Labelmaster is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of labels, placards, and other packaging used for shipping dangerous goods and hazardous materials. With 200+ employees, offices located across the US, and a robust web presence, they offer customers across the globe a rich range of products and services. Over the course of 5 decades, Labelmaster has become the go-to source for large and small companies that deal with complex, changing regulations and oversight for shipping by land, sea, or air.
“With e-Con we can save so much time and effort. There’s no need to duplicate data, since all information is completely integrated. We no longer have to create BOM’s, routings, pricing, and other documents as a separate process. As soon as we validate an order, it’s ready for production.”
Michael Kaufman, VP
Along with HazMat (Hazardous Materials) labels, placards, and UN certified packaging, Labelmaster offers customers regulatory publications, software, training, and services to help ensure compliance, mitigate risk, and ensure shipping operations run smoothly. e-Commerce plays a significant role in Labelmaster’s business, in particular for labels, placards, and packaging. Their goal is to give world-wide dealers and support staff 24/7 access to ordering products via a selfservice experience that lets them personalize the goods being ordered. They also want to assure customers that online checkout goes immediately to order processing and efficient fulfillment. These goals are part of a standard recipe for eCommerce, but compliance and regulations for HazMat shipping are highly specific, subject to change, and vary depending on goods, transport methods, and geographies. By making the e-Con Sales and Product Configurator part of their e-Commerce platform, Labelmaster transformed the individual expertise needed to accurately customize HazMat shipping materials into part of an automated process that included full integration with back-office handling for orders and fulfillment.
In the past when a label, placard or packaging materials was manufactured for a partner or customer, the right product must be selected and configured to meet specific requirements. For example, labels for fire products need to display information and regulations that are different then a label for batteries. Transport scenarios add a layer of complexity. Labels for shipping by air, ground, and sea are subject to exacting and diverse requirements. Aligning information, size, formatting, and presentation can involve many variables when you factor in geography-specific regulations. Not to mention the need to ensure compliance is always up to date. Labelmaster is highly-regarded for their expert, innovative management of changing HazMat compliance regulations. Still, dealers and internal personnel spent too many hours manually configuring labels, placards, and shipping materials. Lead times for complex orders could take up to a week. Two departments needed to be involved. Product configuration information was separate from the Microsoft Dynamics NAV database, so staff had to re-enter data to create production-ready orders. Even the most expert handling couldn’t protect against errors, which led in turn to delays, waste, and extra cost.