Ohio winters are no joke! That’s what we were thinking when our client, a wind turbine installer, came to us needing outdoor vinyl asset labels. They needed to label their outdoor tools and construction assets, including… collapsible bulk containers? That was a new one for us, but fortunately, our Label Experts consider frigid temperatures a personal challenge!
For their construction assets and tools, we quickly sent out samples of our EnduraLabels, and asset tags made of anodized aluminum, two labels perfectly suited to sticking to hard to label surfaces and surviving the harsh winter.
But we still needed to label the collapsible bulk containers! You wouldn’t think, looking at what amounts to a giant storage crate, that you’d need a specialty label to stick to it. But many collapsible bulk containers are made of HDPE plastic (High Density Poly Ethylene). Why is that important? Well, HDPE has what us labeling nerds refer to as low surface energy (LSE). The unique characteristics of low surface energy plastics can make them difficult for pressure sensitive adhesives to bond to.
Now, vinyl isn’t the first material that springs to most people’s minds when inventory tracking. Some might even say it’s overkill. But labels made from vinyl materials have a couple unique aces up their sleeve when it comes to successfully sticking to low surface energy assets exposed to inclement weather elements and frigid conditions!
We recommended our vinyl label because of the nature of its specialty permanent acrylic adhesive, which won’t peel up off of surfaces with the low surface energy of HDPE plastic. The thicker, durable construction of vinyl also gives it a hardiness that’s hard to beat—some of our vinyl materials can last 5 years in outdoor conditions! Not to mention, vinyl’s chemical resistance and hidden superpower—its conformability around compound curves (think the curves on a bowling ball).
Sure enough, when we sent our vinyl labels to the wind turbine installer to test on their collapsible bulk containers, they came out ahead of typical asset tracking labels made from polyester and plastic. Thanks to our Label Expert’s insight, our client leveled up with vinyl, polyester, and anodized aluminum asset labels that had both the durability and stickability superpowers to successfully track their company assets through multiple Ohio winters!
Do you have tricky-to-stick-to outdoor assets in need of the perfect label? Reach out to The Label Experts and we’ll help you find the perfect fit.
