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Application Spotlight Automotive
Printing Warehouse Labels – Just-in time
The Customer
A world wide operating car manufacturer with multiple strong brands under one roof with various production sites in different countries.
The Challenge
The aim is to reliably supply customers with each of the 470,000 different spare parts within 24 hours and to optimize the handling and performance of the printing technology used for higher output while maintaining the installed software structure.
The Solution
The use of Microplex thermal printers with their ability to support all printer languages (emulations) and protocols used within this industry has exceeded all expectations.
Our Microplex logiJET thermal printers are perfect for printing storage labels of spare parts in the automotive industry
The Benefit
The customer has the greatest possible control over the printing processes within the entire system of the spare part management.
About the Customer
This automobile manufacturer is one of the largest corporations in the world. Many millions of vehicles are produced in over 100 production sites around the world. The IT infrastructure has continuously developed over the decades. The production capacities and speed were continuously increased in order to meet the market requirements.
The Challenge
Reliably supplying customers with spare parts is not a new task. For many years it has been the aim to deliver each of the around 470,000 different spare parts within 24 hours. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, an IT environment was created in the past that optimally supports the state-of-the-art logistics and picking warehouse. Now the handling and the performance of the printing technology used should be optimized
This enormous performance can only be achieved with the help of powerful hardware and software systems. For this purpose, a software tool was created (XT-Printcon), which guarantees a loss-free printout of the storage labels just-in-time as well as the order-related shipping labels in 4“, 6“ and 8“ widths. At that time, the XT-Printcon communication specially tailored to the application was implemented, which must be fully supported by the printers used. The print data are prepared in the printer languages Labelpoint, IGP and ZPL (from SAP® systems) .
Another important criterion for the use of Microplex printers in these applications were the network-based monitoring and updating of all printers. The current status of the printer (operation, error messages, online, offline, etc.) should be recorded centrally so that appropriate reactions can be triggered as quickly as possible.
The Solution
As part of the project implementation, the XT-Printcon communication was integrated into the modular firmware by Microplex and fully implemented. Due to the universal usability of the Microplex firmware, the XT-Printcon communication has become available for all Microplex printers, including the logiJET thermal printers used in these applications. The Labelpoint, IGP and ZPL printer languages (emulations) have been optimized for the specihttps://microplex.de/en/know-how/application-spotlight-automotive/?preview=truefic applications in terms of compatibility and output speed. The Microplex fleet management software IP-Admin is used centrally monitoring the printers distributed over the entire company site. When registering printer clients in the internal network, this customer rely on authentication using authentication servers according to IEEE 802.1x.
The Benefit
One shortcoming of the printers used up to now was that there was no possibility of remote monitoring of the printer. Faults had to be reported by the users on site. Preventive maintenance of the printers by the IT department was not possible in a targeted manner. The use of the Microplex printer management software IP-Admin made it possible for the first time to centrally monitor the printers distributed over the entire company site. With IP-Admin it is now also possible to distribute current firmware updates etc. centrally over the network to any number of printers. It is not necessary to visit every single printer for this.
- One printer covers several applications – multifuctional
- Multiple printer languages on just one printer
- Central firmware update via the network
- Central monitoring of all printers
- Early detection of possible print interruptions
The advantages are:
Downloads
Application Spotlight
| Link | Other languages | Size |
|---|---|---|
 Application Spotlight Automotive |    | 2.01 MBytes |
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