Survey reveals 47% of manufacturers with downtime from labeling disruptions

Loftware, a global leader in enterprise labeling solutions, has released a report uncovering the challenges manufacturing professionals face when it comes to barcode labeling in a global supply chain.

Nearly half of those polled (47%) are experiencing significant and costly disruption to their manufacturing process due to their existing labeling method. The survey, which polled approximately 175 professionals from global companies, also showed 84% of respondents said meeting customer specific requirements was the single most challenging aspect of labeling today. When asked what other requirements organizations found to be the most difficult to meet, almost 75% of all respondents listed product specific requirements and nearly 45% stated label print speed.

“One of the rising challenges for most manufacturing organizations, especially those with complex supply chains, is how to manage barcode labeling on an enterprise level to ensure supply chain accuracy, speed, and cost effectiveness,” said Josh Roffman, Loftware vice president of product management. “The cost of not reassessing the demands of labeling in the ‘new’ supply chain is very high. Mislabeling, inefficient offline labeling processes, a myriad of redundant and unnecessary label designs, and poor integration of multiple labeling data sources add up to wasted labor resources, customer fines, returns, delayed shipments, and ultimately loss of business.”

The need to address print speed is apparent, with 92% of survey respondents reporting that they must interrupt their operations to reprint labels, with half saying this is due to incorrect label data. Additionally, 55% of those polled are still generating labels through manual processes, making it difficult to address variability in labeling.

When asked what type of negative consequences their company has experienced for inadequately labeled or mislabeled products, more than 43% faced customer-related issues such as dissatisfaction and loss of business.

Click here to get a copy of the full report.