Printers pledge to banish hassle of relabelling

The new four-inch printers can create archival quality labels to withstand temperature extremes and ultraviolet exposure, which has the potential to save warehouse and logistics employees a significant amount of time spent relabelling goods or resourcing information for products.

Brother says that providing thermal transfer capabilities across the retail supply chain will play a key role in helping businesses deliver more accurate fulfilment and introduce new efficiencies in warehouse and logistics operations.

The products can use either the vendor’s BarTender software or SAP, which will enable businesses to improve security and compliance by creating and automating the printing and control of labels, barcodes, RFID tags and plastic cards. Each device can use 74m and 300m ink ribbons, with the latter reducing refill frequency for warehouse staff.

Intensifying competition

Andy Johnson, head of product and solutions management at Brother UK, said, “Intensifying competition, the increasing shift to same day delivery and greater emphasis placed on customer service as a differentiator means that faster, more accurate fulfilment is a top priority for retailers.

“Barcoding, RFID and labelling systems play a crucial role in delivering this and resolving stock issues caused by faded or damaged documentation can cost a significant amount of time and resource.

“The durability and reliability of the new products will ensure businesses can create hard-wearing stock tags, along with robust shipping and shelving labels that can withstand an extensive range of temperatures and lighting.”

Reducing device downtime

Each of the new products is SAP certified, meaning users will be able to use the devices to print directly from SAP software, which the solutions provider says will help businesses streamline their processes and workflows.

The printers also include a new Mobile Deploy function, which will enable employees to update software remotely from any location, reducing device downtime by removing the need to take printers out of circulation. 

Thermal transfer printing involves using heated ribbon to produce durable, long-lasting images on a wide variety of materials. The alternative – direct thermal – uses no ribbon and prints the image directly on the material, resulting in labels being more sensitive to light, heat and abrasion.