Warehouse label printing to thermal printers

Three kinds of label do most of the work in a warehouse. Location labels put a barcode on every bin location, so a scan confirms the picker is at A-01-02 and not A-01-03. Pallet labels identify a pallet or container as one unit, either with an internal license plate number or with a GS1 SSCC for pallets going to a customer. Shipping labels go on the outside of every parcel.

Each one has to scan on the first try, match the record it came from, and be easy to replace when it gets torn or wet. That is a printing problem as much as a data problem, and it is why printing belongs inside the WMS rather than in a separate label tool fed by copy and paste.

Printing in NextStock is a recorded job, not a trip through the browser's print dialog. You set printers up once, and every label after that goes to the right device.

• Add each printer once and choose how NextStock reaches it: PrintNode, Zebra Browser Print or download.
• Print from the record you are working on, such as a location, a pallet or a package.
• NextStock renders the label as ZPL and sends it to that printer.
• The job is saved with who printed it, when, and on which printer.
• Reprint from the history when a label jams, smears or falls off.

PrintNode is a cloud printing service. Its client runs on a computer connected to the printer, and NextStock sends jobs to it over the internet, so nobody has to keep a browser tab open beside the printer. It suits packing benches and dock printers that print all day. It is a separate service with its own account.

Zebra Browser Print is an app from Zebra that runs on the station computer and lets the browser send jobs to a Zebra printer connected to it. It needs no separate account, but it works only with Zebra printers and only while NextStock is open at that station.

Download is the fallback that always works. NextStock gives you the label file and you send it to the printer yourself. Use it for a one-off printer, or when a connection is down and the dock can't wait.

The worst label mistake isn't a failed print. It's a second label with a different identity. If a pallet label jams and someone creates a new pallet just to get a fresh label, you now have two LPNs for one pallet, and one of them will never be found. In NextStock you reprint the existing label from its history, so the barcode stays the same.

Print history also answers the question every station asks: did that label actually go out? Each job records the printer and the time, so you can see what was sent where and reprint without guessing. When a printer is out of action, download the label and print it at another station rather than holding up the order.

A few decisions made before go-live save a lot of relabeling later. The warehouse barcode labels guide covers symbologies and placement in more depth.

• Name locations before you print them. A consistent aisle-bay-level scheme is easier to walk and to relabel; see bin location naming.
• Match label stock to the job. Shipping labels are usually 4 × 6 inch; location labels are smaller and need to survive forklifts and dust.
• Print a test label on every printer and scan it with the scanners your team will actually use.
• Label one aisle at a time and scan each label right after applying it, so a mislabeled bin is caught immediately.
• Keep a spare roll and ribbon at every station. An empty roll stops a bench as surely as a software fault.