Bata (also known as Bata Shoe Organisation) has a retail presence in over 70 countries and production facilities in 26 countries.
In India, they are the leading footwear manufacturer and retailer manufacturing 45 million pairs of shoes per year to serve 120,000 customers per day thru its network of 1200 outlets and 30,000 retailers. With such a large scale of operations in a rapidly growing market, it is imperative to have a complete and automated supply chain visibility.
The application requires a large number of printed barcode labels (1,000,000 – 1,500,000 per month) to be applied on shoe boxes, hang tags for each shoe and shipping boxes. The printed information is used for product identification, inventory management and shipment tracking.
The labels need to be scanned and read from the factory till the point of sales therefore the printed message has to withstand the friction-induced between the boxes during long transportation across India.
Barcode being the most economical automated data capturing solution it was the obvious technology to implement at Bata. AutoID specialist Bar Code India (BCIL) recommended a complete Thermal Transfer solution using Zebra Z4M label printers, inkanto Wax/Resin grade APR®6 and label material Fasson TT2C: this successful combination really fulfils Bata’s requirements.
This complete solution, including inkanto Thermal Transfer ribbon APR®6, offers Bata a high level of robustness of the material, a good print quality and a cost-effective solution in terms of consumables and maintenance.