A review of the winners from this years TLMI awards competition provides some interesting insight into the direction the label business is headed. There were noticeable trends toward the use of more colors, increasingly complicated vignettes on a higher percentage of labels, fine print details requiring higher screen counts than ever, greater use of specialty spot colors in the design as highlights and extremely tight color-to-color and color-to-die register. In most cases the labels were produced at significantly higher press speeds than previous years and converted on substrates that ranged from unsupported film to board stock. The challenges to producing award winning labels were readily apparent, as was the value of in-line quality and process control. According to John Thome, BST PRO MARK Vice President of Marketing, "The TLMI competition provides clear confirmation of the correlation between the use of video web inspection devices and award winning label print quality." A survey of this years TLMI winners found that 88% of the "First Place" winners and 74% of the "Honorable Mention" winners from North America use BST PRO MARK web inspection systems to manage print quality and process productivity. Of the 29 different companies that won awards this year, 24 of them (83%) utilize BST PRO MARK web inspection systems for print quality control. "This years competition shows there is a very strong correlation between the use of video web inspection systems and the production of award winning labels, and that the use of BST PRO MARK video inspection systems are the clear choice for high quality award winning label producers", said Thome. "Over the years, our customer research has documented that converters with video web inspection systems on their presses are able to produce at faster press speeds and with lower waste than presses without such devices. This provides compelling evidence as well on the impact on print quality", Thome continued. Converters interested in a copy of the research findings are invited to call, write or e mail BST PRO MARK. BST PRO MARK is the worlds largest manufacturer of web inspection systems, with almost 9,000 installations in 65 countries worldwide. It's brand names, HandyScanÆ, Super HandyScanÆ, ProScanÆ, EagleÆ and GeniusÅ are synonymous the world over with print quality and process control for all types of converting.