One of the biggest challenges of company growth is the need to scale operational processes quickly, including label printing. Whether you’re ramping up orders to meet demand or expanding your product portfolio to reach new markets, you’ll need more labels for warehouse tracking and product identification, product packaging, and more.

The question is, how do you maximize your label production while controlling costs? More and more businesses are utilizing on-demand color label printing technology to do just that.

Discover the On-Demand Color Label Printing Difference

Bringing your color label printing in-house allows you to print the exact number of labels you need, when you need them. This way, you can better control costs, reduce waste, and keep up with changing needs as your business evolves.

Read on to learn about the real value of printing your own color labels:

Keep Color Label Printing Costs Down
Flexographic (flexo) printing is ideal for very high volume color label printing on an industrial scale. However, if you have a high number of label SKUs and need a lower volume of labels, it’s often more cost-effective to choose an on-demand color label printing solution.

Rather than buying more color labels than you actually need to meet the minimum order quantity requirements, you can simply stock blank labels and print full color labels on-demand with an in-house inkjet label printer. This allows you to avoid tying up capital with a surplus inventory of labels that may eventually become obsolete.

Free Up Warehouse Storage Space
Warehouse space is at a premium these days, which means underutilizing your storage area is costly. By eliminating wasteful pre-printed label inventory, you can streamline your storage and maximize your valuable space.

Make Real-Time Changes to Your Labels
Lastly, on-demand color label printing gives you the flexibility to modify your labels in real time to reflect product changes or compliance requirements. Large-scale printing processes typically require longer lead times for production, which can create frustrating delays when you need to update labels quickly. 

Next Step: Which Color Label Printer is Right for You?

Now that you know the value of on-demand color printing, it’s time to find the best color label printer for your workflow, application, and budget. At General Data, we highly recommend the Epson ColorWorks series of inkjet printers for high-quality, full-color label printing.

Epson ColorWorks C4000
This affordable color label printer packs powerful performance in a compact footprint, using PrecisionCore® print technology to deliver crisp, photo-quality color labels on demand. The CW-C4000 is compatible with ZPL II®, SAP®, major middleware, and more, allowing for integration with your existing workflow. With print speeds up to 4” per second and resolution up to 1200 dpi, it’s ideal for full-color product and packaging labels, including specialty products such as craft beverages and small-batch coffee.

Epson ColorWorks C6000
When you’re ready to upgrade from a black-and-white thermal transfer barcode printer to a vibrant, full-color printing solution, look no further than the Epson CW-C6000 inkjet label printer. Engineered for demanding commercial applications, the CW-C6000 was one of the first color inkjet label printers to offer ZPL II compatibility for enterprise-level label printing, allowing you to print both the color images and the variable data needed for your labels — all in one pass.

Like the CW-C4000, the C6000 utilizes Epson’s next-generation PrecisionCore® print technology combined with UltraChrome inks to deliver amazing durability, clarity, and color fidelity. It’s available in auto cutter or peel-and-present versions to suit your needs for fast, on-demand applications.

Epson ColorWorks C6500
For mission-critical applications that call for wide-format label printing, choose the Epson CW-C6500 to print color labels from 1” up to 8.34” wide. You’ll enjoy the same commercial-grade performance and ZPL II compatibility as the C6000, plus the capability of printing wide labels for GHS-compliant chemical drum labels.

Print Professional Color Labels In-House

Whether you need to print high-resolution, full-color product labels or add simple color bars or stripes to enhance your internal identification and tracking processes, General Data makes it easy to bring your label production in-house with on-demand color label printing solutions.

As your trusted label printing partner, we’ll help you build your own “label print shop” with our curated selection of industrial inkjet color label printers, blank label stock, printer ink and label design software. Beyond just supplying printers and labels, our experts are here to help at every step of the process, including integration and support to get your color label printing system up and running.

Contact our label experts to request more information about the ColorWorks series of printers available from General Data.