Reflex Labels’ MIS operations have grown with the company, with the help of EFI Business Consulting services.

 

Reflex Labels uses EFI’s Shuttleworth Business Systems MIS to remain one of the most sustainable packaging companies.

Long before it became fashionable, Reflex felt very strongly about sustainability. The company was formed in 2002 by its current directors. It is one of the largest companies of its kind in the UK with a £90 million turnover. With its international customer base, Reflex serves a broad range of industries. Its product offerings include self adhesive labels, shrink sleeves including roll on shrink on (ROSO), linerless labels, flexible packaging, artwork and design and more.

In 2005, Reflex purchased an MIS solution from EFI Shuttleworth Business Systems for label and flexible packaging production as this system fit its – back then – small operation perfectly. Today the company is still using that same MIS system. ‘The Shuttleworth system has grown with the business,’ said Ian Busby, IT director at Reflex Labels Ltd. ‘It was small enough to buy when Reflex was still a £7 million business and it proved to be flexible enough to grow into a system that supports nine manufacturing sites.’

Reflex uses the EFI Shuttleworth system for everything except payroll and accounts.

Solution

When Reflex purchased the EFI Shuttleworth Business Systems MIS, it was not obvious the company would grow this fast. The first worry of the company back then was to have a professional system that could manage production and order processing of a relatively small company that was starting to grow.

Shuttleworth’s MIS system seemed to fit the bill. This company was internationally active with customers in the UK, South Africa, India and Australia. ‘It was and still is a one-stop shop,’ Mr Busby said. ‘That is important to us, because back then we lacked the IT resources to handle the problems that come with having separate software and hardware suppliers.’

Shuttleworth delivered the software, the hardware and support. ‘It delivered technical expertise the business didn’t have. It often still shows us the best way to implement a feature we need,’ he added.

The system at Reflex Labels runs at a central location, but it gets its data from smaller sites all over the country. These sites are run as stand-alone businesses, which means the methodology may differ with each site. ‘It’s pretty much like a full ERP system such as SAP. In these you can build a car and it will support the separate components despite a door needing a different approach than the gearbox. It’s the same with the Shuttleworth system, it’s flexible enough to support production data for flexible packaging with three substrates as well as single substrate labels,’ he explained.

Results

Reflex has been very happy with its Shuttleworth system. Since day one of its installation, the system has helped the company to grow fast. Now the EFI Shuttleworth team – including EFI Business Consulting team members – continue to advise Reflex on how to grow the system so that it maintains a tight fit with the business. EFI is advising on everything from software components to server replication strategies that enable consistent operation, maximum uptime and scalability. That includes management of 13 physical servers, and numerous virtual servers running on that hardware.

The result is a system that started out small, but now manages nine manufacturing sites and multiple methodologies. The EFI Shuttleworth system is also a tight fit for Reflex’s extensive ethics and sustainability efforts. The large number of certifications Reflex Labels has to create reports for depend on traceability. The EFI Shuttleworth system helps by creating records for many of these certifications.

According to Mr Busby, EFI Shuttleworth business consultants clearly want to help you make the best use of the system. ‘They show you how to make the system behave the way you want it to, so you achieve the results you’re after,’ Mr Busby said. ‘Over the years, we learned a lot from them.’

About the company

Reflex started out as a small company, growing very quickly in a difficult marketplace from some £3 million turnaround in 2002 to a £90 million business today.

Since its formation, Reflex has focused on four elements of ethical sustainability: environmental responsibility, vitality of innovation, social well-being and economic health. The company invests to create efficiencies in production and reduce cost, energy consumption and waste.

Reflex ensures its activities have a very low waste to landfill quotient, with systematic recycling and waste reduction practices across the business. The company is certified for PEFC/FSC (forest certification) and full Chain of Custody (origin tracking), and uses certified non-carbon energy. The inks they use in their various activities are both low-migratory and environmentally chemically approved and their linerless labels are produced in a dedicated linerless and innovation centre.

Reflex is a member of both SEDEX (a not for profit membership organisation sharing information on Labour Standards, Health & Safety, The Environment, and Business Ethics from 38,000 members) and the Ethical Trade Initiative.

Its high standards and commitment to the environment are recognised by a large number of certifications, including BRC Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials (Issue 5) – High Hygiene Category and Basic Hygiene Category, BS EN ISO 9001:2008, and others.

Reflex has its own graphics and platemaking operations across the UK. The studio teams are specialists in artwork for all packaging formats and every print process. The company also prides itself for investing in the very latest equipment and being the only packaging supplier in Europe with both Kodak NX and Esko HD platemaking technologies.

Their NPD and flight testing studio is equipped with proof-to-substrate printers (for testing designs and materials), 3D and augmented reality software for in-situ visualisation of new designs, and offers a full mock up service.

 

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