Companies to Watch: Featured in Label & Narrow Web

Pat Wafer and Ryder Fyrwald decided to leave their tech careers and joined forces to buy and modernize a B2B manufacturing business.

By: Lisa Rouh

When Pat Wafer and Ryder Fyrwald shared a dorm at the University of Southern California 20 years ago, they never imagined they’d one day become co-CEOs of a successful label printing company. But when they each decided to leave their tech careers, they joined forces to buy and modernize a B2B manufacturing business. In 2018, their quest led them to North Hills, CA, USA, and Alros Label, a modest flexographic print shop named for original owner, Alfredo Rosales.

“It was a well-run, clean operation and a solid business that we felt had potential for growth,” Fyrwald says. “We also realized that there weren’t a lot of young people coming into this industry, and we felt we could bring a fresh perspective.” 

That’s exactly what they’re doing. Since acquiring the company, they’ve rebranded it as Cover Label, expanded into digital printing, acquired Crown Label, added flexographic capacity, shifted into a larger warehouse, grown their workforce, and achieved 30% compounded annual growth.

Serving end-use markets from pharmaceuticals to consumer-packaged goods, Cover Label’s 26,000-square-foot, ISO-certified facility focuses on pressure sensitive labels and embellishments such as foils and spot UV, and recently branched out to cosmetic web and shrink-sleeve labels. 

The team’s four flexographic presses include a 7″ Webtron 650 and Mark Andy 2200, a 13″ Mark Andy 2200, and a 17″ Nilpeter FA-17. Finishing equipment spans a Grafotronic laser diecutter, a CEI slitter-rewinder, and several smaller rewinders. 

On the digital side, last year the team traded its five-year-old Domino N610i for the Domino N730i digital UV inkjet label press, making Cover Label the first company on the West Coast to install the upgraded press. 

“We doubled our capacity without having to get two presses, and further improved our speed and efficiency,” Wafer notes. “Of course, increasing the resolution from 600 to 1200 dpi greatly enhanced our quality. And Domino was adamant that it wanted a showcase press on the West Coast and helped us become its regional showroom.” 

Fyrwald and Wafer are clearly open to investing in cutting-edge technology, not only for their existing operations but also for customers exploring new ideas. They recently acquired a high-speed near field  communication (NFC)/radio frequency identification (RFID) chip inserter to help a major CPG brand transform traditional labels into connected packaging. They’re embedding chips and NFC tags into labels, and using panel labels to promote the new connected packaging for consumers. 

“We’d already noticed interest from other companies looking to adopt smart packaging, and we see it as an exciting growth area,” Fyrwald explains. “Because we come from tech backgrounds, we’re looking for differentiating ways to tech-enable packaging, and this is the first thing we’ve seen in this business that is truly unique. We feel like this is the future, tying a historically physical product into the digital world and giving brands a powerful way to connect with customers through rewards programs, authenticity, traceability, and insights.”

Innovation may attract customers, but it’s the service that keeps them coming back. Fyrwald and Wafer are fiercely committed to delivering premium quality on tight lead times. Through their white-glove service approach, every customer has a dedicated account manager. Rather than feeling like they’re buying a commodity from a vendor, customers become part of the Cover Label family, with a dedicated point of contact invested in bringing their vision to life.

“From the start,” Wafer says, “We knew the heart of the business wasn’t just the presses, the paper, or the products. It was the people.”

Pat Wafer (L) and Ryder Fyrwald boosted Cover Label’s business by going digital with the Domino N730i UV inkjet label press.

That’s also why, when they bought Alros, they retained every employee, honoring decades of craftsmanship, experience, and customer relationships. Today, many of Cover Label’s 22 employees are members of that original team. With a culture now built around internal promotions, daily food trucks, monthly luncheons, and other thoughtful perks, Cover Label is designed to be a place where people enjoy working. 

“The tech companies where we had worked were driven on employee happiness, and we brought that into our business,” Wafer adds. “Because we have built this welcoming work environment, our people are excited to come to work, and they tend to do a better job because they care about Cover Label, our products, and our customers.” 

As business continues to expand and grow into that new warehouse, Wafer and Fyrwald are planning to gear up for a full second shift by the end of 2026. They are also looking for additional acquisitions in their local Los Angeles area or elsewhere in the country. While these two entrepreneurs entered the label business with an interest in modernizing manufacturing, they’ve also fully embraced the industry’s nearly limitless opportunities – and they’re just getting started.

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