Adcraft Case Studies

Adcraft creates custom designed labels for businesses all over the world. All Adcraft decals and labels are custom designed for each application. Our innovative and cost-effective solutions can help your business too. Here are just a few real-world examples of the results we provide:

Boat Manufacturer’s Decals Fading and Falling Off!
A boat manufacturer was having trouble with their current supplier’s decals falling off, fading and slow delivery time. Adcraft first solved the adhesion issue testing the surface material the decal was being applied so we could determine the best suitable adhesive. Since our screen printing inks and our doming fluids are made to be both durable and resist fading, we were able to resolve their fading issue.  Adcraft keeps a wide variety of materials in inventory; this eliminated the customer’s slow delivery time issue.

We were able to solve all three of the boat manufacturer’s issues at a cost reduction from what they were previously paying their other supplier.

Brake Manufacturer’s Product Ships with Masked Company Identification!
A leading manufacturer of truck brakes applied a paper premask, metalized mylar label to their brake housings.  The units were then painted and baked.  The assemblymen were to peel off the paper premask exposing a bright chrome looking label bearing the manufacturer’s name.

Unfortunately the housings were still very hot and the workers had to wear thick gloves for protection against burning their hands.  This made peeling the premask impossible.  The employees let it go and thousands of brake housings rolled off the assembly line with paper premask hiding the company’s identification (senior management was not amused).

Adcraft was charged with the responsibility of developing a method that enabled the removal of a premask while the employees were wearing thick gloves.  After testing dozens of premask options without success, we came up with the idea of applying a stick cling vinyl to the label with the thought that the vinyl would lay flat during painting and curl up in the baking process.  The assemblymen could then swipe the masking right off and not worry about peeling back a paper product.

We tested the idea in an oven at home (the wife was not amused) and found that it worked beautifully.  By approaching this challenge with an open mind Adcraft was able to help this customer make sure his company branding was seen on his brake housings.

Candle Manufacturer’s Vase Production Stopped!
A candle manufacturer needed a urethane domed label applied to the front of their glass vase.  The problem was that the curvature of the vase worked against the adhesive and doming memory, so when applied, they would pop off.

Various screen printers tried their hand at solving the problem with no success and the candle vase orders were on back log until the issue could be resolved.

Adcraft was able to match a vinyl substrate with an aggressive acrylic adhesive designed for this type of application.  In addition, we used a thinner coat of urethane in order to lessen the label’s “memory” pull, creating a label that had all the aesthetics important to the customer and a bond between glass and label that remains permanent.

Scaffolding Losing it Labels! 
A long time customer of ours that produces scaffolding came to us saying that they were having trouble with decals falling off. In all the years we have done business with them we have never had any problem with adhesion or parts falling off so we were very concerned.

We asked if they were doing anything different and were told no everything was the same. We checked all of our material and contacted our supplier to inform them of the situation and see if we might have received bad material. The material was fine so what could the problem be?

After taking a tour of their plant and making a few phone calls, we found out the paint coating had changed.  They were using a different paint to coat the metal. We brought a piece of the scaffold back to our plant and tested different materials and adhesives until the issue was resolved.