On-Demand Labels Streamline Product Inventory Management

When Cranford, N.J.-based JACLO Industries started out in 1961, it was one of the first bathroom accessories companies offering handheld shower systems in the U.S. As a company proud of its cutting-edge design, JACLO has continued the tradition of providing some of the finest high-end showers, grab bars, channel drains, and other bathroom accessories on the market. A product supplier to high-end decorative showrooms and plumbing wholesalers, JACLO's products can be found in bathroom suites of some of the country's most renowned hotels, including the MGM SkyLofts in Las Vegas and the Essex House and The Plaza in New York City, as well as numerous Best Western properties.

Changing needs

JACLO ships approximately 1,000 products a day to decorative plumbing showrooms and plumbing supply houses and wholesalers. Typically in the past, products would be removed from boxes and put on display in showrooms. Consumers would rarely see JACLO's shipping packages, so the appearance of packaging was of little concern.

However, like other accessory providers, JACLO has seen changes in recent years in how its products are displayed. As home design outlets and decorative showrooms have expanded, it is now more common for consumers to see unopened product boxes on display. As a premium brand, JACLO realized that its packaging needed to reflect the changing retail environment.

"We used to package our products in plain white boxes with black and white thermal labels, assuming that consumers would never see the package," says Chris Pike, chief operating officer at JACLO. "That's no longer true these days, and we realized we needed to step up our packaging and include an attractive, informative label."

JACLO was also looking to solve another vexing problem that was costing time and money: SKU chaos. With more than 40,000 product SKUs in stock, JACLO required a huge variety of pre-printed label stock to meet its graphic requirements. This was creating serious challenges with its labeling operations. When orders came in, packaging personnel would need to spend time finding labels for each package. Not only did this require additional inventory space, but finding the right label was causing delays and shipping mistakes. It all added up to huge headaches that were affecting the bottom line.

On demand

What JACLO needed was an on-demand printing solution that would eliminate the label mess and produce a more decorative retail label. Pike set out on a mission: "Our goal was to reduce errors, increase speed, reduce inventory, and enhance the JACLO brand."

With the EPSON® ColorWorks™ C3400 label printer, JACLO found a solution that met all of its needs. The printer produces color labels on demand as wide as 4.4 inches and at speeds up to 3.7 inches per second. Pike was sold on the idea of moving to on-demand labeling, and JACLO installed a series of Epson printers into operations, which eliminated the need for pre-printed label stocks. JACLO was also able to connect the printers to its ERP system, which resulted in a totally automated labeling operation.

According to Pike, the return on investment was almost immediate. The company saw labeling operations change from a time-consuming headache to an "on-the-fly process." Now, JACLO is able to produce shipping labels immediately from a bank of printers, allowing personnel to identify boxed items and add colorful, descriptive graphics.

"Our old labels were plain white with a part number and a bar code," he relates. "Now, we have colorful graphics and can add important information such as product descriptions and cleaning instructions."

JACLO is also able to customize generic boxes with specific box contents. "We have about 14 different package sizes, but we can adapt each label to accommodate hundreds of different products."

Initially the Epson C3400 was used for 25,000 SKUs, but that has since grown to 35,000 with plans to include more. Currently JACLO has installed 14 Epson C3400 printers that are part of a fully automated operation.

Besides removing headaches, the switchover to on demand color labeling has yielded a measurable increase in sales. "We can say that our sales have increased by 15 percent as a result of the new product packaging, of which the labels are a big part," Pike estimates. He adds that he saw a return on investment in terms of sales dollars after just one month following the implementation of on-demand printing.

"Our customers love our new labels," he says, adding that this has been the reason for increased sales. More customers are stocking JACLO's inventory because of the enhanced packaging, and the packages have also been part of point-of-purchase displays in some showrooms. pP