Labels and Barcodes
At Great Dane, a finished part usually needs more than a durable coating. It needs to be identified before it moves into handling, shipping, and inventory control. That is why we offer custom labeling services built to your requirements. We print and apply labels and barcodes after your parts are coated and cured, so they arrive at your dock ready to scan and stock.
What Does Great Dane’s Labeling Service Include?
- Accuracy. Labels and barcodes go on according to your print diagram, so placement and orientation match your specification on every part, run to run.
- Content. Text, logos, part numbers, revision levels, and barcodes that read into your inventory and receiving systems.
- Durability. Labels are selected to hold up through storage, shipping, and handling. Tell us the conditions and we will match the label to them.
- Efficiency. Labeling is done as part of the finishing process, so you are not shipping parts to another vendor or handling them again yourself.
- Traceability. Barcodes and custom identifiers make it easier to track parts through receiving, inventory, and the rest of your supply chain.
Why Labels from a Parts Coater?
A label cannot go on before coating. Cure ovens run hot enough to destroy one. That makes your coater the last set of hands on the part before it ships, and the natural place for this step. Combining coating and labeling removes a handoff, reduces handling, and means every part leaves our plant correctly finished and clearly identified.
What information can go on the label?
That is your call, and we work from what you give us. Common content includes the part number, a description, a revision level, quantity, your purchase order number, and the date. Logos and company marks are routine. Barcodes are the piece most customers care about, because they are what turns a labeled part into a part your systems can see. If your labels carry sequential or serial numbers, tell us early, since numbering has to be planned before the run rather than corrected after it. The same is true of any content that has to match your own documentation exactly, such as revision levels tied to a drawing. The safest approach is to send the artwork or a completed sample label along with your print diagram. We build the label content into your job record with the rest of the specification, so it is applied the same way on this order and the next one.
Will a label stick to a coated surface?
Usually, and the variable worth talking about is texture. A high gloss or satin powder coat gives a smooth, clean surface that labels adhere to well. Textured finishes are different. The surface has peaks and valleys, so less of the adhesive makes contact, and a label that would hold fine on a smooth part can lift at the corners on a textured one. E-coated surfaces are thin and smooth and generally take labels well. Temperature and timing matter too. Labels go on after the parts have cured and cooled, on a clean, dry surface. If your parts are textured and labeling is critical, tell us at the quoting stage. Depending on the part, the answer might be a different label construction, a different placement, or a masked smooth area where the label sits. That last option has to be planned before coating, which is another reason to raise labeling early rather than as an afterthought.
Can you label powder and e-coated parts?
Yes. Labeling is a finishing step, not a coating step, so it applies to work from either of our plants. We run powder coating and electrocoating in two dedicated facilities, and parts from both lines can be labeled before they ship. It also applies to dual-layer work, where an e-coat primer is followed by a powder topcoat. In that case the label goes on after the final cure, the same as any other job. This matters more than it sounds. A manufacturer sending some parts out for powder coating and others for e-coating often ends up with two suppliers, two processes for identification, and two chances for a part to arrive unlabeled. Consolidating both processes with one company means one specification, one job record, and one set of labels applied the same way regardless of which line the part ran through.
Labeling, kitting and packing
They are three parts of the same last mile, and they work best planned together. Labeling identifies the individual part. Kitting groups the parts that belong together into a single unit. Packing protects the whole shipment on the way to you. Run in sequence by one supplier, they produce a skid that can go straight to your line. Split across vendors, they produce three chances for the count, the label, and the packing list to disagree. If your parts are being kitted, tell us whether labels go on individual components, on the kit, or on both. If they are being packed to a particular arrangement, tell us how the labels have to face so they can be read without unpacking. Those details cost nothing to specify up front and are expensive to fix at your receiving dock. All three services are covered on our Custom Services page.
What Great Dane needs from you
Four things cover most jobs. First, the label content, sent as artwork or a sample label. Second, the barcode requirement, including the symbology your scanners read and what data the barcode has to carry. Third, a print diagram or drawing showing placement and orientation. Fourth, the quantity and the packing arrangement, so we know how many labels per part, per kit, or per container. All four go onto your ID Sheet, the project record our Quality and Sales teams build with you before the job runs. Every department works from that sheet, so the labeling specification travels with your parts through coating, inspection, and packing rather than living in somebody's email. If any of this is not settled yet, send what you have. Most labeling questions are easier to answer with a part and a drawing in front of us than in the abstract.
Getting Started
If you need labeling that is accurate, repeatable, and built into the finishing process, Great Dane can handle it. Tell us what the label has to say and where it has to sit.
Contact us today to walk through your labeling requirements and request a quote.
You can learn more about the value added services we offer on our Custom Services page.