The next wave of mobile printing

When was the last time you evaluated your bar code labeling? If your answer isn’t “in the past year,” now would be a good time to take action.

After all, you’ve spent most of this age of Covid trying to cope with irregular supply chain flows, the ups and downs of labor availability, and your own internal efficiencies under heightened customer demands. With all that going on, do you really know if your current bar code labeling solution is actually holding back your operations? Probably not.

One aspect that has certainly changed, says Dave Crist, president at Brother Mobile Solutions, is that bar code label systems have become mission critical. We’re well past the “nice to have” and “compliant” phases. “We are now into the next wave of adoption,” explains Crist.

This is when most people search for a link to an article such as this: “7 tips to speed productivity at the receiving dock” (brothermobilesolutions.com). While that is a helpful top-level guide to upgrading your current system, or introducing high speed industrial bar code printers, the next wave of adoption that Crist refers to is summarized in a single word: Mobility.

“Mobile bar code solutions make it possible to do several things at once,” says Crist. First of all, it offers physical flexibility to print labels and identify items where the items are, eliminating the need to move them to a printing station. “It’s all about reducing the risk of losing things, especially in confused supply chains within the four walls,” adds Crist.

Furthermore, mobility adds a new degree of resiliency to choppy processes. Rather than losing time due to that choppiness, says Crist, “Mobile printing solutions allow workers to get a day’s work done in that day and not on overtime.”

He speaks from experience. Brother uses mobile printing solutions in its warehouses in Tennessee, Virginia and California. “We are our own petri dish,” says Crist.

So, what’s the sweet spot for mobile printing solutions? Crist speaks of a facility that handles 1,000 packages an hour for last-mile delivery. Workers are not tethered to a stationary location to process the parts and prepare them for shipment. At the same time, operations managers want to eliminate the twin danger zones of handling distance and time before a label can be printed and applied with a mobile device.

“Just think about this,” says Crist. “A mobile printing device is very ergonomic and minimizes the number of motions required at stationary print stations. Almost by definition, mobile printing is faster and more efficient while ensuring maximum accuracy that the right label goes on the right part.”

Which brings up the question of ROI. Crist says it’s not a concern when operations managers realize what mobile printing does to combine accuracy and speed to fulfill order delivery and satisfy customers.

He likes to leave people with one final thought about the value of mobile printing in this time of tight labor.

“Time and again we find that the people out on the floor feel that mobility relieves them of some of the pressure they’re under to get shipments out the door on time. They tell us,” adds Crist, “that mobile printing is an enabler that actually makes their jobs more gratifying.”