Addressing Labeling Standards on Polyolefin Plastics. Your Branding & Product Safety Depends on It. Matthew Patrick Stevenson May, 2019 The 15 century Latin word permanentem, translated permanent, is defined as “lasting, enduring, indefinite, continuing, perpetual, everlasting, eternal, abiding, constant, persistent, irreparable, irrevers- ible, lifelong, indissoluble, indelible, standing, perennial, unending, endless, never-ending, immutable, unchangeable, unalterable, invariable, unchanging, changeless, undying, imperishable, indestructible, ineradicable.” Irrefutable proof that the word permanent is supposed to mean well... PERMANENT! Yet today, like many other words whose meanings have changed over the years, permanent is no different. Looking for permanent labeling for your durable goods products? No problem! Simply search “permanent labeling” on Google and you’ll be inundated with a bazillion adhesive based options. And most of those options are certified by standards like ANSI & UL depending on the need so you’re good to go, right? To Be or Not to Be, That Is The Question! For years now, the word permanent (permanent bond, permanent adhesive) has been used in label printing and converting circles to describe how labels are expected to perform when used on substrates like metal and specific plastic components. The problem is, substrates chosen by Industrial Designers & Engineers have changed dramatically over the years and those same labels that were considered permanent before, won’t be so permanent today. It’s safe to say that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to permanent labeling and we all need to start thinking outside the box. With my best impersonation of Inigo Montoya from the 1987 movie The Princess Bride,“You keep using that word. I do not think it (permanent) means what you think it means.” At least not anymore. ™ www.moldingraphics.com www.polyfuze.com Bad Boy® Mowers manufacturing and assembly Plant We All Like Examples! https://www.opei.org/ https://www.opei.org/ https://www.opei.org/ The Outdoor Power Equipment Industry, effectively overseen by the Outdoor Power Equipment Institutehttps://www.opei.org/ (OPEI), an https://www.ansi.org/ https://www.ansi.org/ https://www.ansi.org/ accredited Standards Development Organization with the American National Standards Institutehttps://www.ansi.org/ (ANSI), is a great example to use. Within this broad industry are durable goods products bought by consumers that fall into several power equipment categories: (mowers, snow throwers, pedestrian-controlled machines, log splitters, tillers & cultivators, chain saws, blowers & vacuums… you get the idea!) Each of these power equipment categories come with their own set of regulatory standards along with specific Labeling Requirements & Safety Standards and for good reason. 1. Quality, permanent labeling showcases a brand’s name & logo which helps OEM’s retain a high perception of quality & value with their customers while attracting new ones. 2. Permanent safety & warning labels provides customers equipment use information and the hazards associated with that particular product. 3. Finally, without permanent warning & safety labeling on durable goods as required by the standards, customer safety is at risk & OEM’s are exposed to potential liability. Looking at just the category “mowers”, which itself has 5 sub-categories, ANSI/OPEI B71.1-2017 American National Standard for Consumer Turf Care Equipment was adopted to ensure that OEM’s manufacture “mowers” to specific safety requirements. To address permanent safety signs and labels that are applied to those mowers, ANSI Z535.4-2011 + (R2017) American National Standard for Product Safety Signs & Labels is referenced. Pay close attention to the table describing permanent labels shown below. 4 Definitions 4.12.2.1 permanent safety sign or label: A sign that is to be permanently affixed to the product so that it cannot be easily removed. Permanent safety signs typically provide information about potential exposure to hazards inherent in the normal use associated with the product, or which might be created during other reasonably anticipated product use or misuse. 10 Expected Life and Maintenance 10.1 Expected Life Product safety signs or labels shall have a reasonable expected life with good color stability, symbol legibility, and word message legibility as described in Section 8.2. Reasonable expected life shall take into consideration whether the safety sign is permanent or temporary, the expected life of the product, and the foreseeable environment of use. Shedding Some Light on ANSI! https://www.nema.org/Communications/EI/Documents/Peckham-clarion-Z535.pdf https://www.nema.org/Communications/EI/Documents/Peckham-clarion-Z535.pdf Until thehttps://www.nema.org/Communications/EI/Documents/Peckham-clarion-Z535.pdf ANSI Z535 committee formed in 1979, label requirements and standards didn’t yet exist. With most components of mowers being metal at the time, adhesive-based labels did a good job adhering to the surface and for the most part, promoted brands while offering basic warnings to consumers! A great example of this was the very first commercially available “Zero-Turn” lawnmower from Hustler® Turf back in 1964. 1964 Hustler® Zero-Turn Lawnmower next to 2019 Hustler® Raptor Zero-Turn Lawnmower http://www.davis-inc.com/expert/docs/z535p4-1991.pdf http://www.davis-inc.com/expert/docs/z535p4-1991.pdf http://www.davis-inc.com/expert/docs/z535p4-1991.pdf It wasn’t until 1991 that the first ANSIhttp://www.davis-inc.com/expert/docs/z535p4-1991.pdf Z535.4 standard for safety signs & labels was established in order “to develop standards for the design, application, and use of signs, colors, and symbols intended to identify and warn against specific hazards and for other accident prevention purposes.” It must be noted that even though this standard has been revised and/or reaffirmed approximately every 5 years since 1991, the definitions and language specific to label permanency in the table above has remained the same! Enter Polyolefin Plastics! What hasn’t remained the same however are the materials that Industrial Designers and Engineers have chosen for mowers and other durable goods over the years. Those materials have evolved from metals and composites to lighter, more durable and lower cost thermoplastic polyolefins much like what you see with the Hustler Raptor Zero-Turn lawnmower seen above. Hustler, like other outdoor power equipment OEM’s, didn’t begin to utilize the full potential of polyolefin plastic components until somewhere in the early 2000’s. Polyolefins, that come in several forms, is now the dominate plastic sourced for all sorts of durable goods not only in the Outdoor Power Equipment Industry, but also within Transportation, Powersports, Toys, Waste, Agriculture, Heavy Equipment, and Medical as well. FACT! Polyolefins like polypropylene and polyethylene are the most widely used plastics in the world for both consumer & durable goods. By default, it also makes Polyolefins the most labeled plastics in the world. In 2018, the global production of polypropylene hit 55.9 million metric tons at a value of $97.4 billion U.S. Dollars and is poised to grow at a rate of 5.84% annually. Polyethylene production hit 99.6 million metric tons at a value of $164 billion U.S. Dollars and is poised to grow at a rate of 3.78% annually! https://plasticsandstuff.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/what-is-polyolefin/ https://plasticsandstuff.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/what-is-polyolefin/ https://plasticsandstuff.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/what-is-polyolefin/ https://plasticsandstuff.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/what-is-polyolefin/ https://plasticsandstuff.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/what-is-polyolefin/ https://plasticsandstuff.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/what-is-polyolefin/ https://plasticsandstuff.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/what-is-polyolefin/ Want to learn more about what polyolefins are? https://plasticsandstuff.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/what-is-polyolefin/Click Here! Like Grunge Metal, Standard Labels Are So 90’s! As OEM’s have shifted from metals and other composites to thermoplastic polyolefins in order to make power equipment and other durable goods products more affordable, chemically resistant, fuel efficient and durable, it’s been a difficult road for the adhesive & mechanically bonded label manufacturers of yester-year to adapt. Why? When it comes to polyolefin plastics, nothing sticks to them! And according to Z535 standards, sourcing labels that affix permanently to polyolefin plastic durable goods isn’t a suggestion to OEM’s, it’s a directive. What Makes a Permanent Label Permanent? What makes a permanent pressure-sensitive adhesive label permanent anyway? Pressure-sensitive labels are categorized as either “permanent” or “temporary” based on the type of adhesive used in the label’s construction. The more aggressive the adhesive is, the more permanent it’s considered to be. Less aggressive adhesives tend to be removeable and thus defined as temporary. Using aggressive adhesives for substrates like metals or composites that were used in previous years manufac- ture of durable goods may have established the labels as permanent then, but when the discussion suddenly switches to polyolefin plastics, it’s a whole different animal and needs to be treated differently. Next time you’re surfing YouTube, do a little search on “removing warning labels” and see what you find. YouTube is full of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_mSHD2gP5g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_mSHD2gP5g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_mSHD2gP5g “how to” videos showing