Packaging: Weather-ready labels improve accuracy and efficiency

Santa Fe Springs, Calif.-based Maruichi America Corp. manufactures high-quality structural and mechanical steel tubing, and is the largest structural and ornamental tube mill on the West Coast. The company stores large quantities of pipe outdoors, where its old bar code labels could not withstand exposure to sunlight and rain. By deploying new printers and more robust synthetic paper tags, the company was able to improve tracking capabilities and efficiency.

Before the new printers and tags, the company used standard bar code labels inside its manufacturing facilities. But once the pipe was moved outdoors, it became difficult to accurately track raw materials or finished goods because the labels could not withstand the harsh environmental conditions. Labels on steel pipes, panels and tubes would soon be damaged by rain and sunlight, making them difficult to read using a bar code scanner.

The company selected a label printer and integrated the bar code labeling system with a tracking application originally created for use by Maruichi in Japan. Maruichi America selected the solution based on its Japanese parent company’s success with the system.

“We are very satisfied with the new labeling system,” says Masayuki Yano, a representative of Maruichi America. “We also appreciate the quick response we receive from the company when we have questions or issues.”

The label printer in the facility is used to generate labels for both raw and slit coils, as well as finished goods. Raw and slit coils are marked with paper thermal-transfer labels, while finished goods are tracked with a synthetic paper tag. The tag can withstand exposure to water and chemicals, sunlight, and temperatures between -70° to 200° Fahrenheit, so goods stored outdoors can be scanned without any difficulty.

Maruichi is now considering using an RFID tag on its steel pipes and tubes to make inventory tracking even more efficient.

SATO America
704-644-1650
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