Labelling Modernising, streamlining and digitising
Josh Roffman, VP global product management at Loſtware looks at how manufacturers can digitally transform their labelling solutions.
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anufacturers are increasingly digitising their IT systems and processes. There are a raft of drivers. In a recent study of IT directors in manufacturing, commissioned by Loftware, nearly one third (32%) said they consider enhancing brand reputation to be a main benefit of modernising/automating their manufacturing process, including labelling, with technology, and 30% see improving relationships with supply chain partners as a main benefit. More than half of the survey sample (51%) said they were either well under way with their digital transformation journey to modernise/automate their manufacturing processes with technology or had nearly completed it.
That’s important because it is part of a wider IT modernisation trend that impacts labelling. When large enterprises update their ERP, one of the consequences is they will subsequently modernise their labelling systems and often migrate to or implement a new standardised global labelling solution.
The cloud is the other key enabler of this push to enterprise labelling – and the migration of businesses to cloud is to a large extent running in parallel to digital transformation. 18% of survey respondents say all their IT infrastructure is based in the cloud today, while a further 37% say their organisations have moved most of their IT infrastructure to the cloud.
LABELLING – OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
As they transition to cloud, manufacturers will, of course, want to ensure they are moving key functions of the business over into this environment also. The applications respondents are most likely to be running/ looking to run in the cloud are: enterprise resource planning (42%); supply chain management (40%); and sales & operations planning (40%).
The move towards cloud across
manufacturing today is clear and cloud-based labelling is a key part of this ongoing migration. The benefits include the ability of the approach to streamline and scale the labelling process, while enabling organisations to save significant sums.
Perhaps most importantly of all, digitally
transforming labelling with the cloud enables organisations to centralise and control labelling processes, from any location. Whether the labels are needed at the warehouse, factory or at another facility, they can be accessed by people with the relevant permissions, as part of a role-based access approach, and quality assurance procedures can be run on them. Indeed, a centralised cloud-based labelling system can enhance a manufacturing organisation’s quality and agility, reduce costs, and promote better supply chain flexibility across the organisation. Such a system also provides consistency and accuracy across a global landscape. Moreover, a centralised approach simplifies oversight, supports business continuity and enables users to adhere to corporate standards. That element of centralised control and management is critically important. When labelling is disorganised, simple tasks like making changes to a shipment label not only become arduous but also potentially damaging to the brand and consumer safety. As common sense can dictate, a decentralised system will inevitably result in inaccuracies, such as mislabeled products – a leading cause of recalls.
POSITIVE FUTURE AHEAD
Moving forward, the key learning point for manufacturers is the need to modernise their labelling systems as part of a digital transformation process. When businesses update an ERP, many modernise their labelling and migrate to a standardised global labelling solution, and that creates opportunities for the digital transformation of labelling in general. Looking ahead, expect that modernisation to continue to be accelerated by the ongoing pandemic and the continuing drive of businesses to move to the cloud and start to adopt cloud-based labelling solutions to drive further efficiencies.
Covid-19 will continue to impact the sector throughout 2021 and beyond. Change has already been driven by necessity. Across labelling, organisations have been forced to adopt new ways of working and often, they have found them to be more efficient. Businesses now understand that they can work remotely and still be efficient. Vendors
have reacted by modifying their tools and solutions. The same transformation is happening in the world of label management systems. Today, channel partners can collaborate remotely and provide services, whether it is designing labels or configuring applications, and they can remotely monitor label volumes and types of labels printed, helping provide a better customer experience. Another trend that will keep accelerating is the migration to cloud-based labelling and alongside that a drive toward cloud-connected printers and having zero software footprint on premise.
While challenges remain, the overall benefits of moving business systems, including labelling to the cloud, are too compelling for many organisations to ignore over the long-term. Over the past year, in particular, we have seen the increasing adoption of a cloud first approach in order to navigate a world of remote working and lockdowns. We’ve also seen channel players increasingly stepping up to the plate to help manage labelling in the cloud as businesses move their labelling operations off-premise.
BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS Another positive factor is that the cloud is breaking down the traditional roadblocks in the way of integrating business applications with labelling solutions. One of the main catalysts for this is cloud-to-cloud integration: effectively a cloud business system integrating with another cloud business system.
The key is making it as easy as possible for these cloud-based business systems including cloud-based ERP, warehouse management systems (WMS) and MES systems to integrate with cloud-based labelling systems, typically via cloud connector APIs.
So, as we look to the future, despite the challenges and issues outlined in the survey, the future looks increasingly bright for labelling and label management systems. The modernisation of IT systems, coupled with the centralisation of labelling solutions, the move to the cloud and a focus on tighter systems integration is starting to ensure the labelling industry is really fulfilling its promise.
Xwww.loftware.com
30
October 2021
www.convertermag.com
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