Manufacturing Case Study – Miller Electric

Miller Electric – Appleton, WI

Problem:

Serial number labels, rating labels and carton labels for manufactured goods were pre-printed and supplied as kits. Pre-printing led to a high percentage of obsolescence and wasted kits due to changes in production schedules. The pre-printed situation also led to poor customer satisfaction when expedited shipments were delayed due to the inability to receive the necessary pre-printed labels in a timely fashion.

Huzzard Solution Design:

UL and CSA compliant serial number label with dynamic information are printed on-demand on each Miller Electric production line. The serial number labels are used in conjunction with Huzzard line-stocked static information rating labels and print on-demand carton labels.

The serial number labels and carton labels are generated at the same time from two different printers strategically located to help optimize the workflow process for applying the labels efficiently and accurately. The serial number format populates “buckets” of agency icons like UL and CSA per the attributes associated with the SKU being built. A barcode on the serial number also allows for the machine to be easily and accurately entered into the production stream after passing a verification process.

The carton label set is a multi-label design including two carton labels (one for each side of the carton) and a set of barcoded logistic labels. The carton labels are also populated with information reflecting the attributes of the SKU being built including the appropriate California Prop 65 information in multiple languages.

Huzzard Solution Components:

• Application Development
  • Huzzard designed the serial number label and carton label formats and provided the native printer language code to Miller Electric.
  • Miller Electric embedded the code in a desktop program that pulled data from a network database that populates each label on-demand.

• Hardware
  • Printer / Laminator / Cutter
  • Thermal Transfer printers
  • Cordless scanners

• Media
  • UL / CSA recognized Serial Number label material including facestock, laminate and thermal transfer ribbon.
  • UL / CSA Rating Label material including facestock, laminate and thermal transfer ribbon.
  • Custom designed floodcoated carton labels for bi-monthly inventory identification. One label set format generates two carton labels and a set of barcoded logistic labels that scanned (and applied to log sheets if need be) as the finished good moves through the supply chain.

• Services
  • Systems analysis and design
  • Engineering drawings for rating label
  • Label archive
  • Programming & Application Development
  • Service Bureau – Label making and printing of rating labels
  • Vendor managed inventory (weekly line-stocking at each Miller Electric business unit)
  • Certified Zebra and Brother printer repair

Benefits:

• Flexible – Miller Electric can change production schedules and not be hampered by not having correct labels on-hand. Labels are all blank. Information is populated when printed on the production line.
• Responsive – Miller Electric can respond to their customers needs in a rapid fashion.
• Compliant – All labels adhere to agency label standards outlined by Miller Electric 3^rd Part Reliability Engineers.
• Cost savings – Miller Electric has realized an over 30% reduction in waste from pre-printed labels.

The Buzz about Huzz:

Knowledgeable, resourceful and easy to do business with. After several weeks of testing appropriate label materials that would meet the harsh environment requirements a typical welder is subjected to, Huzzard moved into the design of each label format. Less than a year later, the first business unit was beta testing the new system. Within 12 months of the first beta site deployment, all 13 Miller Electric business units were utilizing the new system and continue to use it to this day.