Challenges

  • Valley Forge was struggling with an MIS designed for commercial print that did not meet the complex needs of the business
  • The size of the business meant that inventories of dies, raw materials and finished goods were large and hard to track
  • Materials and tooling are stored in many different places.

Results

  • Label Traxx’s label-specific workflow is able to manage the entire business
  • Tooling and raw materials are tracked with ease
  • Finished goods moving into and out of stock are managed accurately
  • Valley Forge is able to supply to the pharmaceutical industry with confidence in its systems
  • Label Traxx stores all locations for tooling and other materials
  • Historical data is stored for future reference
  • Accounting is integrated and profitability is monitored through data collection

The Story

As label converters go, Valley Forge Tape & Label has been around a long, long time. Opened in 1962 by Paul Myers, Sr., the company began by printing tapes on a Markem printer in the Myers basement. The Myers children helped in the business after school. In 1975, Myers’ son, Paul Jr., and his step-brother, Dennis Hulton, began managing the company. Today, Myers is President and Hulton is Vice-President and General Manager.

From its humble beginning in the Myers’ basement, Valley Forge Tape & Label has grown to a $10 million, privately held business providing labels to mid-Atlantic and northeastern US manufacturers from a suburban Philadelphia plant in historic Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The 30,000 square foot factory obviously has expanded significantly through time, and presses are scattered throughout the factory in a series of smaller areas that provide cozy work environments and foster crew cooperation. Some 50 Valley Forge employees work two shifts daily running ten presses to produce prime and pharmaceutical labels, plus a wide variety of special products.