When you’re first deploying an RFID project—or when you’re streamlining your existing processes—it’s worth thinking carefully about the most economical way to manage your tag printing and encoding. TEC-RFID offers low-cost printing services that are a great option for many deployments; but, often, it’s worth taking the plunge and investing in your own printer. But how do you know which is the best choice is for your business?
Let’s look at the questions you should ask when deciding whether you should purchase your own printer or go the pre-printed route.
What are you tagging?
It might seem irrelevant at first thought, but it’s ultimately the most essential question—because the nature of the items tracked dictates what’s printed on the labels, and, for pre-printing, you need predictability.
Let’s say you’re an IT manager, and you want to track all the computers, monitors, keyboards, USB hubs, et cetera, throughout your premises. This is an ideal use case for our TEC-RFID Asset management software; and, generally speaking, it’s also an ideal scenario for pre-printing. When you’re tracking business assets, you’re usually going to be happy with a list of system-generated ID numbers, printed in advance. You’ll then be able to easily assign each tag to each device as you go, since any tag could theoretically be on any item.
Watch RFID Asset Tracking in action:
But, on the other hand, what if you’re a warehouse manager tagging pallets with labels for shipment? Each pallet is different, every time, and needs a large, unique label with a lot of visual data on it: information that can’t be predicted months or even days in advance. In this situation, having your own RFID printer is essential, as it allows you to print customised and informative labels on demand.
Another factor to consider is the type of tag required. Different materials and surfaces require different kinds of RFID tags—most notably, metal objects will need specially-insulated tags. The printers for on-metal tags are significantly more expensive; so, if you’re not doing high enough volume, it may not be worth the upfront investment.
When are you tagging it?
If you have pre-printed labels, that’s hundreds or thousands of tags, ready to go all at once; and if you’re planning on tagging all your assets at once, at the beginning of a project, that’s ideal.
One use case where this works great is for tote tracking: if you’re tagging the boxes in which items are handled, rather than the items themselves, you’re usually going to want to do all of them at the start—so it’s much easier for you to have the labels pre-printed, tag all the items you need to track, and then hit the ground running. If you’re using our TEC-RFID Asset management software, we can even pre-import the tag data into your system for you to minimise your setup time.
But what if you need to do tagging little and often? At that point, pre-printing becomes more of a chore: you’ve got to fish out the box, scan the tags, and assign them in your software, every time. This is especially a hassle if you’re working with consumable or saleable inventory, rather than long-term assets. But, if you have your own printer, you can create the desired items in your RFID platform and print the exact labels you need at the touch of a button, pre-synced to the software and ready to go—especially useful if you need a lot of custom data on the labels as above!
How many tags do you need?
This is a big one. When you buy a printer, you don’t just need to buy the device itself—you’ll need to take into account thermal transfer ribbons, maintenance and training costs, and, of course, staff time.
The tipping point for pure monetary return on investment is, for the majority of printer and tag combinations we’ve tested, somewhere in the 40,000-50,000 range. Here’s some examples:
This means that, typically, if you’re planning on needing 50,000 or more labels over the next couple of years, it is absolutely worth purchasing your own printer.
But it’s not just about the raw numbers. Even if you’re not getting anywhere near that volume, when you’re working with information-heavy labels, pre-printing is either inconvenient or impossible—and the convenience and adaptability of a printer becomes invaluable.
The final answer?
If …
- you need more than 50,000 tags
- you want custom data on your labels
- you’re tagging items over time
… consider buying an RFID printer!
If …
- you need less than 40,000 tags
- your label data is predictable
- you’re tagging items in bulk
… enquire about our pre-encoding services!
We’re happy to help answer your questions on how to best deploy RFID technology in your business—click below to contact us!