Archive | May, 2014

A Tale of Two Thermals

Direct Thermal Labels

Direct thermal and thermal transfer both use heat for imaging, but only one is approved for UL 969 labels. Do you know the difference? Admittedly because they sound similar, they can be easily confused. But each process requires very different materials–there is no one material fits all approach. In addition, permanency of the image varies wildly between the […]

UL Label Horror Stories: Crime & Punishment

Cutting Die

When UL issues a variance there can be a very real and immediate costs in terms of withheld certifications and delayed shipments1. But beyond the initial sting, I’ve come to learn that there can be a bit of a blood-in-the-water effect. To this day, I’m still not sure whether they were skirting their UL Labeling requirements out of costs […]

UL Labels: Link Edition

Print Cyclinder

Different people learn differently. As such, I believe it’s just as important to offer other explanations as it is to share my own. Now while I’m the self-proclaimed UL Label Guy, you may be shocked to learn that I’m not the only person writing about the exciting world of UL Labels1. The article I’m sharing with you […]

NRTLs rhymes with Turtles

Slitting Anvil

Who or what are NRTLs and why should we care? Well the Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL)1 Program is a managed by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)2. OSHA was created in 1970 by Congress with the mission of overseeing working conditions and training in the United States. The majority of OSHA’s regulations fall into the category of general […]