BY SUSAN K. LACEFIELD, ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR
PRINTING AND LABELING
materialhandlingupdate
do you
IT ALL SEEMS SO SIMPLE. PRINT A LABEL. PEEL
it off. Slap it on a box, pallet, or container.
But it turns out that effective labeling isn’t quite
that easy. For one thing, it’s not enough just to crank
out labels that are reasonably legible and meet your
own operation’s needs. Your customers will almost
certainly want a say in the matter—in fact, many
have rigorous requirements regarding the way their
incoming shipments are labeled. Fail to meet these
requirements and you risk getting hit with penalties
and fees or having your shipments rejected.
And customers’ requirements can range all over
the map. Some, for example, require information to
be printed within precise tolerances to assure the
labels can be read by their automated receiving
equipment.
Others have special requirements that are driven
by government regulations. For example, Marty
“That was a request that when it came in, we said, ‘Huh, we never did anything like
this before,’” recalls Johnson.
In addition, some customers have special demands related to their specific industries.
For example, pharmaceutical companies, which are subject to stringent data tracking
requirements, might want suppliers to include detailed product information on their
labels. Because a pharmaceutical company may be required to track products down to
the place of manufacture and expiration date, it’s likely to put a heavy emphasis on the
accuracy and quality of the data on its labels, says Perry Cozzone, CIO of Colorcon, a
company that makes coatings for products like tablets and pills.
So what can you do to ensure your labels are both readable and customer compliant?
What follows are some tips.
read me?
It may sound like
a slam-dunk, but
producing labels
that are both
readable and comply
with customers’
requirements can be
something of a trick.
Here are some tips.
1. Choose the right material
There are many different types of label material out there, including paper, coated paper,
and synthetic material. So how do you determine what’s the right one for your application?
The first consideration, says Johnson of Zebra, is how long the label has to last. While
some labels are intended only for short-term use, others have to be archived for 10 years
or more to meet government regulations, he explains. In those cases, you’ll need to
select a synthetic label or a paper label that has been coated with chemicals to preserve
it. “Otherwise, you’re going to be disappointed in what happens,” says Johnson.
Next, think about the environmental conditions the label will be subjected to.
Exposure to water, dust, or light—whether it’s direct sunlight or office light—can cause
ink to fade and labels to deteriorate. If fading or deterioration is a concern, paper might
not be an appropriate choice.
