5 steps to simplify your - imprint e · over time, barcode labeling across an organization can...

5 STEPS to Simplify Your Barcode Labeling Process:

How Labeling Saves Your Company Time and Money

5 Steps to Simplifying Your Barcode Labeling Process WWW.IMPRINT-E.COM

Over time, barcode labeling across an organization can swell into an inefficient and complex process. Different departments or branches of a company may choose different solutions resulting in skyrocketing maintenance costs, and controlling access to label templates, especially for labels subject to regulations, can become a management headache.

Companies that streamline their processes — including barcode labeling — benefit by decreasing costs, increasing efficiency, and achieving a higher level of customer satisfaction. Additional benefits include fewer errors and waste, less dependence on IT, and easier, quicker employee training.

Take ControlTo simplify the barcode labeling process used in your operations, evaluate five steps of your operations:

• Design

• Templates

• Hardware and Supplies

• Printing

• Management

By evaluating these five aspects of the barcode labeling process, you will be able to pinpoint any inefficiencies and develop a clear picture of the costs associated with your current labeling process.

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An efficient barcode labeling process begins with a simple design process. The process of creating label designs for many organizations, however, if far from simple. Some processes involve a homegrown or custom solution that requires printer language coding. Others may use a graphic design solution not tailored for industrial or commercial labels, or a combination of several solutions if purchasing decisions were not centralized.

A complex design process can mean increased costs to maintain the solution and limited agility when you need to add labels for new products or meet new regulatory or customer requirements.

If your label design process falls into one of these categories, but it seems to be working well for your current operation, consider what could happen in the future. Using custom or basic graphic design solutions may limit your agility and flexibility when demand grows or changes. Moreover, solutions that are highly dependent on the skills of IT resources may become less valuable if key employees leave the company and take their design expertise with them.

TIP: Solutions that are highly dependent on the skills of IT resources may become less valuable if key employees leave the company and take their design expertise with them.

A solution to this problem is using enterprise label design software. It allows you design labels faster and more efficiently by facilitating label design without coding. These solutions support a wide range of label symbologies, languages, and design features and help you produce labels with the level of accuracy and quality you need.

Using an enterprise solution also allows you to standardize label design across your organization, reducing design hours and providing business continuity and scalability you need when changes occur.

Design



A common mistake with barcode labeling is creating a different label for each product you use or produce. For some companies, this can mean they manage hundreds or thousands of labels. This approach has a number of inherent problems. First, it’s time and labor intensive, requiring a design for each label, and limiting the speed with which a new label can be produced. Also, with so many labels to choose from, an operator is more likely to choose the wrong one, creating mislabeled products, potential recalls, and waste. In addition, when a universal change is required, each label must be revised individually.

TIP: By creating only the minimum number of templates your company needs, labels will be more consistent and changes can be made more quickly across all products.

A better approach is to use label templates and maintain label data in a spreadsheet, database or your enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. By creating only the minimum number of templates your company needs, labels will be more consistent and changes can be made more quickly across all products.

Templates



To streamline your barcode labeling process, you can’t ignore the printing hardware and supplies you use. Like disparate label design methods your organization may have put in place over time, printers and supplies may also not be standardized, forcing you to deal with multiple vendors and suppliers and to accrue higher-than-necessary maintenance and support costs.

If your solutions are more than a few years old, it’s also possible that there are more efficient alternatives available that deliver the speed, high-volume, and rugged durability your operations require today. If the cost of an investment in new hardware is holding your company back, evaluate the cost savings of new, efficient, energy-saving solutions and how quickly you would see return on investment (ROI). You can also discuss trade-in programs that may be available from your printer manufacturer that can lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

TIP: Consider upgrading to more efficient printers that deliver the speed, high-volume, and rugged durability your operations require today.

Another consideration is whether the solutions your company deployed years ago are still the best tools for the job. For example, with new labeling requirements such as the Global Harmonized System (GHS) for classifying and labeling hazardous materials and Unique Device Identifier (UDI) labels for medical devices, there may be more efficient solutions available to help you comply with regulations is a time-saving and cost-effective manner. Another consideration is automating the printing process with a print-and-apply system for high-speed, high-volume processes, which can help increase productivity while decreasing labor costs.

TIP: Deal with one supplier for printing supplies to standardize labels and possibly qualify for volume discounts.

The printing supplies your company uses can also impact your company’s bottom line. The right supplies will result in quality labels, minimize waste and downtime, and can also help prolong the life of your printers. It may also benefit your company to deal with one supplier to standardize labels and, possible, to qualify for volume discounts.

Hardware and Supplies



Another way to save time and minimize errors is to make the process an operator follows to print barcode labels as simple and intuitive as possible. If your operators are manually entering data, there is more of a chance of errors, which can result in recalls, waste, and unhappy customers.

TIP: Minimize errors and waste with user interfaces for operators that are as simple and intuitive as possible.

If your software allows, develop easy-to-use printer forms that are tailored to your processes and the way your operators work. Printer forms eliminate manual data entry. Operators can select the correct template from preview graphics, select the data for the label to be populated from a database, spreadsheet, or ERP and preview the label in advance to ensure everything is correct. Printing forms allow operators to work more quickly, especially if you use a touchscreen with graphic images, with less demand for set up time, and with fewer errors. Because they are using templates, they can’t alter a design.

Printer forms that feature a simple user interface means training new employees is faster and easier and all employees work more efficiently and accurately.

Printing



It’s common for several employees within an organization to be involved in the barcode labeling process and to have access to label data and templates. Carefully consider if the policies your company has in place protect the integrity of your data and templates from changes — even accidental ones — which will help minimize errors, recalls, and waste. Limit access to files with password protection or other means or consider job-specific permissions, such as “print-only.”

TIP: Ensure your company has policies in place that protect label data and templates from unintended changes that cause labeling errors, and waste.

Look for a solution that provides centralized management of all barcode labeling across your organization. Label management solutions empower you to populate label templates automatically with data from your ERP or databases, stage label printing jobs to specific printers, maintain print history, and manage printers.

Management



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Less is MoreWhen your barcode labeling process — design, templating, devices and supplies, printing, and management — is simplified and optimized, the benefits include standardized labeling across your entire company, better management of label quality and accuracy, and an easier process for new employees to learn.

Take control of barcode labeling by removing complexity and help your business save money and increase efficiency.

Imprint Enterprises has been in business since 1975 and is focused on providing customers the highest quality products with the most comprehensive service. Whether you’re looking to purchase new barcode equipment and supplies, or need best-in-class installation and service for your barcode products, we have a solution for you. We specialize in nationwide barcode printer service, site surveys and end-to-end barcode solutions. Imprint’s Barcode and Custom Labeling Division focuses on the following industries: manufacturing, distribution, logistic centers, food processing, co-packagers, beverage, and pharmaceuticals.


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5 steps to simplify your - imprint e · over time, barcode labeling across an organization can...

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