There are a lot of common cost cutting exercises which are undertaken by most lean businesses from one year to the next. This typically includes looking for cheaper suppliers and reducing unnecessary financial expenditures.
One area which is regularly overlooked is the amount of staff time which is wasted performing monotonous repeat tasks. This is particularly evident within small to medium sized businesses who have steadily grown in a short period of time.
In this blog post we shed light on how you can capitalise on the BIG benefits of identification systems and how they can improve efficiency within your organisation. Here are our top 3 tips to become more efficient with identification labels...
1. Utilise Barcodes for Inventory Management
Barcodes can be quickly generated for free and are a handy way of tracking stock. Although a barcode can only represent text, numbers or a mixture of both, by linking them to an internal database you can create items and descriptions for a given product ID.
Although the database may take a bit of time initially to set up, the time saved going forward could be huge. No more hand writing on boxes or typing in serial numbers into a computer every time you need to understand the contents. Simply print out barcodes using a thermal transfer printer and scan them using a barcode scanner or mobile phone. It's as easy as that!
2. Organise Your Racking with Variable Data Labels
Racking labels can play a huge role in the operations of many businesses, helping to create a more efficient organisational system - whether you’re a national distributor in a huge warehouse, or a start up looking to keep your storage cupboards tidy.
With the ability of smartphones to scan QR codes and barcodes, there’s also no need to invest heavily in barcode scanners, meaning that the use of these types of labels are cost effective to implement.
Our print capabilities include full colour variable text and data, meaning that your product database can be clearly identified by personnel much quicker. We can also recommend lamination of the print which helps to prevent wear and tear of the label from scuffs and scratches.
This simple switch from black & white or handwritten labels may not sound overly exciting, but for any organisation it is a clear and prominent way to demonstrate a desire to create a more professional and efficient working environment.
3. Ensure Consistency with Reminder Labels
Labels are a great way to highlight important information or to prevent the same text being continually written onto documents. Internally at Crown Labels we realised the same notes were being brought forward onto job bags time and time again, notes like:
'Trade Advice Notes Required'
'Check with Studio prior to Printing'
'Max weight per box of ...... '
By printing several thousand of these common job bag reminder notes we were able to save time in placing the label onto the job bag, but it also meant the reminder was much more prominent on the order and therefore less likely to be missed in production.
TOP TIP: Try using vibrant print colours or fluorescent materials as they can really help emphasise the message you are trying to convey to the user.
These small label solutions help us to be more efficient and organised throughout our business, and ensure higher levels of quality assurance.
BONUS: Reinforce your H&S Risk Assessments
Pre-printed labels can also be great way of reminding and reinforcing remedial measures identified in your H&S risk assessments. A great example from one of our customers was to remind staff that two person lifting was required for goods of a certain weight. The striking yellow background also helps supervisors identify members of staff which aren't following safe systems of work in hectic work environments.
Have you got any safe systems of work which are consistently being forgotten by your workforce? Could a label help remind them of the risks and hazards associated with that activity?
Conclusion
Although we have only highlighted three ways to help you save time and be more efficient by using labels in your business. It's always good to take a minute to monitor every activity which is taking up considerable administration time.
Simply ask yourself the following questions:
Can a barcode labelling system save us time to track incoming/outgoing stock levels?
Could labels help improve the appearance of our warehouse and improve staff perception of our business?
Could labels help us meet or improve on our quality systems?
Could a label help remind our staff of an important safe system of work?
Ofcourse if you would like any further advice on any of the topics above, please don't hesitate to contact us for more information!