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.
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:
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.
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.
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:
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.
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:
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:
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.
Casey Sciano is an Enterprise Executive at TEKLYNX. He uses his 15+ years of sales and technical experience and knowledge of the AIDC space to support enterprise label management clients. Casey strives to help clients "see the forest through the trees" by utilizing sound business strategies and sales techniques that impact the way they do business. When not working, he loves spending time with his dog Josie and cheering on the Brewers, Bucks, and Packers.
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