OEM Device Labels

With complete solutions for design, development, and manufacturing processes within the medical devices industry, Catheter Research, Inc. (CRI) (www.catheterresearch.com) is a leading medical product developer and manufacturer of medical devices.  CRI provides its customers with unbeatable service, excellent quality control and regulatory compliance. Located in Indianapolis, Indiana, CRI is a top Midwest medical device manufacturer and employs 100+ people.  In December 2010, CRI became 100% employee owned company.  CRI’s goal is to provide the most cost-effective product development combined with quality OEM medical device manufacturing.

According to Document Control, Supervisor, Brian Dowd, “CRI prints most labels on a desktop thermal transfer printer.  Both small and large quantities of labels of varying sizes are printed for each work order.  For some products, we use preprinted labels that have customer logos or custom colors included on the label stock.”

Although the black only labels were functional, the Marketing Department in CRI wanted to begin adding color to their labels.  This group in CRI felt color labels would improve the look and appeal of the products.  According to Brian, “sales have been made based on the fact that the labels were in color.”  You may want to review an earlier post on increasing sales by moving to on-demand color labels: http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2012/01/bonanza-press-www.html. 

Also, CRI wanted to offer their OEM customers the opportunity to add their logos to their products.  As an OEM provider of medical devices, it is important to offer their customers this capability without adding excess label inventory.  Be sure to check out this earlier post on branding using color labels:  http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2012/02/branding-on-demand-means-business.html 

Based on their interest to begin producing color labels on demand, CRI contacted Weber Packaging Solutions (http://www.webermarking.com/)  and specifically their Go Label website (http://www.go-label.com/).  According to Bonnie Hoffman, Account Manager, “I recommended and sold CRI the TM-C3400 as the best option available to meet their on-demand color label requirements.  Once we sold the printer to CRI, I connected Brian to Guy to help CRI get started quickly and easily.”  Check out one of my earlier posts involving Weber: http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2012/04/turn-visitors-into-customers.html

Following the introduction from Bonnie, I held a short webinar with Brian.  We went through the configuration of his printer; as well as printing from his Label Matrix software (http://www.teklynx.com/en/products/label-design-solutions/label-matrix/.  Within 30 minutes, Brian was printing labels.

When starting to print using the TM-C3400, two key points to remember:

1. Set the media detection sensor to match the media you plan to use (No Detection for continuous; Margin Between Labels for die-cut; or Blackmark)

2. Set up the media layout in the TM-C3400 driver and then select this layout inside the application you are using to print.

Remembering these two key points will save new users time and potential frustration.

“The labels are printing fine”, according to Brian.  “We are printing only a small amount of labels with the TM-C3400 currently, but interest is ramping up among the various other departments.”

For manufacturers similar to CRI, producing color labels on-demand will help them strengthen their brands, improve their customer service, save money and increase sales.  Talk to your customers (both internal and external) about printing labels just-in-time and in color.

Guy Mikel

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