Efficient supply chain management determines a competitive advantage for companies, which must have all the data to have timely control over all steps in the production chain, optimize logistics processes and meet regulatory requirements. In fact, regulations call for increasing control in the management of the commodity value chain. In this context, labeling is the tangible element of the whole process: the label, in fact, allows the supply and processing process of goods from producer to consumer to be kept under control.
Label printers capable of interfacing via the Web with logistics and warehouse management applications represent significant added value for those implementing supply chain automation projects. A concrete example of this comes from the experience developed by SATO for a company involved in the production and worldwide distribution of sportswear. The company, which had already invested in developing a software solution consistent with its logistics needs, was looking for a printer that could interface directly with its management application while minimizing the cost of developing a label printing program. As this is a company with worldwide distribution and warehousing, it was indeed necessary to engineer a “plug&play” Barcode or RFID label printing solution integrated with the management program.
The proposed solution was Web AEP, an extension of the AEP (Application Enabled Printing) software platform built into SATO smart printers, which allows label printing programs to be developed using Standard WEB languages, such as Vue.js, Angular, Jquery or React Java. With Web AEP, the label printing program resides directly on the server and communicates with the labelers. The solution simplifies label setup and preparation operations while avoiding the possibility of human error. In fact, with the AEP platform, the label creation process is fully automatic. This is why it is a technology successfully used in a wide range of sectors: from manufacturing to general logistics, from food to pharmaceutical, from healthcare to large-scale retail.
The facts confirmed the validity of the solution: in less than two months after the first meeting, a pilot solution was implemented to connect via Web App the SATO CT4-LX printer, a model with a simple and intuitive UI (User Interface) designed to adapt immediately to any working environment.
“SATO’s mission is to inspire change and promote innovation to simplify the customer’s life,” says Carlo Bulizza, marketing manager for SATO Italy, ”Web AEP is an example of the relentless creativity of our R&D team, in fact it allows software houses to create label printing Web Apps for tracking and management of goods and provide simple solutions that are fully integrated into their systems.”
Web AEP is currently available for SATO FX3-LX and CT4-LX touchscreen label printers.