A combination of several factors determines the success of order picking in your warehouse: the layout of the bin (pick) locations, the ideal routing and pick sequence, proper inventory management with the help of a warehouse management system (WMS), high-quality tools such as scanners and voice-picking headsets, and last but not least, the right labels.
Label materials
The design you select for your rack and shelf barcode labels plays an important part in the daily order picking operations. Equally as important is your choice of label material. In addition, your work environment is a deciding factor, as are the application and the desired durability. What is the average temperature in your warehouse? Are your pick locations static or dynamic? Do your order pickers use long-range scanners? The answer to these and other questions determines the type of label material you need for your rack and shelf labels. At ONE2ID, we stock the following label materials:
Permanent
Our standard permanent option is a polypropylene label with a permanent adhesive and a laminate finish. This cost-effective solution guarantees long-term identification of your rack and shelf labels.
Repositionable
Our Repositionable label is comparable to our standard permanent option except it has a non-permanent adhesive. This makes it easy to remove the label without leaving any residue behind, even after 10 years. The label is also reusable thanks to the adhesive which remains as strong as it was when the label was first applied.
Magnetic
If you’re faced with ever-changing shelf locations, magnetic labels are a solid long-term investment. Magnetic labels can be designed in the same way regular labels can, with the added bonus of quick and easy application and removal. Labelling and relabelling has never been easier.
Block Out
Do you need to relabel all of your pallet racking locations and pick order shelves in a short amount of time? Block Out labels are the perfect solution if there’s no time to remove the existing labels. Simply cover the existing label with the new label and watch as barcodes, plain text and any other type of information on the old label are completely covered up by the black background of the Block Out label.
Label adapter
The label adapter is a polyester label with a permanent adhesive that adheres well to smooth, rough and textured surfaces. The main feature of the label adapter is its special topcoat finishing which changes every type of label material – for instance paper, vinyl or polypropylene – into a removable label material. After having removed the label from the label adapter, the surface shows no signs of adhesive or any other type of residue. It’s clean and ready for you to stick a new label onto it. The quick and easy way to label trolleys, storage bins and crates.
Rack and shelf label design
ONE2ID specialises in designing barcode labels tailor-made to your daily warehouse processes. Before we can present you with a label design we take a look at the existing labels and the different procedures that are in place in your warehouse or distribution centre. Your work environment, work processes, location of the label and scanning distance are instrumental in choosing the right design for your rack and shelf labels. The next step is to decide which information to include in the label, e.g.:
- Barcode or 2D code (data matrix, QR).
- Human readable information.
- Check digits.
- Arrows.
- Colours.
Work situations in which your operators are in close proximity to the objects they need to scan, e.g. when scanning at lower levels or using manup trucks – also known as multilevel riser picking trucks – benefit from a single-coloured label. If your barcode labels require long-distance scanning, ONE2ID advises the use of multi-coloured labels.
The use of colour
Colour-coding your shelves and racks provides a visual aid to your order pickers to determine at which level to find the products they need to collect. This not only helps reduce the number of picking errors, it also facilitates smoother work processes.
The human brain registers colours quicker and more easily as opposed to plain text, thereby decreasing the amount of time your employees need to spend identifying an order pick location. This means they are able to work faster and more efficiently which increases the number of orders your warehouse is able to handle per day.
In our knowledge base, you will find examples of label designs for rack and shelf labels we have created for some of our customers.
