Toshiba solution reduces costs at Wichita by over 400%

10 April 2008

The Toshiba B-SV4T desktop printer with Solo software was installed by ERS and included bespoke labels designed specifically for Wichita’s requirements.

Wichita’s range of brakes and clutches require a variety of aluminium labels to record unique identification information about the product. The previous labelling system involved a labour intensive method of printing labels on a laser jet printer, cutting them to size and manually fitting it into a designated window. The procedure was costly, time-consuming and frequently resulted in human error.

Wichita Maintenance Manager, Lee Moss, was keen to improve on the company’s existing system realising that there were opportunities not only

to streamline the process but also to save costs. A visit to Wichita’s sister company Matrix in Scotland provided him with the solution that he was looking for.

‘At Matrix they were using Toshiba printers for sequential labelling of forklift trucks and I realised that that this type of technology could be integrated at Wichita’ said Moss. ‘I contacted Toshiba who in turn recommended local supplier ERS who would oversee the project from consultation through to implementation and importantly provide ongoing support’.

ERS suggested that Wichita installed a Toshiba B-SV4T desktop printer with Solo Software and used bespoke labels designed specifically to meet Wichita’s requirements.

‘I was expecting teething problems moving from a manual to an automated process – but the installation was seamless and the benefits immediate, with a significant improvement to the quality of labels we were producing,’ commented Lee Moss ‘User error was also dramatically reduced with assemblers no longer mixing up jobs and attaching the wrong labels to the wrong products. ERS had really listened to my requirements and had tailored the solution to fit the application exactly.’

With the Toshiba B-SV4T, Wichita was able to speed up the labelling process from 1 hour to two minutes; and label unit costs (based on Wichita’s current annual production in excess of 5000 labels) were instantly reduced from £1.50 to 7p at a cost saving of over £5k per year, even taking into consideration the price of the printer*.

At Wichita the printer had a duty cycle of approximately 1000 labels per day. Realising that the output of this compact and robust printer could be increased Lee Moss looked at other areas in the business where the B-SV4T could be utilised to improve existing labelling applications.

‘We were really impressed with the quality of the Toshiba B-SV4T and I wanted to utilise the technology elsewhere.’ said Moss ‘This was only possible because the printer is so easy to use, the software gives you the freedom to tailor the labels to your exact requirements, with both variable and fixed data and ERS can provide us with bespoke labels designed specifically for each application.’

From a request for one label for one application, a year on and Wichita are currently using the Toshiba/Solo solution for 27 different labels with 6 different types of media, with the potential to continue to improve processes and save time and money throughout the business.


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