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Saturday, June 16, 2012

Moving To On-Demand

Korry HMI Solutions (http://www.esterline.com/controlsystems/KORRY/KORRYHome/tabid/2394/Default.aspx/has been a trusted name in human-machine interface (HMI) solutions for 75 years, after the company created the first lighted cockpit controls.  Providing state-of-the-art switches, cockpit controls, high-performance displays, and night-vision filters, Korry is a division of Esterline (http://www.esterline.com/).  Esterline Corporation is a specialized manufacturing company serving principally aerospace and defense markets.

To move inventory to specific cells inside their plant, Korry uses card system with colors.  Korry uses colors to signify which specific cell should get the replacement inventory.

two-step-color-label

According to Sarah Stout of Korry HMI, “the process was print, cut, tape, laminate, repeat” which seems to be an onerous and time-consuming process.  Given the complexity of the process, Sarah contacted Denny Agen of DPE Systems (www.dpes.com/)  about color label printers.  Based on this discussion, Denny sold a TM-C3400 ColorWorks printer to Korry.

After purchasing the color label printer, I contacted Sarah to help her configure the printer; and to start printing quickly and easily.  Although we had some difficulty installing the printer on the network, we did get the printer up and running.  As Sarah was a quick learner, she was printing new cards quickly (see the bottom two cards) using Codesoft software from Teklynx (http://www.teklynx.com/en/products/label-design-solutions/codesoft). 

variable-color-labels

According to Sarah, “on the first production, I printed 50 cards; which took a fraction of the time over the previous process.” 

“We needed a printer that could produce tags that could withstand daily handling for several months.   Initially, we were concerned about the durability of inkjet printing.  After reading in the Tubelite success story (http://pos.epson.com/press/presscss.htm), “the labels were tested to ensure the ink wouldn’t smear or fade under wet conditions”, we decided that the TM-3400 would meet our requirements”, says Sarah.

By moving to on-demand printing, companies like Korry can improve many different manufacturing processes.  Talk to you customers about how on-demand printing could help.


Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com
www.colorlabelsolutions.com


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