makereadies and no plates. The industry-leading throughputs of the Domino allow us to competitively price our work while increasing margin. By bringing in the outsourced work, we are now able to sell and market our own production capabilities.
What has been your level of satisfaction with the Domino as a company?
Domino has a great team; everyone we have interacted with from sales and marketing, installation team, and service have been outstanding. Domino has been very responsive and have technicians available to help us—either in person or virtually.
What do you foresee moving forward?
The capabilities and advantages of the Domino press we anticipated are real and we have seen quantifiable efficiencies. I see Domino being a major force in our growth as a label supplier. I will be disappointed if we are not buying another Domino.
What is the most important thing that you want your customers and prospects to know about Mammoth Labels & Packaging?
We know, especially in today’s challenging supply chain, that being nimble is one of the most valued aspects our customers look for in their suppliers, and we have not lost sight of that. Our team of designers, sales and account managers, press operators and staff work in tandem to meet the ever-changing demands that our customers are up against. We are committed to adapting with the packaging industry’s innovation and helping our customers’ businesses grow. This is one of the many reasons we decided to invest in the Domino press.