Lincoln's Log | Page 6 | Volume 1 - 010 Media Blanket Orders When you need to have ribbons or labels on hand at all times, placing a blanket order is your best option. Custom labels typically have a 14- business- day turn time, while custom ribbons can take up to a week to ship. These turn times can leave you without the right label or ribbon, or even worse, no supplies at all. Your labeling systems will quickly grind to a screeching halt, leaving you with idle workers, lost production time, and even worse, lost profits. What are the advantages of placing a Media Blanket Order? 1. You pay less for your labels- label and ribbon pricing is volume sensitive and can go down dramatically when ordering in larger volumes. 2. We manage the inventory for you 3. No lengthy lead times waiting for custom product 4. Orders processed and shipped same day 5. All product stored in climate controlled facility When you agree to purchase a bulk amount of labels and/ or ribbons over a given period of time, AbeTech can guarantee they'll be in stock and ready to ship upon your request. Best of all, you pay for them only as you use them. Blanket orders can be set up to suit your specific needs, whether based on scheduled releases, minimum and maximum supply levels, or more. You can even stipulate your preferred shipping methods. Contact your AbeTech account executive today for more details or email Media Specialist Chad Overgaauw at covergaauw@ abetech. com. AbeTech Services Going Mobile Without Going Crazy For many companies, the thought of automating a paper- based process can be overwhelming. After all, where does one start? The first thing to realize is that you don't need to go it alone. AbeTech has over 18 years of experience you can benefit from; it's our experience, your competitive advantage. That experience has led us to a tried and true process for implementing successful mobile solutions, which begins with a needs assessment. This helps us gain a thorough understanding of your business, your processes and your goals. Our partner Intermec has created an insightful whitepaper that outlines key steps to help you gather the information needed to understand your options: 1. Start with clear goals. 2. Determine your requirements. 3. Determine what data needs to be sent to and collected by the mobile worker. 4. Determine the work environment and the physical form factor requirements. 5. Determine the technology requirements. 6. What kind of supplier support can you get? 7. Determine the financial considerations. 8. What future business processes will you be implementing, and will the system support the upgrades? Obviously there are many other things to consider in and above these steps, and we recommend getting us involved early in the process in order to avoid any issues or delays. For help going through this process and being your needs assessment, please contact your AbeTech account manager. Remember - our experience, your competitive advantage. Click here to access the entire Intermec whitepaper - Eight Steps to Going Mobile.

Lincoln's Log | Page 7 | Volume 1 - 010 in the News News Brief: Zebra IQ Color Thermal Labels With Zebra's IQ Color labels, you can print color labels on demand. IQ Color enables you to color create visual cues or highlight information- when and as needed- within your current label format and with your current Zebra thermal printer. How does it work? You simply identify the size and shape of color " zones" within your label and choose the colors for each zone. Zebra offers eight colors; each label can have up to four colors. During the label manufacturing process, invisible color inks are applied in those zones, customized to your needs and label format. To the naked eye, it appears there is no color on the label. The Zebra printer's printhead then heat- activates the ink to make the selected colors visible based on the format sent to the printer. This means that each individual label can be customized with color images, text, shapes, graphics and more, right at the point of printing. GS1 - Not a Star Wars Character More than thirty years ago, both the UCC and the EAN worked to establish global standards as they pertained to the bar code, or more specifically, the UPC. That came to full fruition when they officially joined forces and launched GS1 across the globe. Today, GS1 operates worldwide with over 108 offices in over 150 countries to design and manage a global system of supply chain standards. It all started back the in the 1970' s with the bar code. This seemingly simple black and white graphic changed the world. GS1 standards were originally created to improve the efficiency of the distribution of food and consumer goods to supermarkets, but today the standards are used by millions of companies in dozens of sectors, including healthcare, transportation and logistics, aeronautics, defense, high tech and, of course, the retail supply chain. GS1 standards provide a framework that allows products, services and information about them to move efficiently and securely for the benefit of businesses and the improvement of people's lives. Every day, at least 5 billion bar codes are read all over the planet, and are certainly the most well- known and universally recognized part of the GS1 system of standards, which GS1 has been building and managing since they were invented. Today, GS1 has expanded its standards to include RFID technology as well. GS1 standards in the supply chain do more than just create efficiency. The standards created by GS1 are being used to improve patient safety and care, combat counterfeiting, ensure food safety through traceability, eliminate paper-based business communication and synchronize data transmissions. It's safe to say that in our global economy, a neutral organization like GS1 is essential. They provide a means of getting the hundreds of stakeholders around the world to come together to create the standards that provide the foundation for clear, understandable exchanges between companies. And ultimately, that keeps the costs down for everyone. Kudos to GS1! Industry News