Success Story: Automated Label Printing with NiceWatch

q.data Inc., a wireless systems integrator in Canada, needed a bar code label printing solution to compliment their RF data collection system, RF Plus™, for a large meat processing plant in Canada.

When a shipment of meat is received on the dock, workers in receiving need to get the meat scanned and located in cold storage inventory as quickly as possible. Five to ten people with mobile wireless data collection devices scan the incoming inventory. The handheld application verifies the order receipt and transmits the data in real-time to the server database.

In addition, the application also drops a print request to an automated label printing server running on a Windows 2000 server. The application prints a tally label from the data collected from the incoming meat products.

The printers are networked Datamax Prodigy Max printers and wireless Zebra QL320 printers.

Niceware Technology

NiceLabel Suite with NiceWatch

Challenge

The integrator first implemented a competitive automated label printing server to handle the printing portion of the application. However, the competitive product caused errors in the print output and delays in the material handling. Because the application deals with perishable goods, the printing errors and delays were even more critical for the meat processing plant.

Solution

The integrator contacted Niceware and implemented NiceLabel Suite with NiceWatch. The application now uses the data filter system in NiceWatch to parse the file previously used by the competitive product. NiceWatch is installed as a service on the print server that is based on Windows 2000. NiceWatch receives over 100 variable fields, assigns the data to the target position on the label template and prints to both the Datamax Prodigy Max and Zebra QL320 printers. This application prints approximately 1,000 labels per day.

Benefits

NiceWatch is an event-driven application capable of monitoring and detecting data in many different formats to trigger the start of label printing. NiceWatch is an affordable and easy-to-deploy solution that automates label printing in a multi-operating system environment (Unix, AS/400, Host, etc.) or complex application environments (ERP, WMS, etc.).

NiceWatch provides the following benefits:

• Universal solution
• Seamless integration with foreign and remote systems
• Quick set up, NO programming required
• Reliable print server technology for high-demand printing environments
• Affordable solution
• No additional printer licensing

Contact Niceware

If you want to learn more about products and solutions from Niceware International, fill out the contact form or call Niceware at 414-476-6423.