Leverage Labeling Technology to Boost Productivity for Semi-Finished Goods

Reduce Time Waste by 33% with TSC Standalone Creator and TSCPRTGo Software Tools

Background

The key parts shipment process is complex and often inefficient. It entails manual calculation of the label quantity required. Once the quantity is manually calculated, packers request label printing from the label center.

Numerous orders called into the daily operation require label printing fulfillment. To reduce the frequency of travelling to the print center, packers will take several orders marked with required label quantities before heading to the center to request label printing. While this reduces travel time, it is likely to increase the chances of human error by placing incorrect labels on goods.

Label technology can support a more efficient process. In this use case, we’ll cover several challenges in greater depth, and introduce solutions.

Challenges

Time Wasted with Manual Processing

Every time work orders are called in, semi-finished goods packers need to obtain printed labels from the print center. This results in lower operational efficiency, as they lose valuable time waiting for the labels to be made. In the TSC Printronix Auto ID factory, a packer typically spends an average of 11 minutes to get the required labels for each order, including travel and wait time. If six of our packers travel to the label center 20 times in one day, that’s 21.6 hours of idle time!

Expanding the Print Center is Prohibitive

The TSC Printronix Auto ID factory has one label center that is always busy managing daily operations from different workstations. The shop floor is limited, so all available space is used to increase production lines in order to fulfill customer orders. This leaves little room for print center expansion. Adding new label centers requires additional space. It also requires an investment in additional equipment such as PCs, monitors, label printers, and label software, which can cost up to US$3,500 per seat. Depending on the location, it’s not always possible to expand, and if it is, an additional investment in equipment is needed.

Difficulty Managing Thousands of Label Templates

Semi-finished parts are typically delivered and packaged in diverse and small quantities. TSC Printronix Auto ID not only produces off-the-shelf products, but we also have numerous customers. Managing thousands of templates in the label directory and touch panel menu becomes increasingly complex.

For example, when a work order requests a printhead and cutter shipment, the print center operator first needs to open the label directory, review several files, and select the correct template. The operator then enters the parts information, manually keys in the quantities, and finally clicks the print button to produce the labels.

Solution

To combat inefficiencies from these challenges, TSC Printronix Auto ID uses its own software tools — TSC Standalone Creator and the TSCPRTGo app — to set up local printers. This helps to reduce performance bottlenecks, increases productivity, and makes label template management easy.

TSC Standalone Creator software makes updating touch panel menus and label designs easy to use with its icon-based drag-and-drop interface, no prior programming experience required. The TSCPRTGo app works together with TSC Standalone Creator to control printing using a connected tablet or smartphone at anytime, from anywhere.

Turn Label Printers into Efficient Print Hubs

Through TSC Standalone Creator, the label templates are created and stored at local printers in the semi-finished goods working area. The label production leader can easily select any template on the printer’s touch screen or via mobile devices, enter the number of parts, required quantities, and then proceed to print. By reducing travel and wait time, the production leader can quickly schedule label printing, while packers can then focus on labeling and packing. The streamlined process with local printing shortens the turnaround for label printing requests to 3 minutes per order (down from 11 minutes per order), which can save as much as 16 idle hours for 6 packers per day, reducing the idle time by 33%!

Upgrade Existing Asset Functionality with Ultra Low Costs

The integrated TSC Standalone Creator and TSCPRTGo app solution provides smart utilization for existing assets. Eliminating the need to purchase additional PCs, a PC integrated with TSC Standalone Creator software can create templates frequently used in the semi-finished goods working area and distribute them to local printers. The TSCPRTGo app serves as the printer’s touch panel, and enables label printing on the go. Adopting new software tools is a fraction of the cost to expand a print center.

Streamline Workflows with Better Efficiency

The upgraded TSC Standalone Creator introduced database features, allowing printers to access CSV-file data with ease. Along with the TSCPRTGo app, label production leaders can use the camera on their mobile device to scan the work order barcode. The system will then retrieve the label data, including part numbers, names, descriptions, and more. Thanks to database integration, manual data entry is no longer required.

Conclusion

TSC Standalone Creator works together with the TSCPRTGo app to simplify label printing challenges.

To begin enhancing your efficiency, download TSC Standalone Creator and the TSCPRTGo app for a test drive.