Shepherd Color Company Improves GHS Labeling with TEKLYNX CENTRAL

The Shepherd Color Company Improves GHS-Compliant Labeling Efficiency and Accuracy with TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS

TOPICS: ENTERPRISE LABEL MANAGEMENT, CHEMICAL

For more than 90 years, Shepherd Color has been proud to be a world-class pigment manufacturer and supplier for a diverse customer base. The company’s rich history dates back to the 1920’s when the company’s founder, Lee Shepherd, produced lubricant additives for use in Model T Ford transmissions. Today, Shepherd ships products to customers worldwide from its state-of-the-art facilities in the United States and Europe.

Since 2009, Shepherd Color has leveraged LABELVIEW barcode label design software to design and print labels for various aspects of its operations. Shepherd was looking to upgrade to a barcode labeling solution that could better support its need to accurately and efficiently create labels that meet both Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards.

In addition to regulatory compliance, Shepherd Color was looking for a barcode labeling solution that could integrate with its soon-to-be implemented Microsoft Dynamics Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System. Doing so would position the company to send information directly from its ERP System to its labeling software solution to accurately print required labels, as well as seamlessly integrating data from its Safety Data Sheet (SDS) authoring software - a process that had been done manually.

Finally, the company was seeking to simplify labeling operations. To date, different departments throughout the company used different labeling systems. Shepherd Color was eager to streamline operations by implementing one centralized labeling system that could ultimately be used by all departments, from raw materials receiving to finished product labeling, and everything in between.

“Today, in one of our departments, production operators must rely on up to three other team members to print the required GHS-compliant labels. If one of those team members is not available, the operators are not able to proceed,” explains Diana McDonough, Senior Developer for Shepherd Information Systems. “Our goal was to eliminate this dependency and give operators the power and ability to print the necessary labels in a more time-efficient, autonomous manner while maintaining accuracy.”

In addition to streamlining its labeling operations, Shepherd Color needed a labeling solution that could accommodate the following labeling requirements:

• Efficiently support a multi-user environment: 4 different employees are responsible for designing and managing labels while over 30 different employees are responsible for accessing and printing them.
• Comply with a diverse and ever-changing list of international shipping requirements: Shipping products worldwide requires an agile labeling environment to comply with varied labeling standards.
• Print labels from multiple locations: Streamline labeling operations at each company to drive efficiencies.

Solutions

Shepherd Color partnered with the TEKLYNX team and determined that enterprise label management solution TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS would allow the company to meet all of its labeling requirements in the most efficient and accurate manner possible. TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS, which includes CODESOFT barcode label design software, SENTINEL print automation solution, and LABEL ARCHIVE label security and traceability software, would also position the company to migrate from many labeling systems to one centralized labeling system across holding companies.

Prior to selecting TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS, Shepherd evaluated several other barcode label software providers, but ultimately selected TEKLYNX based on its affordability and the favorable experience the company had working with the TEKLYNX team on Shepherd’s original implementation of LABELVIEW.

TEKLYNX was eager to partner with Shepherd Color on its implementation of TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS. “When companies implement a new ERP System, they have the opportunity to implement or upgrade ancillary systems to further increase their return on investment,” states TEKLYNX Sales Manager Nick Recht. “We knew The Shepherd Color Company would benefit from this while also addressing its need to more efficiently and accurately print GHS-compliant labels.”

TEKLYNX partnered with Shepherd Color throughout the implementation process as they looked to implement TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS at its other locations.

For Shepherd, TEKLYNX flexibility proved invaluable as implementation scenarios varied by holding company. For Shepherd Color, TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS was implemented simultaneously with its new Microsoft Dynamics ERP System. For Glass Coatings & Concepts, TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS was implemented five months following the ERP implementation. Shepherd Chemical Company, wanted to leverage the TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS labeling software for purposes of GHS labeling compliance, as well as for a reduction in the number of errors. The TEKLYNX team was able to accommodate each of these unique implementation scenarios.

Regardless of the implementation scenario, the Shepherd TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS implementation would finally allow the company to move from many labeling systems to one centralized system. “We’d reached the point where each department had its own labeling system. Our raw materials department used one labeling system, our sample department used another labeling system, our shipping department used another labeling system and the list goes on and on,” explains McDonough. “We were looking to implement one centralized labeling system that could be used throughout the entire company.”

Results

Shepherd Color upgraded its barcode labeling software solution to TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS to address its need to more efficiently and accurately create GHS-compliant labels, as the company’s former process to create these labels was admittedly time-consuming and prone to manual error.

Prior to the implementation of TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS, employees of Shepherd Color’s Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Department created GHS-compliant labels by performing a number of manual tasks. Specifically, EHS Department employees created GHS-compliant labels by taking phrases generated by the company’s SDS authoring software and copying them into a legacy system. This meant that if an employee copied the wrong phrase or accidentally omitted one, the label would have errors. It also meant that if a given phrase could not be easily located within the SDS system, employees would have to spend time contacting other team members to obtain the necessary label information.

Following its TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS implementation, Shepherd Color is better positioned to comply with GHS labeling requirements because team members can now efficiently pull the necessary phrases, symbols, signal words, and hazard elements directly from the SDS authoring software. This alone has reduced the time required to print labels by 10%. Better yet, they can do so without help from the company’s information technology department which means system administrators and developers can dedicate time to other critical projects and tasks. In addition to increased label printing speed, The TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS implementation had a ripple effect of savings throughout other areas of the organization. An example of this can be found in the company’s sample department. This department purchased new label printers in conjunction with the TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS implementation, a move that would prove to significantly reduce wasted label stock.

Prior to the implementation of TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS, the sample department printed sample labels in batches of four, but sample orders did not always occur in batches of four. If just one sample was created, three labels were wasted. With over 10,000 samples produced annually, the number of wasted labels each year quickly added up.

The new printers purchased in conjunction with the TEKLYNX CENTRAL GHS implementation have the ability to print labels one at a time, all but eliminating wasted label stock from the department. “The implementation of the new labeling system inspired us to take a blank slate approach to our sample department’s entire labeling process,” explains McDonough. “It facilitated our move to a lighter weight, more durable and eco-friendly shipping container saving us shipping costs on every sample order. With over 10,000 sample orders a year you can see how those savings quickly add up.”

For TEKLYNX Americas President & General Manager, Doug Niemeyer, operational improvements and cost savings are the true measure of success for TEKLYNX implementations. “We’re on a mission to help companies work better,” states Niemeyer. “It’s why we partner closely with customers like The Shepherd Color Company throughout the implementation to ensure our integrated technology solutions drive improvements well beyond the barcode software itself.”

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