Most common challenges with asset labels

With asset labels, we are talking about physical attachable elements. From time to time we learn about the challenges customers run into when using labels. Here are a few most common ones with instructions on how to avoid the most common mistakes.

1. Using labels of poor material

One might think it would be convenient to use the basic office printer for producing barcodes and QR codes for equipment. There lies however multiple challenges in the seemingly simple approach.

The quality of the labeling material should be carefully considered. The choice of material is not so critical for those labels which are attached to some even surface and are never touched. The criticality increases with the labels which are in constant use, scanned, touched, and scratched all the time.

The choice of material should be made based on the use case that requires more durability. The reason is that for the most used equipment, the process falls short if the label is easily ripped off. Then the equipment management system cannot be systematically used. The outcome can be that the users become unhappy with the chosen solution. There can also arise a need to spend time and money in replacing the poor labels, and more importantly, the process cannot be trusted.

Whitepaper by Trail Systems Ltd

At Trail, we only offer labels of good quality and know that they last in use. Therefore we can also provide support in designing and using them. This is our way of ensuring customer happiness with our solution. For us, it is a high priority to make sure that the labels on our customer’s most used equipment are there tightly in place when the user comes to scan those.

2. Applicability of RFID on different surfaces

There is increasing interest in many industries towards utilising remote scannable RFID labels. From time to time we run into poor experiences with trying to scan RFIDs on a metal surface.

With RFID it is important to ensure that the labels used are meant for the correct surface material. Otherwise, there is a risk of running into problems when scanning. When it comes to RFID labels, there are specific label materials for metal surfaces and other materials for other surfaces. It’s key to ensure that correct materials are used together.

Even when the choice of materials is the correct one, sometimes remote scannable RFID labels struggle if the metal is too close to the label when scanned. To avoid problems, we recommend taking the time to evaluate the positioning of the label on the equipment. The best solution is that there are as few other materials near the label as possible.