Molex, worldwide manufacturers and distributors of electronic components and connectors, rollout TOSHIBA B-852 barcoding solution across Europe

Molex, the worldwide manufacturers and distributors of electronic components and connectors for the automotive, medical and communications industries has undergone a complete overhaul of its internal and external tracking systems. Working with Toshiba the manufacturer has installed Toshiba's B-852 printer to improve the quality and speed of its barcoding solutions.

Molex ships up to 4000 products each day from each of its 50 worldwide plants, ten of which are based in Europe. Every box and pallet is barcoded to maintain internal tracking and meet shipping requirements. The existing printers used by the manufacturer were out of date and slow and were simply not producing quality barcodes at the speed required to meet the high output from the manufacturing plants.

Molex realised that they needed to replace their existing printers with a cutting edge and reliable solution. Discussions with their service partner, Printer and Scanning Services, led to two key decisions. The first was to move to networking with 2D, true type font barcodes and the second, to use direct thermal transfer which would reduce the cost of consumables and meet the needs of the plants that were printing in excess of 3,000 labels per day.

The manufacturer evaluated three printers, including Toshiba's B-852, the printer recommended by Printing and Scanning Services. Molex was impressed with the wide-web capabilities and flexibility of the Toshiba B-852 and with the added benefits of the low-cost of ownership and superior performance Molex took the decision to install the B-852 on a six week trial. 

After just four weeks Molex were so pleased with the B-852's performance and quality of the output that they placed an order for a further 60 units which were installed at Molex plants in Ireland, France, Germany, Slovakia, Italy, Netherlands and Poland.

"Our previous barcode printers had no internal network card, so each site had to be managed locally and it was very difficult to control the whole printing estate. We now have the option to manage the printers locally or remotely from a central source, essential for the efficient and flexible running of our operation." commented Tony Flynn, European Label Administrator.

The Toshiba B-852's are networked to a main hub, so they can be managed remotely from one central source but with the flexibility to be managed locally if required. The label administrator can simply log in, check the status of any printer at any given site, send print jobs and troubleshoot.

"We can now produce in excess of 4000 labels each day at any of our sites, the printers are easy to work with and by using Label View we can add any variable data required for each shipment." added Flynn.

The Label View feature provides the opportunity to produce different label sizes, ranging from 3" to A4, and formats via the same printer. Labels can contain all of the essential information needed e.g. part number, quantity, barcode, order number, plant address, country of origin, RoHS statement, box number and weight.

"The transition to the Toshiba solution was easy, there were no problems or disruption at any of the plants, and the benefits were immediate - added to that  - the printers are extremely reliable and the quality of the output is exceptional" concludes Flynn.

As a result of the high standards of the Toshiba solution Molex have recommended the Toshiba B-852  to their American counterparts and have purchased another 70 units to expand their pan-European rollout.