Many organizations are trying to keep production moving with fewer employees working per shift and order volumes rising by the day. Selecting the right label solution has never been more important to the success of your business.
Like most industries, manufacturing in the U.S. experienced an unprecedented downturn in 2020. Years of sluggish growth hit the pandemic head-on resulting in a perfect storm that dropped the industry’s market size to $5.3T - its lowest in more than a decade. However, despite the letdown, U.S. manufacturing has shown its resilience, bouncing back with an expected market growth rate of 10.8% in 2021. To ensure this expectation becomes reality, organizations in the manufacturing industry need to address the most...
Inventory management can be a tricky operation especially since there are two types of security you need to consider. First, there’s the peace-of-mind knowing that your inventory is where it should be and being moved on time and in accurate quantities. Between the factory, warehouse, distribution center and retail/customer premise, its easy to lose track of what you have. Second, there’s the knowledge that your assets are protected from criminals. Without the proper safeguards in place, bad actors can easily take...
MSM serves labs of varying size and type, all with one common thread: optimizing the chain of custody process. Laboratory operations require high-volume throughput with pinpoint accuracy. This is particularly important when you consider a medical lab, for example, where one mistake could mean life or death for the patient. The Chain of Custody (CoC) ProcessChain of custody is a common procedure that ensures that a specimen, sample or item being produced is properly identified at the start of the...
A well-functioning supply chain is essential for any manufacturing business, and that requires a well-connected warehouse operation that offers visibility into materials, supplies, and products at all times. The integration of mobile computers and rugged tablets are one of the best ways to transform warehouse operations to help manufacturers keep pace with the challenges of today’s on-demand economy. We’re not the only ones advocating for mobile devices as a way to transform manufacturing operations. Zebra recently released a study of...
Whether you’re tracking parts as they make their way to the assembly line, managing the flow of products through a retail back room, or monitoring the usage of essential supplies in a hospital, your operation’s efficiency is determined largely by your ability to ensure that everything your workflows need is in the right place at the right time. In fact, effective inventory management is essential for any business that moves materials through a supply chain or distributes and tracks...
If you’re in the market for barcode label software, then chances are you’ve heard of BarTender. BarTender is a product of Seagull Scientific, and helps users simplify the creation of labels, documents, barcodes and more. For anyone who has had the responsibility to print labels for serial plates, inventory materials, orders, pallets, shelving, assets and even ID cards, you know how difficult it can be to manage it with a home-grown program and limited parameters. With BarTender you have...
The state of warehouse operations is changing. High-volume fulfillment operations require more item-level picking and returns. There’s a growing demand for shorter cycle times; and with high workforce turnover and seasonal staffing, it puts a premium on training. Plus, widespread use of mobile devices has increased exposure to IT security breaches that threaten to disrupt warehouse operations. Add it up, and today’s warehouse or distribution center is no place for outdated technology. If you need a cost-effective way to...
How to keep things connected from manufacturing to distribution to delivery with RFID Supply Chain If you spent any time shopping for groceries in the past six months, you probably have firsthand knowledge of the disruptions the COVID-19 pandemic has caused within our supply chains. Remember the hunt for toilet paper? It was like finding the golden ticket to visit Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. And we’re still struggling to find disinfectant wipes. With many companies reliant on manual barcode scanning or...
When you consider enterprise IoT, information security, and the potential for data breaches in warehouse operations, your first concerns are most likely your network, computers, and mobile devices. Those are indeed well-known targets for hackers, but there are other security risks hiding in plain sight throughout virtually every warehouse: Your printers. We tend to think of printers as simple one-way appliances, but we’ve been relying on them as fully networked multi-function technology hubs for decades, and today they are just...
