Printing

Printing

Topflight has over 20 presses, providing maximum flexibility when choosing the best manufacturing method for your project. Printing capabilities include multiple digital technologies, flexographic, letterpress, screen, and combinations of these, up to 16″. Ink systems include UV, water-based and solvent and our capabilities can be used as a stand-alone or in any multi-pass combination, with up to 12 stations in-line.

A pioneer in subsurface or showcase printing, Topflight can reverse print the underside of a clear film like polycarbonate (Lexan™), known for its durability. We then add adhesive to sandwich the printing between the surface and the film it is printed on, protecting it from scuffs and abrasion. Our digital offering allows you to print shorter runs resulting in little to no inventory, improving your cash flow and getting you to market faster. Additional capabilities include:

Labels shown on hand soap in the Consumer-Durable section of the Topflight website

Crystal Clear Labels

For applications requiring a “no label look,” Topflight’s ultra-clear labels allow product to be viewed through the label. Whether you are trying to convey the freshest ingredients within the container, or the eye-catching color of the product, these labels can simulate the look of direct printing on the container, with a less expensive technique like digital, roll-to-roll screen or flexographic printing.

Multiple clear stocks are available, some on cold temperature permanent adhesive which can be applied in temperatures as low at 35°F. Embedded luminescence provides a readable surface for application machines with read rates of up to 300 products per minute.

Digital Printing

Topflight gives you the ability to print only what you need today, shortening your time to market, improving your cash flow and virtually eliminating obsolete inventory. Our 100% digital workflow allows you to change graphics and content from print file to print file, as well as label to label, giving you the freedom to customize! Run seasonal, regional and promotional graphics to keep your brand fresh, your message current and your customers coming back for more.

The HP Indigo prints labels on demand with perfect ink-to-ink registration, type as small as 1 point, and incredible detail in images, all while contributing to a greener and more sustainable environment. Our hybrid Digital/Flexo press uses UV cured ink, combining the best of both worlds. It is robust, with exceptional color-matching capabilities, and the ability to print variable content for personalization and customization. It also does rotary die-cutting in-line with a variety of other finishing options in-line.

Topflight Multi-ply label showing 5 plies

Expanded Content

Expanded content, or multi-ply labels provide yet another solution to increasing required information in a limited label area. With a resealable, hinged design, Topflight can manufacture labels with up to six plies, yielding eleven printable panels. Multi-ply labels are ideal for extensive cautionary indications, additional UPC and 2D barcoding, rebates and instant redeemable coupons (IRC) or multilingual translations in a variety of cosmetic, consumer and pharmaceutical applications. These flexible labeling solutions can be customized for a number of applications, and all are produced on custom-built, dedicated equipment to ensure quality, performance, and positioning.

High Performance

Topflight can produce labels for a variety of demanding conditions such as high temperatures, solvents, weather and UV exposure, and difficult adhesive surfaces. Every part is custom engineered to meet all requirements and regulations for your application.

In addition, Topflight has one of the largest selections of materials and constructions which already meet UL or CSA requirements to identify tools, appliances, and other consumer or industrial products. Materials are available in a variety of finishes to provide the ideal match for any industrial design, and can withstand temperatures up to 150°C. Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags can be added to products for asset tracking, security, and identification. We have produced labels that withstand some of the most extreme conditions, from high temperature golf ball production to low temperature cryogenic storage in liquid nitrogen.

Island & Flag Labels

Island placement offers a unique label-on-label construction with many added benefits. Topflight’s custom release system allows the top, or “island” label to be easily and cleanly removed from the base label, producing a dual-labeling configuration. The island label can then be reapplied to a variety of surfaces, including glass or plastic vials, syringes, patient charts, or medical records. Consistent information printed on both labels can then be utilized to provide greater reliability and security in the transfer of critical data.

Detachable flag labels are complex constructions which possess a distinct end tab, or “flag” extension. This flag, when detached from the base label, functions as a secondary label to create a streamlined information chain, serve as duplicate data, or enhance many other critical applications. The flag label is clean, durable, and performs reliably with a number of surfaces and materials.

Mosaic

Capture your customers attention with unique, customized labeling and packaging that lets them know that they are one-of-a-kind. The hp Indigo WS6800 Digital Press, working with hp SmartStream Mosaic software, is a random image generator which creates a variety of unique graphic images from one original vector PDF, or seed file. Through random transformation of the file, using scaling, transposition and rotation, one seed file can produce up to 500,000 unique and reproducible variations. With Mosaic, Variable Data Printing (VDP) goes beyond substituting text, static photos and messages, to easily producing exclusive graphic designs for each individual consumer or product.

Beer Labels on Display in a Row representing the Food & Beverage markets

Prime Labels

Topflight manufactures prime labels and shrink sleeves for every industry from cosmetics to chemicals. Elevate your branding with Topflight’s vast printing and finishing capabilities, as well as our innovative graphics designers. Our printing processes provide high-speed, dazzling results in digital, flexography, letterpress, and screen graphics. For the ultimate ability to capture interest at point of purchase, our combination presses deliver beautiful four-color process, vignette, and foil stamped images, as well as variable content, serialization and bar coding, and even adhesive-free zones for appliance overlays.

Endless possibilities exist through a number of technologies, including 12-station printing in one continuous run, digital printing, back-printing, complex die-cutting, and hot or cold stamping. We also offer innovative material constructions for multi-ply and piggyback labels.

Skin Contact

A variety of materials are available for delicate adhesive applications involving direct skin contact, including active ingredient delivery systems and indicating labels. Because Topflight also manufactures components for leading medical and pharmaceutical companies, we have years of experience successfully die-cutting and printing such materials.

Operating under strict confidentiality practices, our outstanding research and development staff works with clients from the inception of an idea through commercialization of the product. We offer the broadest range of manufacturing capabilities available, specializing in precision die-cutting, exact color matching, outstanding multi-color printing, conductive inks, silicone adhesives, adhesive-free zones, non-reactive materials, hydrophilic and hydrophobic adhesives, moisture barrier foils, and high MVTR films.

Small child with sunglasses wearing a skin contact label, cosmetics section

Specialty Coatings

Bring your labels to life, and make your product jump off the shelf with specialty coatings and varnishes. Our unique applications can add depth to your labeling with sensations such as sandy, rubbery, soft, reticulating, or raised and glossy. We can make the beach feel sandy, or make the snow glisten in the sunlight. Would you like to see water droplets on the side of that ice cold beverage? We can make that happen. We also have pearlescent, color-shifting, and inks that glow in the dark to achieve just about any look you need.

Thermal Transfer

Currently one of the most popular methods for labeling with sequential or variable information is thermal transfer imprinting. The process is generally less time consuming and less costly than other techniques, and offers maximum flexibility and quality. Topflight has many material constructions already defined and approved to utilize this technology. Labels can be produced with our entire array of printing and converting equipment and expertise to supply any shape, size, and configuration. The labels can then be delivered ready for imprinting, or if so desired, can arrive already thermally imprinted by Topflight Corporation, ready for staging and final application.

To address the performance requirements of high temperature component assembly lines, Topflight offers the same range of design deliveries for polyimide labels. These labels can withstand temperatures up to 540°C (1000°F) as well as various fluxes, solvents, cleaners, and saponifiers.

Fire extinguisher with UL/CSA label on the Consumer-Durable page of the Topflight website

UL/CSA Labels

The UL/CSA (Underwriters Laboratories/ Canadian Standards Association) mark on a product signifies that UL and/or CSA has tested and evaluated representative samples of that product and determined that they meet all standards and requirements. Topflight offers one of the largest selections of materials and constructions which already meet UL/CSA requirements.

Materials are available in a variety of finishes including white, clear, shiny chrome, matte chrome, brushed shiny chrome, brushed matte chrome, matte white, and many other finishes and laminate enhancements to provide the ideal match for any industrial design. Many are also suitable for computer imprinting or thermal transfer.

Variable Data Printing

Digital printing’s 100% database-driven print files allow you to change graphics and content not only from one print file to the next, but from one label to the next, giving you the freedom to run seasonal, regional and promotional graphics to keep your brand fresh, your message current and your customers coming back for more. Customization, variable content and serialization are made easy with the added bonus of having no plates, minimal make-ready, and virtually no inventory. Shorter print runs are more economical and cost-effective, with the added advantage of shorter lead times. Some ways to use VDP include: barcodes and QR codes, Mosaic (random image generator), customized labeling & direct mail, serialization and liner numbering.

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