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PANTHER
INDUSTRIES
The little company that could
P
anther Industries, based in Highlands
Ranch, Colorado, is a manufacturer
of automated labeling equipment.
Panther’s founder James Thompson
became acquainted with print-and-
apply labeling at a meatpacking plant
in which he once worked, according to company
Vice President Christian Dow. While there, he im-
proved upon a simple version of the plant’s labeling
equipment by replacing a relay-logic system with a
Programmable Logic Controller, a digital computer
that enhanced and sped up the electromechanical
labeling process.
“This was one of the first programmable logic
controllers that was implemented into a labeler in
those days,” says Dow. “Later on, Jim became an
engineering manager for a company called Stadia
Label, the manufacturer of the equipment that he
put the PLC onto. They had recognized what he had
done and were floored by his innovation. That com-
pany moved to New England, but Jim remained in
Colorado as a contract employee, working remote-
ly. And after a few years, he decided it was time that
he started his own company.”
Panther’s first product was the Panther 2000, a fast,
reliable, configurable, and rugged print-and-apply
labeling system with a display that offered self-di-
agnostics, while providing informative data and
accepting user input. The first machines were sold to
the Colgate-Palmolive Company, and Dow relates
that the Panther 2000 is still in production, today,
being made by the company’s 22 employees in its
36,000 square foot manufacturing facility in High-
lands Ranch, Colorado.
Panther maintains a wide network of industry part-
ners, integrators, and resellers, who help widen the
company’s reach.
“We do a lot of business in the United States, and
Canada is our second largest market,” says Dow.
“But we also do international. This year, we have
systems being installed in Mexico, Brazil, South Africa,
Australia, and India.”
Panther provides both print-and-apply labeling
systems as well as pre-printed label applicator
Panther provides both
print-and-apply labeling
systems as well as pre-printed
label applicator systems.
Over the years, the company
has also created many
special solutions for clients
that have since become
standard in the industry.
It’s been Panther’s continual
innovations in engineered
labeling solutions that have
differentiated it from its
competitors.
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