Labelling Solutions


Labelling:Are you leaving it to chance? S


ome sectors are now so highly regulated, with no end in sight, as national and global bodies require


ever more clarity and traceability on labelling. As packaging becomes more and more complex, it is becoming a real necessity to have standardisation in the production of labels. Peter Laplanche, of Datatrade, a specialist


company offering printer support and maintenance services, says that it’s not as easy as it sounds, with so many challenges out there. “Printer hardware, IT systems and print methods in companies, particularly where they’ve been acquired, are often dissimilar so there needs to be some kind of unification. “And where maybe the IT department


designed labels in the past, it is now frequently the province of marketing or other departments, and how do you manage all the templates that are being created, including historic ones?” Ensuring you are compliant and meeting


all regulations is paramount but not always easy, and what business can afford either the time or money to halt production and re-label goods rather than risk non- compliance fines? While there are laws and legislation to tell


companies how much due diligence should be put into managing their data, businesses rarely give as much thought to protecting or managing the production of barcode labels. And these critical pieces of data are the essential devices that uniquely track millions of products in the supply chain every day. “These ‘unique identifiers’ are vital in


enabling enterprises to track, trace and optimise movement of raw materials and goods from suppliers to customers, yet it is uncertain how many businesses think about the security and brand risk they represent,” continues Laplanche. “It’s one thing to understand that a halt in label production will stop the flow of


products through your supply chain, and therefore affect your productivity and profitability, it’s quite another to understand how vulnerable many organisations’ labels are to either accidental or malign abuse.” He also asks, what’s to


stop a disgruntled worker changing a product label to read something derogatory on a customer shipment? If it is spotted, the impact might just be limited to a costly rerun. If it goes undetected, this could lead to rejected loads, compliance fines or a tarnished reputation. Sadly, there are increasing reports of this


sort of thing happing in supply chains, and it doesn’t have to be malicious, it could be accidental. If your barcode printers allow unauthorised access to the design of labels you could be putting your reputation, productivity and profitability at risk.


LABEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Businesses need to be looking at the controls in place for label design and asking questions like ‘does the person who creates the template also approve it, how are revisions recorded?’ And similarly, when it comes to actually printing labels, companies should be questioning how their printers will alert them if there is an error. Label management systems (LMS) are


vital for enterprises with multiple labelling commitments, and for those with strict quality control systems and operating in highly regulated industries. A good LMS will minimise risk, improve print productivity


and reduce costs. They are easy to deploy, maintain and scale, even if you have legacy systems groaning under the challenge of coping with business growth, disparate locations, multiple users, increased compliance and digitalisation. “An effective LMS centralises control of


label content, eliminating errors caused deliberately or accidentally. It does this through multi-stage approval and electronic signatures, ensuring that only authorised labels are used,” suggests Laplanche. “Using NiceLabel’s Control Center, for


example, business users can design, review, approve and control data through a next-gen web application. Centralised storage means label changes can be made swiftly and effectively without business interruption.” Companies are all too aware of the need


to carry out risk assessments on all aspects of their business. Laplanche believes the same level of management and accountability should be invested in producing barcode label in the way other key systems and data are protected. Rather than leaving it to chance, consider


how standardising label production through an LMS could help you: - Quickly comply with new regulations; - Increase your productivity - less


downtime or re-runs; - Improve quality control; - Stop production of inaccurate labels; - Streamline business processes even if


you acquire new companies. “Some 90 per cent of companies print on-


demand labels from the label design program interface, which puts them at risk of print operators making unauthorised changes to labels before printing,” he adds. “These businesses need to ask themselves whether they want to introduce a layer of control with LMS or leave it all to chance.”


uwww.datatrade.co.uk 14 April 2017 www.convertermag.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40