Thermal Printing - MSM Solutions

3 Ideal Applications for Thermal Transfer Label Printers

In a recent blog, we offered an overview of thermal printing technology. Our primary focus was on the fundamental differences between thermal transfer printing and direct thermal printing. Both technologies use a heated printhead to transfer text, barcodes, and images to the print media, but they do it in different ways. Here’s a quick tech review: With direct thermal, the printhead transfers the image to heat-sensitive media, often a paper label or receipt paper. A thermal transfer printer, however, adds...

By Lee Ann CapogrossiDistribution and Logistics, Printing Technology, Thermal Printing, Zebra Print Engineslabel, print, printer, printhead, printing, thermal

Is Thermal Transfer Printing Technology Right for Your Business?

Thermal printers are used in a wide variety of applications today, showing up everywhere from shipping labels in e-commerce fulfillment operations to patient identification wristbands in hospital maternity wards. Compared to laser and inkjet printing technologies, thermal printers offer fast output, easy operation, and longer printer life, making it natural to consider whether thermal printers are right for your business. The Basics: Thermal Printing Technology Thermal printing comes in two types: direct thermal and thermal transfer. Both use a heated printhead...

By Lee Ann CapogrossiDistribution and Logistics, Printing Technology, Thermal Printing, Zebra Print Engineslabel, print, printer, printhead, printing

Ensuring a Consistent Labeling Process

Now is the time to reset your printing priorities. Right now is a crucial time to keep processes running efficiently in any operation, whether it’s a warehouse fulfilling e-commerce orders, a manufacturing plant producing products, or a store selling products. With the challenges of labor shortages, supply chain issues, and customer demands giving many companies headaches, it’s important to eliminate inefficiency, downtime and interruptions in every area and with every device, including label printers. When you need to get mission-critical work done,...

By Lee Ann CapogrossiBarcode, Manufacturing, Printing Technology, Thermal Printingbarcode, labels, media, printers, solutions, Zebra

How Much is Your Printer Really Costing You? 4 Ways the Wrong Printer Can Hurt Your Bottom Line

If your business processes rely on industrial, desktop or mobile label printers, you probably have an idea what they cost to operate. From the cost of the printer itself, to the cost of ribbons, labels, and other supplies, your budget undoubtedly covers all of the hard costs of owning and operating your printer fleet. You may even have accounted for the cost of maintenance. But what about the unknown costs that you didn’t budget for? Downtime is a problem that virtually...

By Justin JohnsonBlog Posts, Manufacturing, Printing Technology, Thermal Printingbarcode, label, mobile, printer, Zebra

Choosing the Right Label for Your Barcode Application

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.

By Justin JohnsonApparel Solutions, Automotive Solutions, Barcode, Distribution and Logistics, Manufacturing, Printing Technology, Service Bureau, Thermal Printingbarcode, label, workflow, Zebra

Work Demands Don’t Let up and Neither Do Zebra’s Newest Compact Desktop Printers

When the clock is ticking and deadlines are looming, your printers have to work—no jams, no slowdowns, no excuses. It doesn’t matter if you’re working in an overheated warehouse, a high-traffic retail environment, or a crowded pharmacy workstation. From the plant floor to the sales floor, or the stockroom to the hospital room, a printer that lets you down when you need it is a printer you can’t afford to have in your business. Reliable Performance We’ve been recommending Zebra’s lineup...

By Justin JohnsonBarcode, Blog Posts, Healthcare Solutions, Printing Technology, Thermal Printinghealthcare, label, mobile, printer, Zebra

Is Your Barcode Printer Vulnerable?

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...

By Justin JohnsonApparel Solutions, Automotive Solutions, Distribution and Logistics, Healthcare Solutions, IoT, Manufacturing, Omnichannel, Print and Apply, Printing Technology, Retail, Service Bureau, Thermal Printing, Zebra Mobile Printers, Zebra Non-RFID Printers, Zebra Print Enginescomputers, cyberthreats, IoT, mobile, network, security, warehouse

Why Print-and-Apply is Often the Better Way to Print Labels

When it comes to labeling products and shipments, many companies rely on manual processes or outsourcing. Generally, they end up choosing one of two approaches: 1. Print barcode labels on industrial or desktop printers, and then manually apply them to boxes or packaging. 2. Purchase pre-printed labels in advance, and then manually adhere them to items or goods. Unfortunately, these two approaches are inefficient, costly, and prone to error. Both require manual labor and more time and effort to label each box or item; moreover, all...

By Brett WilkersonBarcode, Distribution and Logistics, Healthcare Solutions, Manufacturing, Print and Apply, Printing Technology, Thermal Printing, Zebra Mobile Computersapply, barcode, labels, print, Zebra

Replace Your Thermal Printer | MSM Solutions

Face It! It is Time to Replace Your Thermal Printer

Technology is a wonderful thing. It makes our lives easier, our jobs faster, and our companies look good. But we have to face the truth…machines do have life cycles. Generally, most printers last for years but usage and proper maintenance are the driving forces behind the lifespan of your printer, not its age. Sometimes technology changes faster than your printer ages or your business needs grow to the point that your current printer no longer delivers. Relying on old technology can have adverse effects, slowing productivity and affecting your bottom...

By Brett WilkersonPrinting Technology, Thermal Printing

5 Easy Tips to Help You Maintain Your Thermal Label Printer

Better printing quality, consistent performance and more cost-effective…these are just a few of the reasons why you may have decided to go with a thermal printer. And now that you’ve made the most practical choice in the best way to print whatever it is you need to print, we want to help you make sure you protect your investment. To help you do that, we’ve highlighted what we consider to be the five easiest things you can do to help...

By Brett WilkersonPrinting Technology, Thermal Printing, Uncategorized