Ask a Professional: Case Coding Tips
Case Marking Consulting – Returning Profit to the Packager.
The Q&A below features Package Coding consultant Rob Schneider, principal at Case Printing Solutions discussing how he helps packaging vendors with reducing case printing costs and other case coding tips. His company and each staff member have more than 20+ years’ experience helping customers optimize their inkjet print systems used in the packaging and mailing industries.
Q: Tell us about the full portfolio of offerings from Case Printing Solutions.
A: In short, customers hire Case Printing Solutions to help them optimize the total cost equation related to their printing and coding lines. We work with a broad range of clients in the packaging industry, from manufacturers to contract packagers.
We help out with 5 specific products and services:
(1) troubleshoot inkjet printers,
(2) implement a bulk ink system,
(3) buy & save when purchasing original and remanufactured industrial inkjet inks, cartridges and printhead products,
(4) rebuild and repair industrial inkjet print systems and thereby extend its useful life, and
(5) upgrade to a new print system.
Q: Within the consulting arm of your company, what problems are you most frequently asked to solve for your customers?
A: The most common need from customers is related to poor print quality.
Take barcode scanning and barcode print quality; In the packaging industry, for example, manufacturers can get fined thousands of dollars if the barcodes on their shipping cases don’t scan properly by the retailer. Therefore, Case Printing Solutions is often asked to help fix poor quality barcode coding issues and the urgency for these requests is red hot. Most of the time, we can make simple changes to their system or their setup procedure to dramatically improve print quality.
Other regular requests from customers include:
(1) how to determine the cost per print,
(2) should I repair my old bar coder or case coding printer or buy new,
and
(3) how do I implement a bulk ink system on my line and will it save us money over the course of the year?
Q: What are the typical ways Case Printing Solutions can show a return for the services rendered to its customers?
A: Great question. I’ll provide 2 examples which are representative of how we help our customers save operational costs.
First, training employees is an ongoing expensive proposition for customers. Many companies rely on a senior technician to train new employees on the packaging or mailing lines. At Case Printing Solutions, we summarize and document, with clear pictures, the key tasks for maintaining a case coding system for an operator so he or she can properly perform the job, increasing barcode and other print quality, and decreasing downtime. These documents, customized for the clients specific inkjet coding system, are also created as laminated training sheets that can be posted or located on the line as a daily reminder. Documented training and manuals save our customers thousands of dollars each year.
A second example is helping customers implement a bulk ink system. Looking at the existing coding system, We first calculate the cost per print for the operation on day one. Then we show how transitioning to a bulk ink delivery system on the same equipment provides true cost savings and we provide a clear estimate of the amount of time for the investment to pay-back. When the customer is ready to move forward, Case Printing Solutions helps with the actual setup and testing of a bulk ink delivery system to make sure the expected cost savings are realized.
Q: How did you get into the industrial inkjet printing business?
A: My background includes 13 years working at Hewlett-Packard in inkjet and related business.
We also understand the consumer products environment and requirements, Before I was at HP, I worked as an engineer for Revlon Cosmetics.
Q: Which industries are you best able to help with your services?
A: We are specialists in Inkjet coding.
Our main focus is helping customers in package coding, product identification, and case marking. We also help numerous customers who deploy industrial inkjet technology for mail addressing applications.
Q: Is consulting your main way of working with customers?
A: We got into consulting because our customers continued to ask for advisory services related to their coding operations.
If we go back to the beginning, Case Printing Solutions originally offered remanufactured cartridges (focusing on HP4500 Black) to customers who demanded more affordable prices to everyday printing requirements. But as time went on, we found that most customers needed , in addition to low cost supplies like the HP Q7456A, they also needed friendly, expert advice on a variety of topics related to case coding and variable data printing. So we added new services and now we help customers with much more than low cost supplies, we help them solve their case coding and industrial inkjet printing challenges..
