When Jeff Simpson’s healthy pet treat business grew into a successful, international operation, he found a printing partner, in TSC Auto ID Technology, that matched his future ambitions
Founded and managed by Jeff Simpson, Jeffo GmbH & Co. KG is a global specialist in healthy snacks and treats for pets, horses and other small animals. Its product range spans hard-baked organic cookies that aid dental care and a range of high-quality snacks for on-the-go, including lollypops with integrated chewing gum, cakes and seasonal extras that coincide with events such as the Munich Beer Festival.
Since 2007, these goodies have originated from Jeff’s own production plant and integrated logistics centre located in Markt Schwaben, Germany. From the preparation of ingredients and mixing of dough through to the cutting of exclusively designed molds and painstaking baking process, every step is completed by hand. The master baker uses only the finest organic and premium quality ingredients sourced regionally, and always without sugar and salt, flavour enhancers, colorings or preservatives.
With a product portfolio boasting 200 different items, the company had originally used pre-printed cartons and packs – as well as stickers for goods packed in bags. However, the application of batch numbers and minimum shelf-life data proved increasingly cumbersome using a hand-held labeller. Tasks like adding additional information or applying last minute changes proved virtually impossible. As the products grew in popularity and began selling into different European countries, languages became another hurdle, as did the various seasons. “At Easter or Christmas, for example, we would customise labels by laser printers and apply them onto the packs,” said Jeff Simpson who added: “Print quality, contrast and even toner-lubrication effects definitely no longer corresponded to our brand. Therefore, we needed a modern, economic and easy to use solution for our high-quality top products.”
Following an intensive tender process, TSC’s reliable TTP-346MT was selected for its high-quality processing and user-friendly touch display. Now, the industrial thermal transfer printer is primarily used for new product marking. The adhesive labels attached to the back of the packages contain all kind of information such as product information, ingredients, weight, batch number, minimum shelf life data, EAN and QR codes. The two-dimensional QR code informs directly at POS, via smartphone, about a range of further product details and also allows the downloading of explanatory videos by consumers. The company prints white, blank and individually produced labels as well as four-color labels, which can provide specific product information. Increasingly, the versatile model is used for printing address labels, shipping/receiving labels, product labels, commission notes, labels for secondary packaging as well as labels for outgoing pallets.
Thanks to TSC’s innovative Thermal Smart Control, the printer model impresses with excellent print quality. Printing speeds of up to 254 mm per second (10 ips), 300 dpi print resolution, a powerful processor and enormous memory are standard features as are internal Ethernet, USB 2.0, USB host and serial interfaces. The contrast-colored 4.3″ LCD touch panel with six clear buttons is particularly impressive. With its rigid, full die-cast aluminium frame, TTP-346MT supports a large 8.2 inch outer-diameter label roll and up to 600 meter ribbon capacity for high volume printing. Its powerful TSPL-EZ™ firmware, which features an integrated, automatic Zebra™ and Eltron™ speech emulation, facilitates integration into existing IT structure and supports common applications such as Oracle, SAP, Unix or AS/400. As standard, the printer is also equipped with a basic label software, so that every department at Jeffo’s is able to design and print labels independently and quickly on the basis of ready-to-use CI standard templates.
