History of Daniel Label Printing, Inc.

Originally printed in
Arkansas Times of September 15, 1994
Business History of Arkansas
"Daniel Label Printing, Inc., They're On A Roll."

The South's label factory, based in a shiny new plant in North Little Rock, makes the impossible come true when it comes to labels and believes in putting customer service needs first and a can-do attitude.

If S.E. Daniel, the founder of Daniel Label, walked through the modern printing plant today, he'd have a hard time understanding what goes on there. That's because the tiny stationery and printing company that he started in 1931 has grown into a high-tech printing business specializing in producing pressure-sensitive labels.

Originally from Somerville, Tenn., Daniel first bought and ran a print shop, The Daniel Printing Co., in Heber Springs, but moved the fledgling operation to Little Rock after two years and later settled in North Little Rock on Lincoln Avenue. The business struggled but began to enjoy some success in the next decade, though business slumped during the war years when paper was in short supply. Daniel was undeterred, however, and imprinted messages and advertisements on just about anything he could get his hands on, with most of the work on stationery, envelopes and gummed labels.

During the war years, he, along with help from his wife Annie, kept the printing company going, although he was forced to supplement his income by working full time at an ammunitions plant. The family lived in a house near the plant.

It was in the 1950s when son Irv Daniel, an Army veteran and college grad using his business degree as an accounting department employee at International Harvester, agreed to join the family business and its half-dozen employees. Irv Daniel is the company president today, and he has built the company into one that employs about 34 people -- some who've been there 20 years or more -- and runs 11 presses, most with seven-color press capabilities.

It didn't take long for the young son to realize technological updating and specializations were necessary for a business edge, but the elder Daniel was skeptical when his son spent a whopping $5,000 for a new tape press. That purchase proved to be one of the keys to Daniel's success, particularly as the popularity of pressure-sensitive labels -- ones with sticky backs -- caught on. It was a few years later when a longtime employee realized it was possible to make photographic plates in-house. Daniel continues to look for ways for the company to keep as many aspects of the printing business under its own roof by maintaining an in-house art department, camera room and large inventory.

Soon the printing company was busier than ever and landing big accounts, including Meyers Bakery. Today you might see Daniel labels on products as diverse as TCBY frozen yogurt, pumps in Saudi Arabia, baggage ID tags used by the Greyhound Bus system, or sunscreen made especially for kids. Jobs can range from a simple order of 1,000 mailing labels to a million or more that may be adhered to frozen products or even heavy duty labels that will be affixed to outdoor equipment for decades.

Technological advances -- flexography, precision darkroom cameras, a DuPont plate-making system, for instance -- remain important to Daniel Label today, and the Daniels follow trade publications and make frequent trips to trade shows to keep abreast of the latest industry developments and technological advances.

Daniel Label is proud of its plant and keeps it open to visitors, even its competitors. If you do go visit, you'll find friendly people, many of them dressed casually, sometimes in shorts in the summertime. Once thing, too, that you'll notice at the plant is George, a precocious boxer-shepherd mix who may be looking for a dog biscuit Irv Daniel has hidden for him.

Two years ago Daniel moved the label-printing business from Lincoln Avenue to a new plant location at 3125 E. Washington Avenue. Renovations to the building continue.

The business remains a family-run operation. In fact, six Daniels -- Irv, wife Liz, daughters Kay Marvin and Julie Campbell and sons Marc and Kevin -- work for the company. All spent their formative years lending a hand, and another generation of Daniels help out today. All can remember as teens shutting the plant early on Friday afternoons so Irv Daniel could give his employees a ride on his restored boat, the Little Angel, down the Arkansas River. The company is much too busy to shut down early these days, though.

S.E. Daniels personally knew all his customers. That's something the Daniels haven't forgotten. They place the highest amount of importance on satisfying customers' needs, and they're willing to do what it takes to get a job done, whether it's coming to work early, staying late, or sorting and inspecting labels if they may find themselves shorthanded. They'll get the job done.

At ground-breaking ceremonies for the new plant, Irv Daniel explained his commitment to his label business this way: "I want this company to be the best there is. I want every label printer in the whole world to wonder how that little outfit in North Little Rock is getting the best of them. We have dedicated ourselves to being the world leader in the manufacture of pressure-sensitive labels."

Daniel Label has the capabilities to do what others say is impossible.