Fagor Ederlan eliminates identification errors and gains flexibility, cost savings with BarTender
BarTender helps global auto parts maker unify their label design and printing systems to realize significant operational and financial efficiencies
“Thanks to a single labeling solution, we have managed to improve the quality of our online processes and we have also greatly reduced the time spent on the labeling process, as well as its related costs.”
- Miguel Moral, IT manager, Fagor Ederlan
critical needs:
- Guaranteed traceability of parts from production to installation
- Centralized management of varied label production hardware
- Increased labeling agility and responsiveness
benefits:
- 90% reduction in time spent modifying new label designs
- 80% reduction in cost of printing hardware
- Simple and centralized label design and management
- Container identification errors eliminated
- Complete inventory visibility and traceability
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Fagor Ederlan is a benchmark in the production of automotive components—safety parts for axles, brakes, and suspension—for the market's main manufacturers of commercial and industrial vehicles. The Basque cooperative, belonging to the Mondragón Corporation, has 18 plants distributed across Spain, the Czech Republic, Brazil, China, and Mexico.
Challenge: Guaranteeing traceability and consolidating disparate printing components
Fagor Ederlan's main challenge was to guarantee the traceability—and quality—of its components, from each part's initial production through to installation and operation. Correct identification is critical, to avoid missing parts and ensure inventory accuracy.
Prior to the integration of BarTender, container identification was done with industry-standard labels through printers from various manufacturers, burdening staff with managing different software solutions, even from the design stage. This resulted in label design taking a considerable amount of time, as label formats needed to be modified and new code loaded into each labeler's memory.
Furthermore, the fact that the labels were pre-printed increased the margin of error. In-house commercial labelers were an expensive solution for a low label volume of around 30-40 containers per day, per production line.
Solution: Centralized management of a streamlined labeling solution and unified printer fleet
BarTender’s Automation Edition, with collaboration and installation by Ibermática, provided a comprehensive and versatile solution for Fagor Ederlan, improving their design efficiency and the management of different label formats.
BarTender’s broad range of integrations easily and significantly reduced hardware and maintenance costs and provided the flexibility to adapt to any printing equipment and adjust to the volume of labels required.
BarTender made it possible to avoid investment in professional-grade labelers, and instead use simpler multifunction laser printers (MFPs) and a pay-per-use subscription service—a far more economical solution for the cooperative's daily print volume.
Adding to these savings is the replacement of label and ribbon rolls on standard A4 paper with adhesive labels.
By implementing a single solution, Fagor Ederlan now designs and manages various label formats in a simple and centralized way, eliminating all container identification errors and guaranteeing the complete traceability of each of its parts.
In addition, auto-saving changes and no longer needing to load each new design into each labeler has reduced the time spent on modifying each label's format by 90%. The flexibility of using BarTender with any type of printing equipment has reduced the cost of hardware by 80% and opened up new possibilities for future upgrades to machinery and systems.