The 80+ years of Avery
One bright idea revolutionalised a global industry
Stan Avery chose Kum-Kleen Products as his original company name to advertise the ability of a customisable self-adhesive label or sticker to be removed without leaving a mark. When customers asked to have their names on the labels, he added print, using a hand-cranked printing press. In the beginning, the face of the label consisted of plain, white paper. Today the label’s face may be made of fabric, plastic or metallic films and carry brightly coloured designs and pictures.
The start of a success story
Stan Avery chose Kum-Kleen Products as his original company name to advertise the ability of a self-adhesive label to be removed without leaving a mark.
When customers asked to have their names on the labels, he added print, using a hand-cranked printing press. In the beginning, the face of the label consisted of plain, white paper.
Today the label’s face may be made of fabric, plastic or metallic films and carry brightly coloured designs and pictures.
On September 21st, 1946 Avery Adhesives, a partnership of Stan and Dorothy Avery, became Avery Adhesives Label Corporation with three types of business; Resale, Industrial and Converting.
Labels in the resale category were resold to consumers through 1200 retail stores, primarily stationery stores and through 300 wholesalers and distributors.
The labels were generally unprinted and were packaged in flat-pack or dispenser boxes. This is the form of Avery label that is still most familiar today.
International expansion
Stan found that it was not practical to try to make and print labels for the whole world from Southern California. To continue to grow, Avery would have to create separate operations in other locations. From that realisation grew the franchise programme for foreign label makers and a separate division to supply self-adhesive base materials to other manufacturers. It was in 1956 that Avery signed a licence agreement with William Sessions in the UK.
In 1964 the first UK manufacturing operation was opened in Cumbernauld, near Glasgow in Scotland selling a range of price-marking, copier, computer and industrial labels.
Continued growth in the UK
It was in 1975 that the Maidenhead manufacturing plant was opened producing price-marking labels and hand applicators, copier and computer labels. With the ever increasing growth, the decision was made to split the UK business into two with Cumbernauld producing industrial labels and the copier and computer labels based in Maidenhead, leading eventually to two totally separate divisions in 1987; Business Systems and Office Labels which is when Avery Laser Printer Labels were launched.
Acquisitions expand Avery in the UK
Avery acquired M. Myers and Son, a leading manufacturer and distributor of office products and accessories in the UK in 1985. Myers produced plastic and metal desk and office accessories, computer storage units, filing racks and cabinets.
The acquisition of Myers gave the Office Products Group in the UK the opportunity to introduce new products into new markets and to utilise that company’s existing distribution network.
Then in 1988, Guidex with a range of filing products, brought a whole new product portfolio to the Avery Office Products business. The increasing proliferation of markets and the company’s policy of market segmentation led Avery in 1982 to create the Consumer and Office Products Group.
Further expansion across Europe
At the beginning of 1999 Avery Dennison formed a joint venture with Zweckform Buro-Produkte. Zweckform were the market leaders in Germany for form books and labels. The new company would allow the expansion of the Avery brand into central and eastern Europe and enable the continued growth of Zweckform into other countries whilst expanding the new organisations technical developements and new product research facilities.
CCL acquire Avery brand
In July 2013, Avery Office Products division was acquired by CCL Industries. CCL is the largest label company in the world providing innovative solutions to the Home & Personal Care, Food & Beverage,Healthcare & Specialty, Automotive,Electronics & Consumer Durables and Retail & Apparel markets worldwide. The Company has 3 other main divisions aside from Avery: CCL Label, CCL Container, and Checkpoint. With approximately 19,000 dedicated employees, CCL operate 150 state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.
With the change of ownership, the future direction of Avery began. In addition to the core business of office products, the company is gradually introducing new label products for other markets and target groups, utilising the vast technical capabilities and material knowledge of the CCL group.
Avery introduce online printing service
In 2015, Avery WePrint, the first online print portal from Avery was launched. A brand new service offering consumers and small businesses a facility to design labels, business cards, folders, cards, and phone and tablet skins online with their own individual look. Using a new design tool, customers can either add their own designs directly via jpg or pdf uploads or create a design from scratch. The Avery WePrint service digitally prints these designs and deliver direct to the customers door. The service offers new materials and finishes previously not available via desktop printers.
Avery UK expands offering
In November 2014 Avery UK acquired PCL Label. PCL is recognised as the brand leader in the UK commercial print market for digitally printable self-adhesive sheets and labels. Over more than 20 years, we have developed a highly respected product portfolio and the highest service level offering available in the market today.
All materials in the PCL range can be printed by conventional methods (e.g. Offset litho, silk screen) and digitally by hot fusing laser technology, with the added ability in the PCL3 range to be printed on HP Indigo presses. All of the PCL materials are constructed to withstand multiple printing processes e.g. pre-print fixed information by offset litho and overprint variable data by digital methods.
Today, Avery is the world-leader for software-driven digital printing solutions for millions of small businesses and consumers and stands for organisation in the office, school and at home. We are a leader in innovative technologies and product solutions for -printable media and our brand is the most recognised in the industry. The company offers more than 1000 products in the UK for both professionals and individual work in the office and at home.