Cohesion Labels has marked more than 100 years in business, celebrating a milestone that places it among a small group of Australian label converters to have navigated a full century of technological, economic and market change.
Founded in Perth in 1925 as Waters Typographic House, the business has remained in Australian family ownership across four generations, evolving from traditional typography into a modern labelling supplier serving customers across multiple industries. Today, Cohesion Labels has operations in Canningvale, WA and East Gosford, NSW.
General manager Jamie Waters says the company’s ability to endure has hinged on staying close to customers rather than anchoring itself to a particular technology or market segment.
“Our longevity can be attributed to being customer-focused rather than industry-focused,” Waters told PKN. “Over the past century, we’ve been willing to change and evolve to keep serving our customers well. We’ve tried to adapt early and invest where our customers are heading next, even when that meant redefining the business itself.”
That mindset is shaping how Cohesion approaches Australian manufacturing at a time when local producers face intense cost pressure and competition from imported products. Rather than competing on unit price alone, the company frames its value around total cost, efficiency and reliability.
“In Australia, labour efficiency, process reliability and speed matter enormously,” Waters explains. “That drives how we design solutions. Supporting Australian manufacturing has to make commercial sense, and that means sharing the same mindset as our customers.”
Recent capital investment has reflected that priority. Cohesion’s focus has been on digital printing, finishing automation and workflow systems designed to streamline production and improve throughput. According to Waters, the benefits are felt less in headline specifications and more in operational outcomes for customers.
“The practical outcome is faster turnaround and more reliable delivery,” he says. “Getting products sooner helps customers improve cashflow, reduce stock holding, and respond quicker to changes in demand. The technology matters, but the real value is in making customers’ operations run more smoothly.”
The shift toward digital and hybrid printing has also reshaped customer expectations. Constraints around run length, artwork changes and SKU proliferation have eased, allowing brand owners to respond more dynamically to market and regulatory demands.
“Customers now recognise that modern printing technology removes most traditional design constraints,” Waters says. “Shorter runs, multi-SKU jobs and frequent artwork changes are more straightforward.”
That flexibility is increasingly important as brand owners contend with growing complexity across portfolios. More SKUs, tighter timelines and evolving compliance requirements have reduced tolerance for errors or delays, pushing demand toward suppliers that can offer consistency and ease of doing business.
“Sustainability is part of that equation,” Waters adds, noting that customers are seeking environmentally responsible solutions that remain practical and commercially viable. “Our role is to help customers make environmentally conscious choices that work in real-world conditions, without compromising performance, cost or reliability.”
Looking ahead, Waters confirms Cohesion’s next phase of growth is centred on moving into larger customer segments where its service model and technical capability can deliver the greatest value, alongside diversification into adjacent product areas that share similar operational demands.
