Paper shortage, delays cause disruption in printing of wine labels | Local News Leave a comment
With paper joining a lengthy list of items in short supply because of pandemic-stretched supply lines, winemakers find themselves in a bind when it comes to getting their products to market.
Without paper, there are no labels, and with no labels on the bottles, there is no wine.
“There has certainly been a challenge with the supply chain, and you don’t have to look too far to see that,” said Travis Pollard, vice president and general manager of ASL Print FX in Napa. As a printer that specializes in label production for beverage companies like wine brands, ASL has seen the ripple effect of paper delays firsthand.
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“The three main issues are freight, labor and inflation,” he said.
At a basic level, this could mean there aren’t truck drivers to pull the material in from the ports. At a higher level, it could mean there is a clog or gap — depending on your perspective — somewhere else along the supply chain impacting the transport of paper.
“Not only that,” said Pollard, “But there also was a fire in Texas at a refinery, and that has had an impact on the adhesives that are used in pressure-sensitive label printing. We are still feeling the ramifications of that.”
“And also when the pandemic hit, a lot of people shifted from going out to eat and shopping at their local stores to ordering from Amazon, so the online retail business has boomed,” he explained. “So the paper that is manufactured safe for printing has been diverted towards corrugate for the boxes for Amazon and online retailers to ship their products.”
