The ROI of Implementing an Automated Labeling System

The ROI of Implementing an Automated Labeling System

BY: CASEY SCIANO / DATE: 07/27/2023 / TOPICS: FOOD & BEVERAGE, MANUFACTURING, PHARMACEUTICAL, PRINT AUTOMATION

Integrating your labeling system helps expand return on investment (ROI) by leveraging existing business systems, including an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system or warehouse management system (WMS), rather than allocating budget to a new solution. Utilizing existing infrastructure and building an automated labeling solution into it allows you to leverage historical data to create a broad picture of operations. When systems are integrated, sharing information between disparate teams is seamless and processes are simplified through streamlined workflows and single sign-on technology.

“SENTINEL enables us to use our ERP system to print labels, which means labeling is no longer a bottleneck.” - Terry Kakavros, Director of Information Technology at Flex-Strut Inc. 

With our print automation software, SENTINEL, you can completely automate label printing, print to unlimited printers across your entire enterprise, and initiate printing directly from any business system.   

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Expand ROI with integrated & automated solutions 

The ROI of implementing an automated labeling system varies depending on the specific business and application, but it can be significant. The key benefits of automated labeling through integration include:

• Increased efficiency 
• Improved accuracy 
• Reduced costs 
• Improved compliance 

Saves time for print users, label designers, and admins 

Using data from an existing business system to drive a printing interface eliminates manual entry of almost all data and prints all necessary labels in one step. When a labeling environment is configured to pull variable data into a single label template, it simplifies the management of label files for administrators by reducing the number of files that are stored in the system.  

Eliminates manual data entry and errors 

Quality is critical for barcode labeling—a bad label results in unexpected delays, rework, chargebacks, or a product recall. Leveraging ERP integrations to auto-populate labels will improve accuracy and protect your business from bad labels.  

Creates efficiency, compliance, and accuracy 

Because an existing ERP system already holds the necessary data needed to be printed on labels, integrating can systematically send the correct data to the right label template at the right time.  

Integration helps increase efficiency, adhere to compliance standards, and improve accuracy by allowing organizations to automate various aspects of the labeling process. Here are some specific examples of how an automated labeling system can expand ROI for businesses: 

• A food and beverage company: The company implemented an automated labeling system that reduced the time it took to label products from 10 minutes to 1 minute. This resulted in a potential ROI of 300%. 
• A pharmaceutical company: The company implemented an automated labeling system that helped it to comply with government regulations. This saved the company $1 million per year in compliance costs. 
• A logistics company: The company implemented an automated labeling system that helped it to track the number of labels it had in stock. This saved the company money on labels and other materials, and it also helped to improve the company's efficiency. 

Realize ROI faster with commercial off-the-shelf solutions 

Off-the-shelf solutions include many optional features that can easily be turned on or off and can often meet your requirements at a fraction of the cost—which will yield quicker ROI and save hefty ongoing maintenance and development costs that come along with custom integrations. 

TEKLYNX automated label printing and enterprise label management solutions rely on simple integration, avoiding complex system integration and constraints. Your ERP system, WMS, or other business system simply adds a record to a database or generates a flat file with the information needed to print. The label printing system sees the new record or file and triggers the print job. 

When it comes time to upgrade your ERP system, if it can continue to generate the flat file, your integrated barcode label printing software from TEKLYNX will continue to work seamlessly and won’t require costly ongoing maintenance and development. 

Automated labeling system case study 

Entertainment Earth is an online retailer and wholesaler of licensed collectibles, including action figures, clothing, statues, prop replicas, games, vinyl figures, dolls, and toys. With their past labeling environment, Entertainment Earth’s labeling process took hours or even days to just design and print labels. There are three employees that manage and are responsible for 33,000 different products, so they needed a solution that could help them accomplish high volume and keep a lean IT team. 

Entertainment Earth collaborated with TEKLYNX to determine that print automation solution, SENTINEL, would support their warehouse labeling needs, seamlessly integrate with their current labeling environment, and included industry-leading customer support before, during, and after implementation. 

Being responsible for 33,000 different products to be shipped out, Entertainment Earth could not afford to have any downtime in label production. TEKLYNX partnered closely with them throughout the entire implementation process and provided seamless integration with their current SQL database to ensure downtime didn’t happen.   

With their newly implemented CODESOFT and SENTINEL labeling solution, Entertainment Earth was able to cut the time from design to print by 75%, allowing employees to spend time on other tasks. Plus: 

• Their IT team of three is better equipped to manage labels for 33,000 products 
• They automated the entire printing process with a seamless integration with SQL 
• Using the GridField feature in CODESOFT for printing work orders led to better ROI 

Read the full case study

Whether or not implementing an automated labeling system is worth the cost depends on several factors, including the size and complexity of your business, the type of products you label, and your current labeling process. Consider the following factors when evaluating the potential ROI of an automated labeling system: 

• The cost of the system 
• The cost of manual labeling 
• The savings in labor costs 
• The savings in materials costs 
• The savings in compliance costs 

In many cases, the benefit of automated labeling outweighs the costs, and the ROI of an automated labeling system can be realized within a few years. Let’s discuss your specific labeling environment to help determine if an integrated and automated labeling system is right for your business.

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