In July 2023, the Department of Labor made a significant announcement aimed at fortifying workplace safety across the nation. The unveiling of a new national emphasis program specifically targets warehouses and distribution centers, recognizing the unique challenges and potential hazards inherent in these environments. With a focus on reducing and preventing workplace hazards, this initiative underscores the government's commitment to safeguarding the well-being of employees across diverse industries.

From the OSHA News Release:

"In the past 10 years, warehousing and distribution centers have experienced tremendous growth with more than 1.9 million people employed in the industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows injury and illness rates for these establishments are higher than in private industry overall and, in some sectors, more than twice the rate of private industry.

"Our enforcement efforts are designed to do one thing: lead to permanent change in workplace safety," said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker. "This emphasis program allows OSHA to direct resources to establishments where evidence shows employers must be more intentional in addressing the root causes of worker injuries and align their business practices with the goal to ensure worker health and safety."

Under this three-year emphasis program, OSHA will conduct comprehensive safety inspections focused on hazards related to powered industrial vehicle operations, material handling and storage, walking and working surfaces, means of egress and fire protection.

The Department of Labor's initiative comes as a proactive response to the evolving landscape of workplace safety. Warehouses and distribution centers, pivotal components of the supply chain, often contend with a multitude of hazards ranging from tripping and fall risks to more complex issues like equipment identification and emergency evacuation procedures.

What can you start to do right now to address this three year focus program is a comprehensive evaluation of your signage. 

Metalwerks, Inc. has over twenty years of experience melting and processing vacuum melted specialty metals. They operate five vacuum melting furnaces and bar processing equipment at their facilities in Aliquippa, PA.  

Metalwerks serve customers in the medical, industrial, and aerospace industries as well as research and development projects.

​Typically alloy systems at Metalwerks include Fe, Ni, Co, Cu, Ti, and Zr in quantities ranging from 300 grams up to 6000 pounds.  Through their network of outside processors they convert ingot into bar, plate, coil and/or sheet.

"The Easy, the Dot Peen marking system offers an unrivaled level of functionality.  Being easy to use while delivering an exceptional operating experience to the user. Easy is ideal for mobile use, since the unique and durable, yet the lightweight chassis allows a user to mark medium to large parts in even the most difficult and inaccessible locations." said Laurie Barcskey, owner of Leading Marks, LLC.
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​​"The dot peen marking system has served us quite well:  No more smashed fingers, Clarity of the letters, and no problem training operators." says DeMailo.

I would recommend Leading Marks to other companies because they really understand and know their equipment.  They are great to work with !!!!"

If you have any questions about portable dot peen marking solutions, get in contact with Laurie! 

The Granit 1920i scanner’s highly innovative lighting system allows the imager to optimally illuminate marks of any type, on any surface. Low-angle, direct lighting provides the uniform illumination required for dot peen and laser-etched marks. ​

Low-angle, direct lighting provides the uniform illumination required for dot peen and laser-etched marks. An integrated diffuser delivers the soft, indirect light required for marks on shiny, round or otherwise highly reflective surfaces.

Powered by Honeywell’s revolutionary decoding architecture, the Granit 1920i scanner provides great scanning performance to read every type of direct part mark and ensure high first-pass read rates on even the toughest marks – regardless of size, surface, marking method or contrast.

The scanner is also capable of reading standard 1D and 2D barcodes on printed labels, delivering additional value – a single scanner to address your end-to-end scanning requirements across the complete workflow, from the production line to the warehouse.

Whether package marking lot numbers, expiration dates, case codes, 2D barcodes or general package date coding, Leading Marks has the replacement metal coding type and dies, type holders, hot stamping foil, hot melt ink rollers, rubber type, and thermal transfer ribbons needed to be your date coding supply specialist.

Leading Marks can supply replacement products for nearly every OEM packaging machine including Markem-Imaje®, Norwood®, Kingsley®, Jones®, Norden®, Open Date®, Rommelag®, Videojet®, Diagraph®, Linx®, Domino®, and many more. 

Leading Marks can supply you brass and steel dies and Packaging Type used for coding, imprinting, labeling, embossing, and debossing. Our replacement packaging type and steel stamp dies are commonly used in cartoners, sealers, tube fillers, labelers, wrappers, thermoformers, pouchers and baggers (form/fill/seal), and imprinters for hot or cold marking of labels, tags, packages, cartons, boxes, plastic, and/or metal surfaces.

Leading Marks carries a broad based package marking product lines to solve the widest variety of packaging marking applications and has the experience needed to make the very best recommendation for your situation.

Take a look below at the wide variety of solutions!

We can supply brass and steel logo dies and packaging type used for coding, imprinting, labeling, embossing, and debossing. They are the largest manufacturer of replacement metal coding type for all of the popular OEM equipment including Norwood® Imprinters, Markem® Touch Dry Coders, Jones® Cartoners, Open Date® Labelers, Norden® Tube Fillers, Kalix® Tube Fillers, and many more.

​Thier replacement packaging type and steel stamp dies are commonly used in cartoners, sealers, tube fillers, labelers, wrappers, thermoform and imprinters for hot or cold marking of labels, tags, packages, cartons, tubes, boxes, and plastic.

Leading Marks supplies a variety of thermal transfer ribbons for imprinting variable data such as production dates, expiration dates, storage life, bar codes, and more on a wide range of substrates and across many industries including food and beverage, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and more.

Leading Marks offers a variety of ThermalInkjet (TIJ) printers and configurations providing crisp high-resolution codes for both porous and non-porous products. Easy to use, hassle-free and afford able technology that can b e easily installed into both new and existing production lines. We supply inkjet printing systems to meet all of your direct part marking needs whether you need an inline inkjet printer or a portable inkjet printer.

Leading Marks offers a complete line of hot foil stamping printers to meet all of your packaging requirements, including date coding, wire marking and heat shrink sleeving, and even decorative hot stamping for personalization.

Did you know that the National Safety Council's NSC Safety Congress & Expo is happening from October 20-25?  

We thought this would be appropriate to talk about some safety issues for using markers in the workplace.  Yes, you read that right. It's not generally a topic that is at the top of your mind so it's a great time to bring it to your attention so you and your team understand how all markers are not held to the same standards. 

Let's state some things that will make the lawyers happy first.  Under normal general use, marking pens are 100% safe to use.  Arro-Mark® manufactures and supplies markers to industrial clients. Most of our end-users are using the pens in the work place and are held to high standards in hazardous materials labeling, signage, and disclosure.

Arro-Mark® ships its products according to the highest standards of disclosure of the hazardous materials. When compared to the competition, Arro-Mark® goes the extra mile to disclose on their packaging and  labeling the information needed to keep their products usable in the workplace. 

Volatile Organic Compounds
Volatile Organic Compounds (or VOC's) are materials that need to be listed cumulatively in the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) under section 9. When these materials break down, they pose health and environmental risks to air quality.

Facilities that deal with large amounts of these chemicals dedicate a lot of resources to documenting and measuring VOC's in their environment. These places deal with enormous quantities of chemicals on a daily basis. Arro-Mark's facility and the marking pens they create pose minute, and in most cases, undetectable VOC concerns. Regardless of the danger or environmental impact these fumes impose, Arro-Mark  lists VOC contents of thier products.

Flammability
Xylene is a bi-product of petroleum fuel production and is flammable. Alcohol has an even lower flash-point. In section 9 of Arro-Mark's Safety Data Sheets, they list the flash-points pertaining to each product mixture. When encased in their industrial quality marking pens, the markers are thoroughly protected from outside dangers.

Only prolonged exposure to direct flame will have any hope of igniting an encased marking pen. Even though these great lengths are taken to protect the contents of thier pens, the flammability needs to be disclosed and is included in all of the SDS paperwork and on their labeling. 

Corrosiveness and Irritation
Xylene, MIBK, Alcohols, and some pigments and dyes are listed in thier SDS and on labelling as potential irritants to skin and corrosive to the eyes. Some dyes and pigments used in Arro-Mark's paints and inks also show an Irritant pictogram on their Safety Data Sheets. Although you may see a corrosive pictogram on some of the labeling or Safety Data Sheets, Arro-Mark guarantees that their products are not corrosive to metals.

Under general and proper use, a marking pen poses no danger in terms of corrosiveness to skin or eyes by way of splash-age or any other concern. Of course,  Arro-Mark cannot guarantee the safety of products used improperly or outside the manufacturers recommended use.

Concerns when transporting or keeping paint or inks in Drums, Bottle, or Cans
Encased in a protective marking pen and confined to proper usage only, all of the above mentioned safety concerns are minimized. On the other hand, the same concerns mentioned before become exacerbated when keeping loose ink or paint in cans, bottles, and especially drums. This is because the risk of mishandling or spillage is higher.

Arro-Mark always prefers to sell their products in the form of marking pens but occasionally have orders and a need to ship our paints and inks in loose containers. Arro-Mark goes to every length necessary and beyond to ensure the safe transport and full disclosure of all handling instructions and hazardous materials concerns pertaining to each shipment.

Competitors are not held to same standards
Uni-paint is a 100% xylene paint marker but they do not list the same concerns about Xylene that Arro-Mark does, and they are able to be marketed to a wider audience because of their less "alarming" labeling. Uni-paint also doesn't go to the hazardous materials documentation lengths that Arro-Mark does.

Uni-paint are sold around the world and people assume that their marker is completely safe because of the absence of warnings. Arro-Mark's xylene paint markers pose the same risks but since Arro-Mark sells to industrial clientelle, their disclosure and display of hazard warnings are more prominent since their pens are made to be used on job site and the work-place. 

Sharpie for instance, and many others contain alcohols and other chemicals that you wouldn't want to be on the skin or exposed to flame. Yet these particular markers have made it into every office, stationary store, and school in the country. They have also been AP or Art Product Certified which excuses these products from needing any hazardous warnings on the product or safety data sheets. 
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Pictograms and warning statements scare away customers
Arro-Mark's pens are no more dangerous or hazardous than the competition's but they remain dedicated to disclosing hazardous concerns to their full extent. It may hurt their sales by being so thorough, but they believe that the most important concern is for our customers who use their products in the workplace. 

​MSDS is Material Safety Data Sheets, while SDS is just Safety Data Sheets.

OSHA standardized the format, as well as simplifying the name, giving consistency with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). GHS specifies what information should be included on the Safety Data Sheets and it's the same standard used in the European Union.

SDS is a simpler and more effective way to communicate the hazards of the chemicals used.

Essentially, they just dropped the "M"

You can learn more about SDS standards in this user-friendly 16 section format document.

Don’t miss our 10th Anniversary MFG DAY SHOWCASE, Wednesday, October 11, at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pennsylvania! Join fellow area manufacturers, educators and more than 2,000 students to highlight the high-paying, high-tech careers that are available in today’s diverse manufacturing industry.

• Change the perception of modern MFG careers.
• Reaffirm the United States as a leader in MFG education.
• Reinforce a higher level of technical job skills training.

Make the MFG connection! This is the place where we showcase the products that Leading Marks represents  to the manufacturing workforce of tomorrow! 

Edited by Bernard Martin

Max BePOP printers are cutting-edge machines that combine high-quality printing and precise cutting capabilities, making them ideal for sign and label production. With a range of advanced features, these printers cater to various industries, offering unparalleled efficiency and versatility. In this article, we will explore the key features of Max BePOP printers, highlight the industries they are best suited for, and provide application examples that showcase their exceptional capabilities.

High-Quality Printing
Max BePOP printers utilize advanced printing technologies to deliver sharp, vibrant, and professional-quality prints. Whether it's intricate designs, text, or images, these printers ensure accurate reproduction with stunning color accuracy.

Precise Cutting:
Alongside printing, Max BePOP machines excel at precise cutting. With their integrated cutting systems, these printers can effortlessly create custom-shaped labels, stickers, and signs, saving time and eliminating the need for manual cutting.

Versatility in Media Handling
Max BePOP printers are designed to handle a wide range of materials, including vinyl, adhesive films, paper, textiles, and more. This versatility allows for the creation of labels and signs for various applications, such as product labeling, retail displays, event signage, and industrial safety signs.

User-Friendly Software
The accompanying software for Max BePOP printers offers an intuitive interface that simplifies the printing and cutting process. It enables users to import designs, adjust settings, and precisely position and resize graphics, ensuring seamless production and minimal wastage.

Retail and Point-of-Sale (POS)
The Max BePOP printers find extensive use in the retail industry for creating eye-catching product labels, shelf tags, and promotional signage. The ability to print and cut on-demand allows for quick updates and customization to match changing marketing strategies.

Packaging and Labeling
Max BePOP printers are well-suited for packaging and labeling applications. They enable the production of high-quality product labels, barcode stickers, and packaging inserts, ensuring brand consistency and compliance with industry standards.

Manufacturing and Industrial
In the manufacturing sector, Max BePOP printers streamline the production of industrial labels and safety signs. They can swiftly create warning labels, equipment tags, and instructional signs, enhancing workplace safety and efficiency.

Events and Exhibitions
Max BePOP printers are valuable assets for event organizers, enabling the creation of banners, posters, backdrops, and signage. With quick turnarounds and precise cutting capabilities, these printers cater to the dynamic and time-sensitive nature of event promotions.

Beverage Bottling
Max BePOP printers allow beverage manufacturers to produce custom labels for their bottles, showcasing branding elements, nutritional information, and regulatory details accurately. The precise cutting feature ensures labels fit perfectly, enhancing the product's overall appeal.

Retail Store Signage
Retailers can utilize Max BePOP printers to design and print vibrant window displays, hanging signs, and floor decals. The ability to cut various shapes enables the creation of attention-grabbing visual merchandising elements, attracting customers and boosting sales.

Warehouse and Logistics
Max BePOP printers find utility in the logistics industry, where labels play a crucial role in inventory management and tracking. These printers can generate barcode labels, shipping tags, and custom packaging labels, improving operational efficiency and reducing errors.

The Reiner JetStamp 1025 Sense is the most flexible and function packed handheld printer ever brought to market. And now, you can scan, process and print from the printer! With the click of a button, manufacturers and packagers can use the 1025 to scan, process and print on absorbent and non-absorbent surfaces with 1D & 2D barcodes, graphics, logos, & alphanumerics - all in half a second.

You won’t find it anywhere else. Reiner’s innovation team is back at it and this time it’s a spin off of the already function packed 1025.  Options for various sensors have been integrated to create this one of a kind printer.

​The 1025 with the barcode scanner is highlighted on this page and will scan, process and then print specified data all from the same unit! For more information on the other options see components below. Superior scanning and printing performance wrapped up in one!

All of the functionalities of the original 1025 carry through to this model. It is the most flexible and function packed handheld printer ever brought to market. With the click of a button, the 1025 can print up to a 1″ x 3 1/2″ imprint on both absorbent and non-absorbent surfaces. 1D & 2D barcodes, graphics, logos, & alphanumerics – all accomplished in about 1 second.

This unit is perfect for logistics, repackaging & relabeling, manufacturing, parts marking, inventory management, asset tracking, warehousing, factories, supply chain & a multitude of other vertical markets and applications.  Compliance has never been easier with this zero-maintenance cartridge based system and Reiner’s industry unique self-traversing printhead. Printing on a variety of sizes and shapes is effortless, add in single and multi-line imprints, ERP/Database connectivity, and up to a 1″ print height and you’ve become unstoppable.

REINER expanded its sensor range for the jetStamp® 1025sense by the V24/RS232 port. This way, among other things a weight determined by scales can be printed directly onto the product without any additional data conversion devices.

Scales are indispensable helpers where weight is relevant. This is particularly the case in labs, pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies, or food manufacturers. Small and medium-sized operations often still use elaborate and error-prone interim steps for data processing before the determined weights can be recorded on the product.

This is where marking specialist REINER® from Furtwangen in the Black Forest comes in with its newly developed accessory items for the mobile jetStamp® 1025 sense inkjet printer. The V24/RS232 sensor is connected to the marking device and then to the available scales via the reliable RS232 port. 

As soon as the scales have determined the weight, the jetStamp®1025 sense will display the measuring result. This can then be integrated into a pre-set print image, among other things, right away, which is then printed to the product – permanently and smear-resistant thanks to high-quality inks. Interim steps on other devices are not needed, which reduces errors in manual or automatic data transmission and saves working time.

It's really a case study of how small family owned machine shops prioritize for growth.

by Bernard Martin

Area Tool & Manufacturing, Inc. was founded in Meadville, PA in 1976 by John Wehrle and business partner Wayne Shumaker. In 1990 John became the sole owner of the family business. Like many Tool & Die makers in Meadville, John got his start at Talon, Inc. Talon invented the zipper at the turn of the 20th Century and their renowned journeyman program has resulted in Meadville becoming known as the Tool and Die Capital of the World. 

Meadville is located in Northwestern Pennsylvania and is the bedrock of the Crawford County economy, accounting for about a quarter of employment in the county. ​And those the jobs in the country are pretty much all in tool & die manufacturing!

According to the City of Meadville, “the Talon Corporation played a major role in the market development and manufacture of the zipper… In the 1980’s, the Great Lakes region saw a major decline in heavy industry.  This blow to the local economy was softened by a subsequent surge in light industry, mainly tool and die machine shops, earning Meadville the nickname Tool City, USA.

Today, the Meadville area remains a leader in tooling, machining and advance manufacturing and the city serves as the region’s center for banking, education and social services.”

A recent study undertaken at Allegheny College entitled ​,  Trends in the Tooling and Machining Industry of Crawford County, Pennsylvania  states,  "Starting in the early 20th century, the Talon Company started the production of area toolmakers. Through their apprenticeship programs, workers learned the art of toolmaking. Many workers at Talon spun off to create their own companies. Since then, the tooling and machining industry has helped sustain the county as a major source of employment, revenue generator, and an important factor in the vibrancy of the real estate and retail sectors."
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Today Meadville is home to numerous small, medium and large tool and die shops, and is a leader in precision machining, plastic injection molding and aerospace engineering.  

"The industry is now transitioning to a third generation set of owners, who bring new attributes to the industry... For the first time in the history of the industry, women are either the CEOs or operations managers of an increasing number of tool shops."

Area Tool & Manufacturing, Inc. certainly fits that description as a second generation woman owned family business, as it's now solely owned by Ashleigh Wehrle.  Area Tool's TEAM consists of 13 employees with an average of 30 years of experience in the spare parts and mold industries and many of the shop floor employees are journeymen toolmakers. It's located just a few minutes from the Interstate 79 interchange in a 20,000 square foot climate-controlled building.

Area Tool exemplifies how the next generation of leadership is embracing technology and prioritizing how they grow their business. A recent blog post on their website titled, 4 Reasons to Source All Assembly Components from the Same Precision Machine Shop:

"Part buyers and engineers often assume they can save time and money on an assembly project by sourcing the components that make up their assembly from multiple shops. But the truth is that when more than one shop is responsible for precision machining as many as 100 components for a large assembly, issues with tolerance and fitment are common. The worst part? These problems remain hidden until the shipments arrive at your door. It’s only then that you discover that the components don’t fit together and the assembly doesn’t function properly."

That's also a trend in the Meadville market for small and mid sized shops according the the Allegheny College study, "Employment in our sample shops decreased by 18% between 2008 and 2018, a trend that reflects declines in manufacturing employment both in the United States and globally. This decrease in employment in Crawford County is not due to falling demand for toolmakers. Rather, many shops are still having difficulty finding skilled toolmakers. Technological change and automation in the industry have resulted in less need for skilled toolmakers. Most of the shops interviewed have invested heavily in new equipment, about $320,000 per shop within the past two years."

As a small shop, you have to pick and choose which area to invest your capital and then prioritize the order of that in investment. Sometimes it takes a few years. 

Wehrle continues, "We revisited the need for in-house laser marking in the fall of 2021. We often times found parts would be ready to ship late in the day except for the laser engraving requirement."

That's a big problem for a machine shop that prides itself on meeting and exceeding delivery requirements. 

"One of our customers had a part scheduled to ship overnight, but they needed it sooner, so they asked, “Could you get someone on a flight tonight?” That same evening, an Area Tool team member flew to Boston and hand-delivered the part to the customer.  Requests like this one aren’t feasible for OEMs. But because of our size, we can tailor our services to customers’ unique needs." said Wehrle

In January of 2022 Barcaskey installed a GravoTech LW2 which is a fully automated laser marking station.

​"The GravoTech solution with rotary head was a perfect fit for the low volume mill and lathe parts we manufacture. We are also able to label in house fixturing and tooling for better organization. We have also replaced our dot peen for marking to provide a customers with more professional marking." said Wehrle. 
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To sum it all up Wehrle says "Having the capabilities in house allows us to laser engrave and ship the parts 2-3 days sooner than if we continued to outsource."  Automation continues to be embraced at every size machine shop as qualified labor continues to become more difficult to find.