Reduce Costs and Drive Efficiencies with Color Label Printing
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Learn how certain challenges are impacting the demand for color labeling solutions when it comes to barcode and enterprise labeling
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Reduce Costs and Drive Efficiencies with Color Label Printing
- 1. Reduce Overhead and Costs with Color Labeling August 24, 2017 Maureen Perroni, Senior Marketing Communications Manager Jessica Hutter, Loftware Programs Manager
- 2. Welcome/Agenda 2 Benefits of Color Label Printing Increase Efficiencies with Color Label Printing Color Labeling Survey Results Challenges of Color Labeling Why Demand for Color Labeling is on the Rise Maureen Perroni Senior Marketing Comm. Manager Jessica Hutter Marketing Programs Manager
- 3. Demand for Color Labeling is Increasing 3
- 4. Challenge: Increasing Standards & Regulations 4
- 5. Increasing Standards & Regulations 5 • Mandatory Color Requirements • Use of Colored Pictograms – GHS Compliance – Eliminates Language Barriers • Highlight Warnings and Critical Safety Information – Color Demands Attention – Food & Beverage Industry Allergen Warnings (EU 1169)
- 6. Challenge: Meeting Customer Branding & Use Requirements 6
- 7. Meeting Customer Branding & Use Requirements 7 • Reflect Colors Fundamental to the Brand • Support Rapid Label Change • Traceability and Identification Requirements • Critical to Distinguish Between Product Variations (Medical Device)
- 8. Challenge: The Pitfalls of Pre-Printed Label Stock 8
- 9. The Pitfalls of Pre-Printed Label Stock 9 • Lost Production Time • Inefficiencies in Meeting Customer Requirements • Inability to Respond to Evolving Regulation • Label Inventory and Control Management Issues • Cost and Waste Associated with Obsolete Stock
- 10. Poll – What Are Your Challenges? 10
- 11. Challenges Wrap-up: Top 5 Trends Survey Results 11 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Regulations Branding Customer Requirements Identication & Use Other What Business Demands are driving the need for color label printing? (Select all that apply) 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% Pre-Printed Stock Color Printing Combination of both Not Sure How are you printing color labels today?
- 12. How to Increase Efficiency with Color Label Printing 12
- 13. Color Label Printers – High Return on Investment 13 • Investments of Color Label Printers on the Rise • Costs Associated with Using Monochrome Print Solutions • High Initial Cost, Long Term Benefits • Research Your Options
- 14. How to Increase Efficiency with Color Label Printing 14
- 15. A Better Way To Drive Color Label Printing 15 Loftware Native Printer Drivers • Supports High Speed Color Printing • Reduces Print Streams to Minimize Network Traffic • Optimizes Print Performance • Simplifies Printer Deployments • Eliminates Need For Install Across Multiple Environments • Limits Maintenance To Meet High Volume Print Requirements • Quickly and Easily Add Color To Adjust to Shifting Circumstances
- 16. Benefits of Solutions that Support Color Labeling 16 Cost Savings Time Savings Brand Enhancement Regulatory Compliance Traceability and ID Requirements
- 17. Loftware at a Glance Full Service Solution Provider Global Sales and Support 5,000 Customers 100+ Countries in Global Leader in Enterprise Labeling Solutions Develop Support Service Loftware USA Loftware GmbH Germany Loftware Asia Pacific Ltd. Singapore Global Services and Support
- 18. Learn More About Color Labeling & Native Print Drivers 18 Maureen Perroni Sr. Marketing Communications Manager mperroni@loftware.com Jessica Hutter Marketing Programs Manager jhutter@loftware.com Other Resources: Enterprise Labeling for Dummies Why the Demand for Color Label Printing is on the Rise Minimize Network Traffic & Support Global, High-Volume Label Printing
Editor's Notes
- Hello everyone, Welcome to today’s webinar Reduce overhead and Costs with Color Labeling. Today’s webinar will feature Maureen Perroni, Loftware’s Senior Marketing Communications manager and myself, Jessica Hutter, Loftwares Marketing Program Manager. Today’s webinar should be about 30 minutes. This webinar is being recorded and a link to the presentation will be sent to all attendees after the event. So let’s get started.
- JESS First off, like I mentioned, I’ll be your host for the next 30 minutes. Maureen Perroni will join us shortly. Maureen has over 20 years of research, writing and product marketing experience including a focus on technology based companies. She has actively researched trends in the Enterprise Labeling space and has authored a wide range of published articles and blogs on meeting customer and regulatory specific labeling requirements. Today’s webinar will be a Q/A style presentation as we review how certain challenges are impacting the demand for color label solutions. Here is an overview of the agenda: First, we’ll explore why the demand for color labeling is on the rise We’ll then take a closer look at the labeling challenges that are driving the demand for color as well as some of the limitations companies are experiencing with existing color printing methods. After that, we would like to hear from you and get your feedback. We’ll launch a poll to get a pulse on your challenges and review some of the trends from a recent survey. Next, we’ll explore advancements in color label printing and ways that some companies have increased efficiencies And finally, we’ll finish up with a quick wrap up including a little bit of background on Loftware and how we help our customers address their color printing requirements.
- JESS So let’s get started. As you may or may not know, Loftware does an annual report for the ‘Top 5 Trends in Enterprise Labeling’. These trends are based off an annual survey. Last years survey resulted in over 800 responses from supply chain, IT, logistics and warehouse professionals similar to many of you joining us today. One trend that seems to come back year after year is the growing demand for color label printing. Maureen, do you want to start off talking about those trends and some of the results we saw in regards to color printing? MAUREEN Thanks Jess - Hi everyone - thanks again for joining us and thank you Jess for providing introductions and an overview of today’s discussion. So lets kick off this conversation with some insights on why the demand for color labeling across the supply chain is increasing and how we know this. So first it’s becoming very clear that the colors used in labeling today can be just as communicative and as important as the words or the label data – labeling really has moved beyond products and finished goods and now businesses are beginning to see the importance of using color labeling throughout the entire supply chain. So why again are we now seeing an increase in demand. Well that’s pretty simple – in a nutshell companies today need to support color label printing in order to meet both evolving customer requirements and corporate branding requirements, this can also include use requirements like product id and traceability– and of course the uptick we’re seeing is also due in good part to new and evolving government regulations – many of these mandates require the use of color. And we’re seeing that this important pretty much across all industries today. To showcase this point I’d like to share some of the results from one of our recent labeling trends surveys that Jess told you about. In the latest survey exploring color label printing, as mentioned here we found that 90% of those folks believe color label printing will be as or more important 3 yrs. from now. This certainly shows a growing trend. Additionally, we found that nearly 60% of the respondents were planning to purchase additional color printers. So it seems that businesses are beginning to see the opportunity for return on invest from color printing technology and see that they need to try and approach color labeling printing differently than they have in the past.
- JESS Great, Now that we’ve covered the increasing demand for color labeling, lets talk more specifically about some of the challenges. We understand that regulatory concerns impact labeling significantly across all aspects of the supply chain but what does color labeling have to do with it, Maureen?
- MAUREEN Sure Jess - so as you mentioned meeting regulatory compliance isn’t anything new. What is new is are the evolving regulations which now include mandatory color requirements. And these evolving mandates are further driving investments in color labeling (whether software or hardware such as color printers). A wide range of industries have seen governments make a steady push to increase safety through the use of better warning labels. This is why new global rules are calling for colored symbols on labels. Because they more clearly indicate any crucial information that both handlers and customers in the supply chain need to know. There are couple industries where color labeling is really prevalent due to standards and regulations. One obvious one is the Chemical Industry where manufacturers regularly deal with dangerous materials. Some of these materials are highly toxic if accidentally consumed or inhaled and then there are others that may cause burns if spilled on exposed skin. So, in order to maintain safety standards in the workplace the industry is now required to adopt clearer labeling rules. There are new regulations such as Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals or more commonly know as (GHS). This helps to ensure that any chemical products move through the supply chain safely. Among the requirements of GHS is the need for hazard pictograms, which require at least two colors. For example, flammable solids, liquids or gasses must now be marked with a picture of a flame surrounded by a red, diamond-shaped border. Also, there are standards such as EU1169 requiring manufacturers to plainly state allergens on food and beverage packaging. So demand for product labels that clearly state potentially these harmful allergens is increasing and one way this can be handled is through color labeling. Color labels can also solve other, less obvious problems associated with shipping dangerous goods. One example of this would be the advantage color offers for language barriers. It’s easier to convey a flammable hazard by creating a picture of bright red flames than writing about the danger in a dozen different languages. Of course if these requirements are not met than companies can face significant fines, can experience serious supply chain disruptions and can even find themselves unable to enter new markets.
- JESS Thanks Maureen. Let’s move on to the impact color labeling can have on a companies operational activities and customer label demands. I know here at Loftware we’ve heard that hospitals for instance, are requesting that their medical devices labels be color-coded in order to avoid mistakes and manual errors. Can you elaborate a bit more on how color labeling is important for brand and use when it comes to managing supply chain operations?
- MAUREEN Sure Jess – So first lets address the marketing or the brand aspect. – It seems clear that companies today are putting even more importance on the value of representing their brand. But placement of the brand doesn’t just stop at the product - it’s also important for the label that represents that product as it travels through the supply chain on shipping labels, cartons and crates and pallets. So the brand needs to be showcased appropriately in these places - And you need to be able to quickly adopt to any shifts or changes in the brand as they become required. So, when you enlist the practice of standardizing your brand across all materials right down to corporate labels and documents - you can ensure brand integrity. Also with the right kind of color labeling solution you can support rapid label change. Additionally, color labeling can provide a simple anti-counterfeit measure. This is especially important with the rising impact of counterfeiting on the supply chain. As an example its’ estimated that auto component counterfeiting costs $3B in the US annually and approx. $12B around the world. Also, internet commerce is contributing to global epidemic of counterfeit drugs and there is a rising threat to electronics manufacturers. Unfortunately these issues can can damage a brand’s image resulting in lost revenues, loss of customers and most importantly can lead to significant health and safety concerns. However, with proper consistent and accurate labeling companies can work to combat counterfeiting with color consistency – providing a key attribute for identifying a specific brand. Another challenge when it comes to color labeling - the supply chain has always relied on monochrome barcode labels for traceability. But now with intensifying competition and more stringent traceability and ID requirements – there is a growing demand for multi-colored labels. These labels help with product classification/recognition, color coding, issuing safety warnings, branding, and overall signage enhancement. The demand for color label printing has also become really important for grouping and identifying product. As Jess mentioned earlier color labeling is becoming more prevalent in industries such as medical device where labels that include color are becoming really important in helping to identify variations of product. These labels commonly contain color codes and graphics that make it easier to distinguish between brands, sizes and product models, (this could entail color coding of patient wristbands or color coding different sizes of heart stents and other medical devices or implants that are used for surgeries). Ultimately this practice offers great timesaving and safety measures for storing and identifying proper inventory.
- JESS This is great – Clearly there are a lot of uses for color label printing. One common way to meet these challenges is with Pre-Printed label stock. Not only does this approach have its own set of limitations, but it can result in significant and unnecessary overhead. Can you elaborate on this and review some of the limitations you’ve seen with this approach?
- MAUREEN Absolutely – but first let me begin by explaining how companies managed color printing in the past with pre-printed label stock. So color printers have been used for a long time – but when it came to supply chain labels - companies would have label stock with all of the necessary color elements printed in bulk – done in advance – and those would be stored and ready for use. Then when required, they would print any additional b/w content or label elements using thermal printers. So at the end of the day you can achieve color labeling with pre-printed stock but there are a host of limitations in using that approach. If you’re using pre-printed label stock you need to ask yourself a few questions like… What happens when the labels you have no longer needed? Or What happens if the information on those pre-printed labels becomes outdated? Or What if a customer changes their brand in some way? And then, where do you store all of these labels and what are the costs of maintaining that extra storage? Finally- How do you deal with the rising cost of maintaining multiple levels of different label stock? So as you can see using this approach is certainly not the most efficient way to deal with color labeling– there are huge inefficiencies and significant costs associated with using pre-printed stock. Lets talk a little bit more about those issues or challenges. First, when manufacturers rely on pre-printed labels, any type of change or label variation means existing labels must be switched out. This results in lost time and reduced efficiencies. Which of course is going to impact your ability to quickly meet any customer demands. Also, pre-printing labels with pictograms can pose a particular challenge. Businesses that use multiple pictograms need to print empty stock labels, which then need to be filled in – again another time-consuming process. Also, they often may run into problems with matching or accurately fitting the additional content being printed with the existing pictograms that are already on the labels. In either case, pre-printing leads to inefficiency and waste since it requires the printers to actually predict their needs far in the future which of course gives them very little room for flexibility. Lets not forget, companies need to store these vast amounts of labels somewhere. Some companies have reported that they require up to 40,000 square feet of space simply to store label stock – definitely not a good use of space. And when these labels or the content on them becomes obsolete – which can easily happen when you have a warehouse full of old labels that display an outdated logo or no longer comply with evolving regulations – then you have a great deal of costly waste, which can be avoided.
- Thanks again Maureen. These challenges are definitely something we’ve heard from customers across all industries. Now that we’ve discuss the all of the challenges impacting the demand for color labeling, I think it would be a good time to poll the audience. So now we’d like to hear directly from all of you – What demands are driving your need for color label printing? Regulations? Branding? Customer Requirements? Identifcation & Use? We’ll give you a few seconds to answer….. <give 30 seconds> A few more seconds…. Ok everyone, time’s up. <close poll> <launch poll> Looks ______ is a top priority for this audience with ______ coming in a close second.
- Jess During the intro, We briefly talked about Loftware trend survey and how we were able to take a pulse on color labeling. Lets go back to that for a minute and see how that compares to your feedback. As you can see, Our survey results show that currently, branding is driving quite a bit of the need for color label printing with many of the others drivers not far behind. <click once for animation> Lets also look at what color label printing approaches were shown to be most popular in our survey. <click once for animation> You can see that quite a few people are still using preprinted stock in some way with over 40% exclusively using the approach and almost another 35% using a combination of pre-printed and color printing.
- JESS Now that we’ve taken a look at WHY the demand for color labeling is increasing and the challenges behind that demand, let’s take a look at how we can create efficiencies and and reduce operational costs. Maureen, let’s pass this back over to you. Can you start by talking about color printer options and how the technology has evolved over the last few years.
- MAUREEN So to begin with you need to consider your technology. Clearly the print devices being used are critical when it comes to color labeling. But, it’s important to note that printer vendors have come along way over the past 5 years or so and are now delivering technologies and solutions that work to meet today’s color labeling demands. So lets back up and take a broader look at printer investments for a moment. - Analyst group VDC recently conducted an enterprise end user survey of about 120 or so US based organizations to determine technical and commercial requirements as it relates to investments in color label printing within the supply chain. On average, survey respondents indicated color label printing volumes ranging from 250 to 1,000 on a daily basis. 60% of the respondent pool indicated using pre-printed color labels to support specific tasks with the remaining 40% citing the use of on-demand color label printers. Additionally, their research on the color labeling market showed that enterprises are extremely careful about labeling investments, keeping a eye on total cost of ownership. It also showed that enterprise investments in on-demand color label printers are largely restricted to specialized opportunities. So from a color labeling standpoint it appears that organizations are wary of on-demand color label printers due to the initial up front costs. The thought is that these color printers may not be as economical as the monochrome thermal label printers that they are currently using. However, these end users also indicated that nearly 10% of their pre-printed label stock goes to waste because of label inventory management and control issues. And, there are definitely concerns regarding high risks associated with the pre-printed label content becoming obsolete and even printing on incorrect stock which of course can all lead to mislabeling. To sum it up, VDC explained that as hardware vendors and solution partners (like Loftware) are able to establish value propositions associated with color label printing (including investments in on-demand printers) then the need for more automated color labeling solutions will continue to emerge – as we’ve seen. So the advantage here is that those investments will help drive down overall costs for customers - especially as they incur less expense around inventory waste, stock storage requirements, and replacements. (By the way if you want more insights from this survey VDC did a guest blog post for Loftware that you can check out at blog.loftware.com So at the end of the day - performance is really the issue here. Obviously if you’re planning to or thinking about moving from pre-printed stock to color label printing you need to make sure you’re still going to get the same performance your getting today. Basically everything needs to align – you need to be able to count on the durability of your labels, the output and the speed of devices. All of this is important. But with today’s printers coupled with the use of native drivers (which we’ll talk a little bit about next) all this is now possible.
- JESS I think its pretty clear that Color printers have come a long way. You briefly mentioned Native Drivers, can you discuss this a bit more for the audience?
- MAUREEN Thanks Jess, so now that we’ve provided an overview on the importance of printers I’d like to take some time to talk about the role that Native Printer Drivers can play in offering a different, more streamlined and efficient approach to color label printing. Basically, Loftware’s Native Printer Drivers allow color printers to perform at a level that supports today’s on demand print requirements. These drivers actually allow you sdrive your color printers fast enough for your on-demand printing to offer a performance rate that allows you to replace your pre printed stock. So we finally have an honest viable alternative which meets all of the challenges we’ve outlined prior. So lets talk about that – so typically in the past, color label printing has been driven by Windows Printer Drivers. But when using Windows Drivers there are large print streams and lots of network traffic which I’m sure you all know results in slower print times. Alternatively, when using Native Printer Drivers you can gain far greater efficiencies with color printing. Some of you may be familiar with native printer drivers and others may not so let me explain – Loftware drivers are developed against a supported printer language which may handle multiple manufacturers and models. So basically these drivers enable our customers to actually take advantage of a printer’s native capabilities such as at text, barcodes, quantity/duplicates, and incrementing/decrementing values. So by speaking the printer’s language you’re able to leverage the printer’s native capabilities – directly. And the real advantage here is that you can optimize your print performance. Rather than sending down a complete image of your label like with Windows Drivers – with the Native Drivers you’re using the commands of the printer and sending only the data that differs on a label by label basis. This of course allows you to reduce print streams and minimize network traffic so obviously this means significantly faster print times. And, this is especially important for remote sites where you want to provide the smallest possible print stream or amount of data to these sites as possible. Another advantage of native drivers is the ability to simplify printer deployments making it much easier to scale globally…And fewer moving parts means companies can easily manage and support a broader set of printers across multiple locations. So basically using native drivers allows you to reduce maintenance and management of the printer network. This is because there’s only one driver serving all printers - and the printer configuration is separate. So, unlike Windows Drivers where you need to install a driver on each separate device – with any instance of Loftware’s LPS or Spectrum solution these drivers are immediately available with our software. Once the software is installed – you’re simply ready to drive all of your printers – there’s no additional installation or work needed. And as already mentioned this means you can easily scale your labeling solution to thousands of printers without issue as demand increases. So to circle back – what does this mean for color label printing – this means that when you have color labeling requirements it’s possible to add color printers and still achieve the same type of performance you get when doing any thermal printing. And you can quickly and easily add color or change color to adjust to shifting demands - whether regulatory, branding or use requirements. So ultimately if you don’t have the right drivers working with the right technology than you’re not fully optimizing your color label printing. And, Loftware offers extensive native print capabilities to support all types of color printing. Some of the printer technology we support includes Epson, Astronova, Neura Label, cab thermal printers and any printer that is PCL 5c compatible.
- JESS & MAUREEN Thanks Maureen, I think to wrap it up, let’s summarize the benefits again. Obviously there was a lot to take in for a 30 minute webinar, but all of it was great and useful information. Can you summarize the advantages you discussed and how Loftware’s Enterprise Labeling Solutions and Native Driver technology can help our audience in the long run? Maureen So obviously there are quite a few challenges around color label printing. But as we’ve outlined for you here today - when your enlist a comprehensive Enterprise Labeling Solution, which leverages native printer drivers - color labeling doesn’t need to be a challenge. In the long run by adopting this type of approach you can: Reduce Color Labeling Costs – by eliminating stock storage requirements - eliminating waste from obsolete stock – and also be getting rid of mislabeling costs which can be incurred from using the wrong stock or misprinting Realize Time Savings – so because this approach allows for quick and easy changes in a more automated fashion - you’re able to decrease manual efforts including the time involved in managing and switching out label stock Easily Adjust to Brand Enhancements – So you can adapt quickly to color adjustments and logo changes more dynamically through your labeling solution. This of course allows you to represent a complete and consistent brand throughout your supply chain. Also, as discussed it helps to provide additional anti-counterfeit measures. Enable Regulatory Compliance – by offering more rapid label change you’re ultimately going to enable quicker compliance, additional safety measures and advantages over existing language barriers Assist with Traceability and ID Requirements – offering simplified product classification and recognition - which enables customers to easily use color to identify product variations and distinguish between brand, size and product models AND in the long run – all of this greatly increasing efficiencies and reduces overhead and costs.
- Now for a little bit about Loftware… As you may or may not know, Loftware is the global market leader in Enterprise Labeling Solutions… We have over 30 years experience with over 5,000 customers in more than 100 countries. We’re headquartered in Portsmouth, NH, just 40 minutes north of Boston. Loftware is a full service provider of Enterprise Labeling Solutions, offering 24/7 software, services and support all over the world (with offices also in the UK, Germany and Singapore). Loftware is proud to be partners with SAP and Oracle. Not only are our labeling solutions designed and configured to your business needs, we also offer SAP and OVI certified integrations.
- Jess Now it looks like its time to wrap it up. If you are interested in color label printing, Loftware has great relationships with a wide variety of leading color printer vendors. Our solutions have the ability to drive printing natively and are designed to optimize printer performance and meet your needs of your business. If you have any follow-up questions or you would like to learn more about Loftware Enterprise Solutions for color label printing, please reach out to your account executive or feel free to reach out to us and we’ll point you in the right direction. If you would just like to get more information on today’s topic, we have a few documents that may be of interest. First off is our Enterprise Labeling For Dummies. This is a great resource for those that who are still new to Enterprise Labeling and looking to learn more. Another White Paper titled, “Why the demand for Color label printing is on the rise”, is great compliment to this webinar. The last resource is a Q & A Report featuring Loftware’s VP of Development, Mark Wick. In the report he goes over Native Drivers and how they can help manufacturers support global high-volume label printing. All of these documents will be sent to you along with a link to this webinar one the recording is ready. I think that’s it for us today. We hope you enjoyed the presentation. Thanks everyone for joining us. <sign off> Talked about the importance of native drivers – Spectrum is ultimate EL solution – across – that LPS <moved to about loftware slide> Small CTA – could talk about – great relationships with leading color vendors – our solutions are designed to optimize their performance and meet your needs – be happy to talk to you and other providers you may be engaged with.