Spear Incorporated Information

For over 25 years, Spear, headquartered in Cincinnati, OH USA, has been the world's leading innovator and supplier of film pressure-sensitive labeling systems. Our labels can be found on many of the leading beverage, food and personal care items throughout the world, including brands for companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Bacardi, Diageo, Heineken, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble and SABMiller. Spear's history began in 1982 when Charles Spear purchased the flexographic division of Volts-Thomas Printing, a division that he and a partner had founded ten years before in 1972. Initially, the company operated from a building close to downtown Cincinnati. In 1990, Spear moved to a new, purpose-built facility of 72,000 square feet in Mason, Ohio. Due to the increased importance of packaging and the growing utilization of labels to influence consumer purchases, the demand for clear pressure-sensitive labels grew dramatically after Spear introduced the technology in the mid 1980s. Our early label developments focused on the personal care sector, where clear labels were used to decorate HDPE bottles containing hair care and other bathroom products. By the early 1990s, the glass industry began to show interest in this form of decoration and the clear film pressure-sensitive label for the beverage market was born. Continued growth in the global demand provided the opportunity for Spear to take another major step as a company - the creation of Spear Group Holdings Limited in September 1999. The creation of the group provided the financial resources for Spear to join forces with Gar-Doc of Milford, New Hampshire and create Spear USA. At the same time, Spear acquired Global Labels of the United Kingdom and established Spear Europe in a new 60,000 square foot facility in Cwmbran, South Wales. The global market for film pressure-sensitive labels continued to expand, but no region was increasing faster than at home in the United States. Spear's rapid market growth led to the acquisition of our Fulton, New York facility from Sonoco Flexible Films in December 2003. Where Spear's existing facilities focused on narrow-web print processes such as flat-bed screen, rotary-screen, UV Flexo and combination printing, the Fulton plant provided wide-web gravure printing for high volume opportunities.