How to Eliminate Waste in Label Printing with Lean Labeling Practices

How to Eliminate Waste in Label Printing with Lean Labeling Practices

BY: TRAVIS WAYNE / DATE: 04/12/2025 / TOPICS: ПРОМЫШЛЕННОЕ ПРОИЗВОДСТВО, ПРОИЗВОДСТВО ПИЩЕВЫХ ПРОДУКТОВ, LABEL DESIGN, ENTERPRISE LABEL MANAGEMENT

Inefficient label printing leads to wasted materials, lost time, higher costs, and added environmental impact. Label misprints due to human error or outdated processes can slow down production, frustrate teams, and even delay shipments.

Lean labeling helps eliminate this waste, streamline operations, and improve your return on investment (ROI). The result is a smarter, more sustainable labeling environment that reduces costs and supports long‑term growth.

Download eBook: Achieving Lean Labeling Success

In this blog, we’ll discuss how to eliminate waste in label printing by showing you five basic steps to optimize your labeling environment with lean labeling practices.

First off: What is lean labeling?

Lean labeling is a method to minimize waste within a label printing system without sacrificing productivity.

If your current labeling environment looks like a scattered mess, you’re not alone. 100% of respondents from a TEKLYNX poll said their labeling environment was not completely lean—while 43% of respondents said they needed to make significant improvements to have a lean labeling environment.

So how do you actually achieve lean labeling? It starts with five practical steps.

Step 1: Identify waste

Waste can take many forms in the labeling process—from misprinted label stock that gets thrown out to wasted time when staff has to manage thousands of label files. Waste typically comes from one of these areas in a label printing environment: 

• Maintenance waste includes the salaries of your IT staff while they spend time installing your label software licenses on individual workstations. This also includes time users spend searching for the desired label out of potentially thousands of files or fixing labeling errors after misprints. 
• Process waste occurs when steps can be automated but are currently carried out manually with human interaction. Not only do humans take longer to enter data and print labels, but they are more prone to making mistakes. 
• Waste from inaccurate labels could be as small as a few wasted labels, or as massive as hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on a product recall.

Step 2: Analyze the root cause

Once waste in the label printing process has been identified, it’s time to take a closer look at why it’s happening. Ask yourself (or your team) these seven questions about your company’s labeling:

1. Are our labels created and stored haphazardly?
   Many companies start with a small folder of label files, but it quickly becomes unmanageable as the number of different labels grows.
   
   
2. How quickly can we make an update to all our labels?
   Changes like a new logo or change of address could take hours to implement on hundreds of label files.
   
   
3. Is our label design software licensed on a single-user basis?
   Software maintenance costs balloon when licenses are not centrally managed via a network.
   
   
4. How was the error made?
   Does the user need freedom to decide in this step? If the user is entering data that’s available in another system, or if they’re entering a calculable value (e.g., an expiration date), this step can be automated.
   
   
5. Is the data we need for labels already stored somewhere?
   Often, your business system already has the data that’s required to be on your labels and can be pulled into a label template through database connections instead of manually entering it.
   
   
6. Does anything need to happen to the data after it’s added to the label?
   Can the expiration date be determined by adding a set amount of time to the manufacture date? Should the quantity be determined by the order number? Do allergens need to be bolded? Can these decisions be made by the system instead of the user?
   
   
7. How many steps are in our label printing process, and how long does each step take? 
   If someone has to search through folders every time they want to open a label or manual data entry is required before printing, it adds time to the process. 

Step 3: Solve the root cause

Solving the root cause of label printing waste doesn't have to be difficult.

If the waste was due to maintenance, consider:

• Label templates: Minimize the number of label files you manage and optimize data entry using label templates with variable data fields.
• Network licensing: Manage multiple users with one license from a central IT office.
• Browser-based label printing: Local installations are eliminated and authorized users log into a webpage to print labels from anywhere. 

If the waste was due to the process, consider:

• Tagged text management: Automate stylistic differences for predefined text, such as allergens. For example, you can automatically bold the word "egg" or "peanut" whenever they appear in an ingredients list.
• Print automation software: Trigger label printing directly from your ERP, WMS, or other business system without any human interaction.
• Paperless label approval: Requests are sent through email and able to be viewed without downloading. Label files are stored in a central repository where the approver can access, approve, deny, and add comments. 

If the waste was due to inaccurate labels, consider:

• Custom label printing forms: Separate design users from print users by organizing print-time data entry and controls, ensuring your data is formatted correctly 100% of the time and your label templates are protected from unintended edits.
• Database connections: Enable label designs to pull accurate data from Excel, Excel Online, Google Sheets. SQL, Access, or another type of database.
• Enterprise label management software: Having one centralized, unified solution to handle label design, approval, printing, and reporting can help organize and reduce waste throughout your entire labeling process.

Step 4: Measure results

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are excellent tools to show the results of a lean labeling initiative. KPIs provide concrete numbers you can use to determine if your project was successful in reducing waste or not. Simply calculate these KPIs and share them with your boss to prove the value and ROI of your project.

Here are some example KPI targets*:

• 90% or more print jobs that use a label template
• 5 or fewer standalone workstations with label design software connected directly to a printer
• 3 or fewer input fields are required to be manually entered by the print user
• 100% utilization of data entry controls that require a specific format for field inputs
• 5 seconds or less are required for the print user to launch a print job 
• 1 second or less required for the system to process a label and start to print job

*KPIs and target values developed by Dave Klement, Principal at Efficient Business Integrators.

Step 5: Repeat!

Move on to the next source of label printing waste and repeat the lean labeling process.

Let’s wrap up with a use case: Reducing waste in enterprise label printing

Freelin-Wade has more than 4,000 stock items and infinite custom products that require proper labeling. Their existing end user interface was confusing, resulting in high error rates and increased customer returns. A lack of integration between their label design software and existing business systems also left the door open to errors. 

Freelin-Wade wanted to consolidate disparate systems with one centralized enterprise label printing software solution. They decided on TEKLYNX CENTRAL to combine barcode label design, automated label printing, and label approval into one single solution.

After installation, Freelin-Wade saw a 50% reduction in labeling errors, resulting in an equal decrease in expensive customer returns. The label preview reinforced a key tenet of lean manufacturing—visualization. The visual cue helps users make the right choice, and average daily label waste dropped from 20% to less than 1%. The centralized labeling system also led to faster installations, upgrades, and label definition for each workstation.

Are you ready to reduce label printing waste and have a lean labeling environment?

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