“We were throwing away too much labelstock, and each changeover felt like a timeout in a close game,” says Nguyen Thanh, Operations Director at KienNhat Logistics in Ho Chi Minh City. “We handle thousands of shipping labels daily across multiple SKUs and carriers. We needed a plan that didn’t spike our capex.” For quick proofing and emergency short runs, the team even tested online vendors like printrunner to pressure-test costs and lead times before committing to equipment changes.
As Nguyen puts it, “Waste isn’t just scrap; it’s time, energy, and morale.” The conversation that follows is a grounded look at how a fast-growing Asian e-commerce shipper stabilized quality, rethought their mix of Flexographic Printing and Digital Printing, and answered the very practical question: how to eliminate waste in label printing without bogging down throughput.
Company Overview and History
KienNhat Logistics grew from a small fulfillment outfit into a national e-commerce shipper within three years. Early on, the team relied on contractors and even simple stopgaps like “printing shipping label at ups” for overflow during peak weeks. Growth changed the math. In 2023, they set up a narrow-web label line: an 8-color Flexographic Printing press with UV Ink, Labelstock on glassine liners, and a compact finishing cell for Die-Cutting and Varnishing. The idea was simple—own critical labels, control timing, and reduce dependence on last-minute buys.
Standards came next. They aligned color workflows to ISO 12647 and ran G7 targets for ΔE control across labelstocks (paper and PP film) because carrier scans and brand overlays need consistent contrast. Headcount reached 22 operators on two shifts. When urgent promotional labels popped up, the procurement team occasionally placed small test orders with printrunner to validate art files, try Spot UV on limited runs, and benchmark turnaround in real-world conditions.
Quality and Consistency Issues
“Our top issue wasn’t a single defect; it was a pattern,” Nguyen recalls. Scrap hovered around 12–15%. Common causes: registration drift on long runs, occasional ink spitting on uncoated Labelstock, and color variance that pushed ΔE beyond 3–4 on some SKUs. Overflow costs also crept up when the team reverted to stopgaps like printing shipping label at UPS during spikes. Internally, the framing question became explicit: how to eliminate waste in label printing without slowing shipping?
Job changeovers were another drag. With short-run, variable-data labels for carriers and promos, plate swaps and wash-ups stretched to 45–60 minutes, and First Pass Yield (FPY%) plateaued around 78–82%. None of this is unusual for fast-growing operations. But it was clear they needed a tighter process and a smarter run-length strategy—what runs belong on Flexo and what runs should shift to Digital Printing.
Solution Design and Configuration
The pivot was hybrid. KienNhat kept the Flexographic Printing press for stable, long-run carrier labels and added a compact UV Inkjet Digital Printing unit for short-run, variable data, and seasonal promo labels. They moved food-adjacent SKUs to Low-Migration Ink sets and locked ΔE targets to ≤2 for key brand colors. For offsite validation, they placed a handful of micro-runs with printrunner; procurement literally asked, “is printrunner legit” before authorizing trials. The team used a few printrunner coupons to keep pilot budgets tight while they tuned art files and finishing specs.
Process control did the heavy lifting. They rationalized anilox inventories to reduce variability, created press-side color books, and standardized plate screens for common SKUs. A 100% inline inspection camera flagged defects before full-roll waste accumulated. Changeover playbooks (SMED-style) trimmed steps and clarified roles; targets were simple: changeovers down to 20–25 minutes and scrap under 5–7% across the program. Preflight catch lists cut rework on variable data, which had been a silent culprit.
There were rough patches. Humidity in Ho Chi Minh City caused curl on PP film, and initial corona treatment settings weren’t right. They revised treatment levels, adjusted drier temperatures, and worked with an adhesive supplier to stabilize lay-flat. “If you’re googling how to start a label printing business, expect climate and material quirks,” Nguyen says. “We learned that a clean anilox map and disciplined substrate handling matter as much as any new press spec.”
Quantitative Results and Metrics
Fast forward twenty weeks. Scrap fell from 12–15% to 4–6%, with most gains coming from job segregation and inspection catches. FPY moved into the 92–94% range, and ΔE stayed at or below 2 for about 80–85% of lots (brand tints being the usual holdout). Average changeover time landed at 20–25 minutes. Throughput rose by roughly 15–18% on the same headcount, and the payback window for the digital unit penciled at 14–18 months. A rough CO₂/pack calculation showed an 8–12% drop by avoiding rushed external runs and reprints.
Trade-offs remain. Not every SKU belongs on Digital Printing; coverage, substrates, and finishing steps can tilt the economics back to Flexo. Their emergency backup is still a short list of vendors—and yes, they keep a couple of printrunner accounts warm for seasonal spikes and quick proofs. Nguyen’s advice to teams asking how to start a label printing business: decide what you must own versus what you can outsource, write clear ΔE and FPY gates, and don’t skip the SMED work. If you’re thinking about how to eliminate waste in label printing, tackle run segmentation first. In their words, the hybrid model—and a disciplined process—made printrunner a strategic overflow ally instead of a crutch.
