A sharp increase in the demand for high-productivity colour labeling solutions has seen the Seiko Epson Corporation (TSE: 6724, ‘Epson’) and Loftware, announce a strategic partnership that aims to revolutionise customers’ labeling workflows.
The partnership will integrate the Epson ColorWorks series of colour label printers with Loftware’s NiceLabel Cloud platforms. Businesses will be able to print from NiceLabel Cloud directly to Epson ColorWorks cloud-connected printers. As a result, businesses will be able to reduce their reliance on IT, cut the number of print errors, and reduce the cost and inventory of pre-printed labels.
The partnership between Epson and Loftware was forged following an increase in demand for high-productivity colour labeling solutions as businesses invested in supply chain improvements during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand has particularly grown among companies that employ SAP EH&S ERP systems and who plan to migrate to S/4 HANA and the cloud. These businesses operate across multiple industry segments including chemicals, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, electronics, automotive, aerospace, and retail, and who manage production, warehouse, and distribution facilities.
The Epson-Loftware collaboration meets growing demand from businesses for the use of colour on products, cartons and pallet labels for identification. In addition, companies in the chemical (GHS), medical device, and pharmaceutical segments are faced with the urgent need to comply with international labeling regulations requiring colour.
Companies that use 2-step printing to print colour labels can now move to lower cost and error-reduced 1-step, on-demand colour label printing. This 1-step printing is enabled by the integration of Epson colour label printers with Loftware’s NiceLabel Cloud platforms.
Customers:
1. Can print labels efficiently and quickly, without missing production and shipping deadlines.
2. No longer need to purchase higher cost, pre-printed, custom, short-run labels, but can use low cost, standard, blank label stocks.
3. No longer need to manage the inventory and urgent procurement of custom label stocks.
4. Reduce waste by eliminating leftover, unused label stocks when the label format changes.
‘Readiness to adapt to cloud trends is critical,’ said Junkichi Yoshida, Executive Officer and COO of the Printing Solutions Division at Epson. ‘Our goal is to drive the growth of colour on-demand printing in various kinds of businesses and applications by further enhancing the quality of our label print technology and optimizing both hardware and solutions. This partnership with Loftware is essential for our future business development, since by providing Cloud print, our Colorworks printers can connect to the systems of enterprise customers across multiple industries.’
‘We’re partnering with Epson to help businesses of all sizes move their labeling into the cloud,’ said Paul Vogt, VP of Channel and Alliance Strategies at Loftware. ‘Businesses are adopting best-of-breed partner labeling solutions and 1-step colour label printing to bring radical improvements to their supply chain printing operations. We’re delighted to collaborate with Epson to deliver such transformation.’
Epson and Loftware will co-operate to develop cloud-based 1-step colour printing solutions to further improve print efficiency and ease-of-use. The companies will lower barriers for on-demand colour label printing through seamless integration with SAP and other leading business systems.
EPSON SOUTH AFRICA
https://www.epson.co.za
