Labeling Terms & Definitions: M - O

Posted on 06-27-2018

M

M
Abbreviation for a quantity of 1,000.

MACHINE DIRECTION
The direction of any material parallel to its forward movement on the press.

MAGENTA
A subtractive primary color which reflects blue and red light and absorbs green light.

MAGNETIC CYLINDER
A cylinder used in die cutting that is magnetized to accept and hold flexible steel dies in place. Also used in conjunction with metal-backed printing plates.

MAGNETIC DIE
A thin, flexible, steel cutting plate that is held on to a base cylinder magnetically. Magnetic dies are a less expensive alternative to solid steel engraved tools.

MAKEREADY
On printing presses, all operations prior to running; such as mounting plates, adjusting the in-feed, edge guide, putting ink in the fountain, adjusting the impression, setting up the die-cutting, color matching, and more. All preparatory operations preceding production.

MANDREL
A shaft upon which cylinders, or other devices, are mounted or affixed. Also unwind or rewind shaft on to which rolls of materials (or labels) are mounted.

MARGINAL PUNCHING
See feed slots; pin feed.

MASTER ROLL
A full width roll that has finished the primary manufacturing process and is usually untrimmed and unslit.

MATERIAL SPLICE
An area where tape has been used to attach two rolls of material together to form one continuous web.

MATERIAL
Usually refers to unconverted stock, pressure sensitive or not.

MATRIX
The face material and adhesive surrounding a die cut self-adhesive label, usually removed after die-cutting.

MATTE FINISH
Paper coatings, inks, varnishes, and laminates may all be obtained with a matte finish, which diffuse the reflection of light to provide a flat, non-glossy finish.

MEMBRANE SWITCH
Self-contained sealed film lamination printed with conductive inks that form trace paths for electrical currents. Primarily composed of pressure sensitive polycarbonate and/or polyester films designed to replace traditional glass-type switches.

MEMORY

The property of a material that causes it to return to its original dimensions and shape. Most often found with film labels, memory can cause a label material to want to lift, or flag off a curved surface. Stronger adhesives or thinner gauge materials, or both, are often the solution.

METAL FOIL
Thin, flexible layer of metal, such as aluminum, used as face materials. Thinner gauges are often laminated to paper for strength.

METALIZED FILM
A plastic or resinous film that has been coated on one side with a very thin layer of metal.

METALIZED PAPER
A label substrate consisting of a lacquered C1S paper on which a very thin film of aluminum has been deposited.

METALIZING
Applying a thin coating of metal to a non-metallic surface. May be done by chemical disposition or by exposing the surface to vaporized metal in a vacuum chamber.

METALLIC INKS
Inks that consist of powder like metallic flakes, such as aluminum and copper alloys, which are mixed with a varnish or pigment carrier.

MICR
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. The process of a machine reading characters using magnetic sensing.

MICROMETER
A mechanical device for measuring thickness (usually in thousands of an inch).

MICRON
A unit of measure. One-millionth of a meter or about .00004″ (25 microns = 0.001″).

MICROPERF
Microperforations (microperf) are very small perforations or pinholes in paper that enable a section or part of the paper to be easily separated. Microperforations leave a smooth edge without the normal more jagged edge found with standard methods of perforation.

MIGRATION OF PLASTICIZER
Loss of plasticizer from an elastomeric plastic compound with subsequent absorption by an adjacent medium of lower plasticizer concentration. This often causes a loss of adhesion.

MIGRATION
The movement of one or more of the components of a pressure sensitive adhesive to either the labeled surface or face material. Also the movement of one or more of the components of either or both the face material and the labeled surface into the adhesive and/or ink.

MIL
A unit of thickness measurement used for label materials. 1 mil=0.001 inch=100 gauge.

MILEAGE
The surface area covered by a given quantity of ink or coating. Also used to measure rotary die usage or expected useful life.

MILL ROLL
Roll of paper, film or foil as received by the converter from the mill.

MINIMUM APPLICATION TEMPERATURE
The lowest temperature at which a pressure sensitive label (adhesive) can be applied to a product and still retain its initial tack.

MISCIBLE
Capable of being mixed; mutually soluble.

MISREAD
A condition which occurs when the data output of a reader does not agree with the encoded data presented.

MMSI
A million square inches of material.

MODULE
The narrowest unit of measure in a bar code. A module may be ‘black’ or ‘white’. Contiguous modules are used to form bars or spaces which are wider than one unit.

MOIRE
In color process printing, an undesirable screen pattern formed by improper screen angles of overprinting halftones.

MOISTURE CONTENT
The moisture present in a material as determined by specified methods.

MOISTURE RESISTANCE
Label materials that resist the uptake or passage of moisture. The moisture resistance of paper labels can be improved by varnishing or overlaminating.

MOISTUREPROOF
The property of a material which makes it substantially impervious to water vapor.

MOLD RELEASE AGENTS
Materials used in the manufacture of molded objects to facilitate their removal from the mold. Mold release agents can cause serious adhesion problems in some instances.

MONOMER
A primary chemical structure which reacts with itself, under the influence of catalytic action, to create polymeric forms of much greater molecular weight.

MOTTLE
A spotty or uneven appearance of printing mainly in solid areas.

MSI
One thousand square inches of material.

MULTI-PROCESS
A combination of any of the printing processes and other decorating methods. An application of lacquer utilizing another printing station other than the main printing process shall not qualify as multi-process.

MYLAR
DuPonts trademark for clear, tough polymeric polyester film. It has a good resistance to moisture, solvents, oils and other chemicals. Polyester labels are used for durable label applications.

N

NAMEPLATE
A rigid or flexible material that carries detailed information about a product (e.g. serial number, voltage, type, etc.) and is fixed or mounted in position by screws, pins or adhesive. Materials used may be metal plates, metallic foils, metalized plastics, rigid plastics, or other materials designed to withstand exposure and adverse conditions.

NATURAL AGING
The change in a material occurring when it is exposed to normal environmental conditions.

NATURAL RUBBER
Coagulated latex obtained from rubber trees and shrubs sometimes used as bases for adhesives and coatings. It has very low compression and permanent set and good resistance to cold flow. Sunlight, oxygen and ozone resistance is not as good as that of most synthetic rubbers.

NEGATIVE
A photographic image of originals on paper, film or glass in reverse from that of the original copy. Dark areas appear light and vice versa.

NEGATIVE IMAGE
A reversed image.

NEOPRENE RUBBER
A polymer of chloroprene which is used as an adhesive base. Commonly used where oil and gasoline resistance is required. Resistance to swelling action of aromatics (pure and in fuels) is poor but much better than natural rubber. Also used to coat doctor or metering rolls.

NIP
Line of contact between two rolls. Often referred to as the pull or draw rolls of a web press.

NOMINAL SIZE
The standard size for a bar code symbol. Most codes can be used over a range of magnifications, commonly from 0.80 to 1.20 nominal.

NON-BLOCKING
Refers to an applied adhesive that will not adhere to other surfaces under normal storage conditions.

NON-FLAMMABLE
Not readily combustible.

NON-ORIENTED FILM
Film which has not been subject to stress to align the polymer chains and improve properties.

NON-POLAR
Having no concentrations of electrical charge on a molecular scale, incapable of significant dielectric loss. Examples among resins are polystyrene and polyethylene.

NON-PRIME LABEL
A label supplying supportive information to a product or performing any other function.

NON-READ INK
Any ink with a sufficiently high reflectance to prohibit detection by an optical scanner. Non-read inks are used as visual guides that do not interfere with data reading.

NON-VOLATILE
Refers to the portion of an adhesive, coating or sealer that does not evaporate or vaporize at relatively low temperatures.

NON-WOVEN MATERIALS
Usually refers to paper tissues or synthetics such as rayon.

NUMERIC
A machine vocabulary that includes only numbers as contrasted to alphanumeric which includes letters and numerals.

NYLON
DuPont’s trade name for a strong plastic film with high oil and gas resistance. It is used as a filament in strapping tapes, with high impact resistance.

O

OCR
Optical Character Recognition. An information processing technology dealing with the conversion of imprinted or written data to another language and medium.

OCR-A
An abbreviation commonly applied to the character set contained in ANSI Std. X3.17-1974.

OCR-B
An abbreviation commonly applied to the character set contained in ANSI Std. X3.49-1975.

OD
The outside diameter (OD) of a cylinder, roller or roll of labels. The OD of a finished roll of labels is often specified, especially when labels will be mounted on a printing or application machine with certain OD size limitations.

OEM
Original Equipment Manufacturer. One who produces a component or components used in the making of a finished assembled product.

OFF-CUT
The part of the trim width that is not utilized. Usually a narrow roll which is left over because the customer placed an order which does not utilize the full master roll width.

OLEFINS

A group of unsaturated hydrocarbons of the general formula CnH2n and named after the corresponding paraffins by the addition of ‘ene’ or ‘ylene’ to the stem.

OLEO RESINS
Semi-solid mixtures of the resin and essential oil of the plant from which they exude, and sometimes referred to as balsams. Oleoresinous materials also consist of products of drying oils and natural or synthetic resins.

OLIGOMER
A chemical compound whose molecules consist of a group linked monomers. This is a compound intermediate in size between the single monomer unit and the huge polymer molecule.

ONE COMPONENT ADHESIVE
A pressure sensitive adhesive in which all of the necessary properties are derived from a single uniquely designed synthetic polymer.

ON-LINE
An operation in which peripheral devices are connected directly to the computer central processor.

OOZE
Adhesive moving out of the ends of rolls or stacks of sheets that causes the ends to feel sticky and possible the material to block. Winding labels on the roll too tightly may cause adhesive ooze. Also known as adhesive cold flow.

OPACIMETER
The instrument with which the degree of opacity may be measured.

OPACITY
The measure of the amount of light that can pass through a material. The hiding property of an ink film; property of film allowing printed material to show through in varying degrees. Specific label materials are available where high opacity is required.

OPAQUE
A material or surface that is not transparent, translucent or transmits light. Opaque label materials are often used when covering up existing text on a product. The opacity of the label assures the ink underneath the label will not be visible.

OPAQUE INK
Ink that is not transparent and reflects only its color, regardless of what colors it overprints. Opaque inks are used when overprinting on existing inks.

OPAQUENESS
The degree of opacity.

OPP
Oriented polypropylene.

OPTICAL CHARACTER READER
An information processing device that accepts and processes machine or hand written characters.

OPTICAL
Relates to the utilization of light. Sometimes involves the use of light sensitive devices to acquire information.

OPTICAL THROW
The distance from the face of the code reader or scanner to the beginning of the depth of field.

OPTICITE FILM
Trademark of a label film supplied by Dow Chemical (polystyrene type).

ORIENTATION (BAR CODE)
Bar code symbols may be positioned so that they can be scanned horizontally (the bars are vertical in a picket fence orientation) or vertically (the bars are horizontal in a ladder orientation).

ORIENTATION
The alignment of the crystalline structure in polymeric materials so as to produce a highly uniform structure. Can be accomplished by cold drawing or stretching during fabrication. Also, the alignment of bars and spaces to the scanner.

OSHA
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) of the US department of Labors mission is to ensure safe and healthy workplaces in America. OSHA has caution and warning labels placed in and around hazards in the workplace and on machinery suggesting operator use.

OVERLAMINATING
Applications of a clear film to a label stock for the purpose of protection or to enhance graphic quality, usually done in-line on the press. These clear films can be glossy, matte or textured depending on the desired finished look.

OVERLAP
In applying a label around a bottle or container, one end extends over the other and adheres to itself.

OVERLAY
In artwork, a transparent film or tissue over copy on which color breaks, instructions or corrections are indicated. Also, transparent prints which, when combined or overlaid, form a composite picture.

OVERRUN
Production manufactured in excess of the specified order quantity. The industry standard is +/-10%.

OVERS
See overrun.

OXIDATION
The chemical reaction involving the process of combining with oxygen to form an oxide. The deterioration of an adhesive film due to atmospheric exposure. The breakdown of a hot melt adhesive due to prolonged heating and oxide formation.

Ref:

https://coastlabel.com/glossary/#1464296225131-5b4...

https://coastlabel.com/glossary/#1464296267436-967...