Top Tag & Label Converters — Shrink Label Leader
Through innovation and technical savvy, Sharon Lobel has her company well positioned in the growing shrink label market.
June 2006 by Tom Polischuk
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Seal-It, Inc. is focused; its only business is heat shrinkable films. Under the entrepreneurial leadership of President and CEO Sharon Lobel, the company is celebrating 20 years of success and intends to stay at the forefront of the shrink label market for many years to come.
Lobel started her business in 1986 as a one-person operation, literally working out of a guest room in her house. Having worked previously with a contract packager that provided tamper-evident products for private label businesses, she understood the demands of this relatively new industry.
Lobel’s goal from the beginning was for Seal-It to manufacture its own labels and tamper-evident bands. However, the company got its start by importing film to supply to its customers. The first step toward reaching her goal came in 1990 when she took on a financial partner and moved into a 5,000-sq.-ft. facility. The following year, she bought her first press which “set Seal-It apart from the competition,” says Lobel, providing the company with the capability to offer tubing and seamed material.
Lobel’s vision and the products it supplied in the early years laid the foundation for strong growth. Today, Seal-It occupies 150,000 sq. ft. in two modern facilities in Farmingdale, N.Y. With 10 presses and more than 250 employees, Lobel’s company has come a long way since she opened up her guest room for guests.
Innovative product mix
Because of Seal-It’s singular focus on heat shrinkable films, the company offers an array of innovative shrink products. “We print full sleeve shrink labels, sleeves for multipacks, tamper-evident bands, and combination labels that combine a tamper-evident band and a shrink label in one, with a horizontal perforation that goes around the cap,” says Lobel.
These labels are printed on a variety of substrates. “We print shrink labels made from PVC, PETG, OPS, and the newest film, EarthFirst® PLA film,” she says. EarthFirst is a corn-based film supplied by Seal-It’s vendor, Plastic Suppliers. Since it is an environmentally friendly, compostable material that is not tied into the volatile petroleum supply chain, this material offers some distinct marketing advantages.
The heat-shrink process puts increased technical demands on the inks used with these products. With an array of different materials and shrinkage that can be up to 75 percent, Seal-It has to tailor its inks to meet the demanding parameters of the shrink process. To accomplish this, Lobel says the company uses “special formulations that we have developed over the years, specific to each type of film.”
Lobel started her business in 1986 as a one-person operation, literally working out of a guest room in her house. Having worked previously with a contract packager that provided tamper-evident products for private label businesses, she understood the demands of this relatively new industry.
Lobel’s goal from the beginning was for Seal-It to manufacture its own labels and tamper-evident bands. However, the company got its start by importing film to supply to its customers. The first step toward reaching her goal came in 1990 when she took on a financial partner and moved into a 5,000-sq.-ft. facility. The following year, she bought her first press which “set Seal-It apart from the competition,” says Lobel, providing the company with the capability to offer tubing and seamed material.
Lobel’s vision and the products it supplied in the early years laid the foundation for strong growth. Today, Seal-It occupies 150,000 sq. ft. in two modern facilities in Farmingdale, N.Y. With 10 presses and more than 250 employees, Lobel’s company has come a long way since she opened up her guest room for guests.
Innovative product mix
Because of Seal-It’s singular focus on heat shrinkable films, the company offers an array of innovative shrink products. “We print full sleeve shrink labels, sleeves for multipacks, tamper-evident bands, and combination labels that combine a tamper-evident band and a shrink label in one, with a horizontal perforation that goes around the cap,” says Lobel.
These labels are printed on a variety of substrates. “We print shrink labels made from PVC, PETG, OPS, and the newest film, EarthFirst® PLA film,” she says. EarthFirst is a corn-based film supplied by Seal-It’s vendor, Plastic Suppliers. Since it is an environmentally friendly, compostable material that is not tied into the volatile petroleum supply chain, this material offers some distinct marketing advantages.
The heat-shrink process puts increased technical demands on the inks used with these products. With an array of different materials and shrinkage that can be up to 75 percent, Seal-It has to tailor its inks to meet the demanding parameters of the shrink process. To accomplish this, Lobel says the company uses “special formulations that we have developed over the years, specific to each type of film.”
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