Label customers set to benefit from laser-focused innovation

31 July 2019


One of tesa’s main distributors in the South West, South Western Specialised Tapes (SWST), based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, has continued to diversify with the opening of a Label Printing Division.

SWST is a major supplier of tapes to many sectors, including Automotive, Industrial, Communications, Construction and Signage. The company has a long history of working closely with tesa, whom they began working with at a time when the adhesive tape specialist was also expanding its product offering from packaging tapes to more specialised tapes. These common goals set the tone for the ongoing partnership, exemplified by SWST obtaining tIP (tesa Industrial Partner) status.

Recognised as a preferred supplier of technical, high-quality double sided tapes to withstand some of the most demanding applications; SWST quickly spotted an opportunity to provide a wider range of products with a faster and more efficient service to their customers and have now become a prominent supplier of labels.

The latest addition to the range of production machinery, the ‘Thunder Laser’ cutter and engraving machine, allows SWST and tesa to work together and satisfy customer enquiries for a multitude of laser engraved products. The company can now produce laser engravable labels using tesa® 6930 and tesa 6940 tape ranges, with the ability to serialise each label ensuring this remains with the product for its life span and is tamper proof. The material is also resistant to heat, solvents and UV, so lends itself to a wide range of situations where labels may be applied.  Any shape can be produced from an appropriate CAD file.

Howard Burr, Managing Director at SWST, says “The tesa range of material was something we sold as a roll to customers who have the ability to produce their own products. There were many enquiries for small amounts of material or for finished labels, so we decided to stock material and sell it by the metre then offer in-house production of labels to those clients who don’t have the machinery time or expertise to do it themselves. The beauty of our laser is that rapid turn around is possible with no printing plates or cutters required.

"We expect to see significant growth in 2020 and the early signs are that customers are receptive to purchasing bespoke labels which are resistant to environmental factors, offer tamper evidence, elevated heat resistance, in a shape and size they specify and in small runs.”



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