Sustainability & Social Responsibility

Label consolidation program uncovers and solves new issues

Our Challenge

It’s rare when Sourcing, Manufacturing and Quality all come together with a singular goal, but when a Tier II automotive supplier found itself struggling to manage 800+ label part numbers, everyone realized they needed a better solution. Sourcing wanted to reduce the cost and complexity of managing the ever-growing list of part numbers; Manufacturing needed to simplify the production schedule for a faster response to customer requests; and Quality wanted to improve traceability and durability.

Our Solution

IDENTCO analyzed the company’s label usage and identified significant opportunities for consolidation. Many of the labels were roughly the same size and contained the same basic information, with only three fields of variable data. We suggested standardizing those labels and pre-printing all but the three areas of customization, which would be printed on-demand during production. This recommendation alone reduced the number of label part numbers to 300. IDENTCO also conducted field research and uncovered quality issues previously unbeknownst to the customer. To address those deficiencies, IDENTCO’s In-House Testing Lab analyzed the label the customer had historically used along with several new options, and compared durability, adhesion, UV fade resistance and chemical resistance. The recommended label solution employed a top-surface printing process that provided better results than the over-laminated label they had been using, and decreased label costs by more than 10%. This improved material combined with the standardization IDENTCO proposed created a solution that met Sourcing, Manufacturing and Quality improvement objectives.