Print System Success Stories
- The software engineers at a leading manufacturer of high-quality professional electrical test and measurement instruments for the industrial, commercial and utility marketplace knew they must use innovative technology to deliver products that perform at the highest degree of precision and accuracy. Software upgrades and enhancements are part of the evolving development cycle and need to be carefully tracked to ensure the most current revision is delivered to the customer. Making changes to print the new revision levels proved to be challenging in the production environment. Using a laser printer with 9-up sheet fed labels required a new label set up each time it changed. This time consuming process could halt production and was not efficient.
Winco tailored a solution with a preprinted custom label on a paper stock and wound them on a 3" core. The new design provided a highly polished, multi-colored label which could be customized and printed one at a time or in batch mode. Using a DataMax Prodigy thermal transfer printer and a windows-based label design software, our customer is designing and printing durable labels – on demand- virtually eliminating both waste and set up reconfiguration.
They noticed increased performance in production right away. The bottom line is a cost savings and a quicker turn around time for testing and product delivery.
Electronic
Manufacturer
A major manufacturer of temperature sensor probes was
unsatisfied with poor print and excessive material waste involved with printing
various name plate labels.
Winco enhanced the quality by implementing the Genisys Thermal Transfer Printing System. This system uses PC-based software that allows the creation of on-screen graphics and laser-like print. The customer then simply purchases generic labels with their company logo. The customer on demand can print the part number, model number, serial number and revision information. This eliminates the need for excessive inventory and avoided production shutdown's due to inventory outages.
The savings to a Winco’s customer will exceed $10,000 per year in label cost, with a return on investment after just three months. The label is UL/CSA approved and withstands solvents, oils, and elevated temperatures.
Audio
Manufacturer
A major manufacturer of audio systems and speakers for both the retail and
automotive industry, came to Winco Identification with a problem. One of their
larger customers, General Motors, advised them that all shipments had to comply
with the GM bar code specifications, or they would refuse shipment and be
penalized for noncompliance.
Winco, along with the customer’s engineers, determined that the Datamax Prodigy Label Printer would handle the heavy volume of use that was required. The printer would interface with the mainframe computer system, utilizing custom software, and would allow multiple stations to be placed within the factory shipping area. This versatility was a benefit to the customer.
This application also included the need for an inexpensive direct thermal tag that would be attached to the customer’s products and is infrared scanned upon receipt by GM.
Due to Winco's ability to handle software, printers, labels, tags, as well as service and technical support, the customer promptly complied to GM's requirements and avoided any rejected shipments or noncompliance penalties.
Printing
Compliance Issues
A short time ago, a major valve manufacturer contacted Winco with a labeling
issue. They had to adhere to a number of Xerox compliance specifications
in shipping their product to their customer base. With Winco’s expertise in
thermal transfer printers, ribbons and labels, combined with broad-based knowledge
of compliance labeling issues, the Winco sales and technical support team
was able to set the company up with a DMX 600 Datamax printer, Ribbon, and
labels. Winco got them online and they were able to meet their deadlines in
complying well ahead of schedule.
After the sale, Winco supplied one full day of software and equipment training. During the training, 20 employees were exposed to thermal transfer technology. At first, most the employees were skeptical, but by the end they were asking when this new application would be available. Clearly, this shows how important proper training is to the sale of equipment and software. Faster, more efficient equipment is useless without knowledgeable people to run it.
After the training, confidence in Winco’s capabilities increased and they contacted us to upgrade the rest of the dot matrix applications to thermal transfer. Consequently, their productivity will be raised and their customers will be able to receive products legibly marked and bar coded.
Telecommunications
Company
A fast-growing company in the telecommunications industry, a printed circuit
board manufacturer, needed to supply “CLEI” code labels to the telephone operating
companies. This requirement prompted an urgent call to Winco.
This company's previous printing system, an old dot matrix system, was not capable of producing quality “CLEI” code labels. After meeting with an engineer in manufacturing, Winco recommended a new print technology, the Genisys Thermal Transfer System. The Genisys system produces high-quality labels in rugged polyester material with non-smudging printing that exceeds telecommunications industry standards. This on demand printing system has improved quality, and eliminated rejects due to label quality.
Winco was also able to assist the customer by resolving software questions thus allowing for the work in progress or tracking of boards throughout their plant. While utilizing their existing computer system, and avoiding costly additional hardware.
Winco’s ability to provide a complete turn-key system that includes software, printing system, labels, and matching ribbons, is proving very productive to many telecommunications product suppliers.
Automated
Label Printing to Reduce Costs & Errors
A rapidly expanding distributor of wire and cable products as well as wiring
harness assemblies recently found itself growing so fast that it was having
problems tracking items.
This newly formed company found itself having to handwrite hundreds of labels weekly. This tedious task required four or five man hours each day to complete each bunch of labels.
Winco suggested the Genisys printing system to eliminate the inefficient use of workers handwriting labels. One of the employees who had been writing labels by hand stated, "When we saw the printer’s ability to turn out 10,000 labels an hour, what we were doing didn't make sense. The time spent at the typewriter typing three lines on 500 labels can be used much more efficiently in a small company."
Helping to increase workers efficiency did not stop here, though. We introduced bar coding to the company's operations via the Genisys system. The system is assisting in tracking work in process and inventory.
The Genisys system proved it's worth to the company for, as an employee stated, "the Genesis system is an excellent choice for anyone facing serious label volumes. We can't afford to identify products with a typewriter today."
Law
Enforcement Agency Looks To Cut Costs
Like many companies today, a manufacture of custom firearm holsters for arms
distributors and for law enforcement agencies was looking for ways to reduce
internal costs and increase efficiency. One area that was targeted for
improvement was warehouse operations.
Winco was brought in to introduce product tracking and inventory software within the facility that was previously using a manual system -- not only was this a timely process but there was a large margin of human error.
The equipment specialist from Winco met with the fire arm company’s management team to suggest a solution that would benefit the entire company, not just warehouse.
One of the concerns of the management team was that the system be flexible enough to meet the demands of the rapidly growing industry.
Our solution was to implement the Genisys 3 Labeling Printing System. The GS-3 was chosen based on expected label volume of under 500 labels a day. The Genisys label design software is also flexible enough to allow for any changes that may arise in the future design of the label.
An additional feature of the Genisys 3 is when combined with the tracking software, the whereabouts of the bar coded package is known at all times. This decreased the time spent looking for work in process.
Medical
Products Company
A New England medical products company recently asked Winco to assist them
in reducing the time and cost of producing aluminum name plates which had
serialized on demand.
Winco worked closely with the company's engineers to fully evaluate the company's needs and requirements for labeling specifications. Our recommendation was to implement a PC-based version of the Genisys-2 system so serial labels could be monitored and recorded.
Winco also collaborated with the MIS department of the medical products company to format the Genisys software so it met all the company's needs. The end result was a Genesis software system that could read the bar codes on the job order and then print the label on demand without the risk of human error.
We also tested a number of label materials to be used in conjunction with the Genisys. The final decision was to use a 2.5 mil metalized mylar label preprinted with a special colored solvent resistant ink. The label printed on the Genisys system complies to UL and CSA requirements.
Winco's solution not only provided the medical products company the ability to produce name plates on demand, it did so in a cost-effective and time efficient manner.
Fiber
Optics Company
Being involved in "America's Information Highway", this fast-paced
fiber optic manufacturing company was very pleased to have won a contract
with AT&T Technologies to provide various fiber optic cables. The
contract was awarded based on providing high-quality cables on time, at competitive
prices and to AT&T's specifications.
The problem was not quality, performance or price -- it was meeting AT&T's Bell Core shipping specifications. The fiber optic company had no way to meet this important mandate!
Winco was able to step in and provide a complete turn-key bar code system including label printing software to print the required labels and thus fulfilling the shipping requirements of the contract.
Our new low-cost Genisys 3 system was installed and running within hours of delivery. This manufacturer has now started to use the bar code system to track all their inventory, not just for compliance requirements.
Contract
Manufacturing House
A leading contract house was looking for a way to improve the quality of their
component labels while simultaneously reducing the waste and cost of expensive
dot matrix labels.
Winco was asked to evaluate the current requirements, as well as assess overall future needs.
Winco's recommendation was the dependable Genisys 2 system because of the wide range of materials being utilized, as well as the need to produce up to 35 characters per inch with multiple lines of print. Utilizing the Genisys 2 system they are able to triple the amount of teat on a wide variety of labels and do online bar coding, assisting their customers with their mandated compliance requirements.
They are now able to offer their customers a wider range of product markings, while reducing costs and improving the overall quality. This made them more competitive in a highly competitive market.
EIA
Standard Application
Winco was recently asked to evaluate the customer’s needs and to recommend
a more effective label printing system. The customer works in the electronic
industry and has been using a dot matrix printing system and was now looking
for a more efficient method to produce bar coded human-readable paper labels.
The company had been using the Day-Glo red paper labels. Laser scanners had difficulty reading the bar codes because of the dark red background and poor quality of the dot matrix printing. The graphics, which was anti-static symbols, were of poor print quality due to the low DPI of the dot matrix printing system.
We therefore recommended the Genisys 12 to solve the printing problems. We also recommended that the color layout of label be changed to comply with the Electronic Industry Association (EIA) standards. This also would solve the problem of bad bar code scans.
In using the Genisys 12, the overall ease of changing label stock from a format or size to another eliminated wasted labels, common with dot matrix printers, and produced high-quality labels on demand.
As a result of this change, the company saved on all fronts. Material waste was virtually eliminated and overall printing time was reduced to 75% with a significant increase and overall print quality of the labels. The company had no problems justifying the cost that is less than half the cost of the old dot matrix system.
Manufacturer
of the Postage/Mailing Machines
This major international company purchased a label printing system from a
catalog house and found it did not work as advertised. The quality of
print was very poor and the software was extremely difficult to run with their
existing system.
The company needed a labeling system to print very small characters on labels that would go on E Proms and remain eligible for years. The printing systems would be installed worldwide at their major field service sites allowing each location to track Rev level changes or modifications at a customer site and print their own labels on demand.
Our Genisys system fit the requirements for professional label printing. Our years of experience in harsh environment labeling lead to a prompt solution and a long-lasting label that exceeded demands of the application.
The customer and Winco were also able to enhance the manufacturers field service process by utilizing Genisys software which allows for the tracking of all E Proms by serial number and storing them in memory at each location. This information can be downloaded in the mainframe data brace updating the customer service files.
In the future we will be working with this company to allow each field service engineer to bar code scan the E Prom label at the customer site and store the data. The data will include the new level of postal meter for updating of service records and this process will be very easy due by utilizing the Winco Asset Tracking System.
Electronic
Component Manufacturing
This major sealed converter manufacturer has been in business for over 26
years. During this period, these types of products have been successfully
designed and manufactured for OEM customers on a worldwide basis. The
head of purchasing had difficulty inventorying all the different OEM labels
to avoid outages and to eliminate waste.
The company was looking for a high-quality product identification. The goal was to keep costs down and maintain high product image. Winco offered the solution; to preprint the OEM logo on all their nameplate labels and leave the text position of the label blank (there were eight different labels with the same application). The variable information is than printed by the Genisys Thermal Transfer System. The end result is a high-quality, customized, label that it is not only professional but economical. This enabled the company to reduce inventory and eliminate waste as they print only the labels and model number sequence needed.
