Putting the Ultimate Industrial Warehouse Printer to the Test

Industrial Printers for Order Fulfillment

We decided there was no better way to test the performance of our new Brother Titan Industrial Printer series than to run one of the printers through its paces in our own warehouse. Andy Kyger, Senior IT Administrator for our bustling distribution facility in Bartlett, Tennessee, coordinated the test and couldn’t have been more pleased with the printer’s performance.

Kyger:

“I would recommend this Brother Titan Industrial Printer for any type of warehouse, distribution center, or eCommerce fulfillment operation. It met or outperformed the model we currently use from another manufacturer in every way.”

Prior to the release of the Brother Titan Industrial Printer series, Brother did not offer a model in the category that Kyger required. So his warehouse team had been using an industrial printer from another manufacturer. In testing the new Brother Titan Industrial Printer unit, Kyger discovered that it went above and beyond the existing solution – meeting all of the key considerations his operations pros find most critical:

• Print quality of industrial barcode labels: Unreadable barcodes are not compliant and result in fines
• Longevity of the printer AND printhead: It’s essential to print for long periods of time
• Ease of use: A printer that is easy for workers to operate and load is mandatory
• Seamless integration: The printer must integrate with the facility’s core WMS and corresponding printer language
• Built for harsh conditions: Printers must be rugged enough to stand up to tough warehouse conditions (including cold and heat)

Kyger explained that the warehouse handles a wide variety of goods such as inbound product materials that must be identified and labeled correctly in order to be put away properly and located again when needed. The facility also uses picking labels to identify goods during packaging process, as well as shipping labels that must meet the strict compliance standards set by carriers including UPS, DHL, and FedEx.

Printer performance is critical

Kyger:

“With printers, it all comes back to longevity and making sure that every printer we deploy is built to deliver quality and print for long periods of time. Performance is critical: if one of our printers goes down and is not in use, our warehouse can’t ship outbound goods. That’s a huge issue.”

He continued:

“We will print on average a million literal feet a year, so the printers we use must stand up to those types stringent requirements. We put a Brother Titan Industrial Printer to the test – even running more than 250,000 labels through it at one time nonstop. It held up as well as the competitive model we had been using. The big advantage was that we were actually able to increase the speed and still have the same quality levels that our operations demand.”

In addition offering high performance, the printers need to be user friendly and easy for workers to load label media, use, and reload as needed. “The Brother Titan Industrial Printer actually performed better when it came to loading the labels and the ribbon material. This was a significant plus for our team,” Kyger said.

Drop-in software integration

Seamless integration was also critical, according to Kyger. “We use JDA as our core WMS software, and with that comes some key integration requirements, such as ZPL language. The Brother printer was able to take these ZPL language interface and print the labels without a hitch.”

Kyger added:

“There were also some setups that we had to create, including making sure we had the right IP addresses for different types of networking platforms. All we needed to do was put in the current networking settings and then we were able to virtually ‘plug and play’ with the new printer. You can’t ask for more than that.”

Brother Titan Industrial Printer series: Print ultra-fast. Again. And again. And again

Intense competitive pressure, razor-thin profit margins, and a highly unpredictable marketplace accelerate the need to invest in next-gen labeling solutions that integrate seamlessly with your WMS and other systems to optimize warehouse and fulfillment center efficiency and productivity.

The Brother Titan Industrial Printer series, a new line of 4-inch industrial printers, delivers the quality barcode labels you need with the support you want. Ideally suited for harsh conditions and long-term warehouse use, you can count on:

• Speed and reliability: produce consistently crisp barcode labels at top speeds
• Unmatched support: backed with an industry-leading Premier Limited Warranty and responsive, lifetime customer support
• Refreshingly easy integration: seamlessly integrate with your system using a full suite of included emulations, SDKs, and drivers
• Intuitive usability: see status and make selections easily on the fly with a touch panel display on several models
• Upfront affordability: take advantage of some of the industry’s lowest price points or low monthly subscription options, all of which include built-in, value-added options

Related Resource

The 5 Biggest Challenges Facing Today’s Warehouses
See for yourself how the Brother Titan Industrial Printer series can help improve efficiency, productivity, and your bottom line. Download our white paper to discover how these powerful printers make it easier to tackle some of the toughest warehouse challenges. Download Now!