BarTender® Software Case StudyGHS labeling project simplifies compliance, cuts costs
The implementation of the Globally Harmonized System for Hazard Communication (GHS) has provided
an incentive for the chemical industry to reexamine its labeling and data management practices.
By restructuring labeling processes and eliminating redundancies in their data sources, chemicalcompanies hope to save time and cut costs while achieving regulatory labeling compliance.
A specialty chemical manufacturer worked with Ohio-based Seagull Scientific partner Adaptive
Data Inc. (ADI) to manage a complete overhaul to their compliance labeling system. By deploying
BarTender®, the company was able to build a scalable, adaptable labeling solution that helps them comply
with GHS and other industry regulations while also capturing cost-saving efficiencies as the company
grows through acquisition of new businesses, brands and product portfolios.

The challenge:
Regulation and growth“The process of making
new labels is so much faster…
Now, we just enter key datalike the new SKU and netcontents into the database—a five minute job—
and the label is done.”

Like many in the chemicalindustry, the need to comply withOSHA’s GHS mandate drove thecomplete redesign of the company’slabeling system. They had simplified
their labels by incorporating
branding and transport and hazard
information on one label, but thesystem that ran the productionof those labels was complicated,difficult to use and expensive.
Managing variable data was also
a big issue. The company focuses
on a variety of specialized productlines for diverse industries, aswell as production of industrial
lubricants, cleaners, and sanitizers
for the food industry. In many cases,
the products they manufacture
require different brand names fora single product, despite identicalingredients. In addition, several
products’ labels require certification
information, including toxicity spec
numbers for chemicals, Kosher orHalal practices for food products
or EPA’s DfE stamp for industrial
cleaning products.
Complicating labeling processes
even further, the company had
recently acquired nine different

chemical companies, each with its
own set of labeling needs, printersand processes in place.

An old, wasteful andexpensive labeling system
The first step was addressing
weaknesses in the company’s
existing labeling system.
“The company was using the wrong
equipment,” said Mike Barker,Client Solutions Manager, ADI.
“It was not suitable for printing onlarge pressure-sensitive sheets. Theyexperienced frequent media jams,
which stopped label production andwasted expensive label media.”
The company’s print methodology
was complex. For every single
product and SKU, there was a file.
There were over 9,000 label files
in the system. Because of the way
the label formats and product data
were stored, the print operator hadto access four different softwaresystems just to print a set of labels
for one product. Using label stock
preprinted with static as well as
variable information, such as DOT
hazard diamonds, often led touser error.

“We were producing labels fouror five days in advance of a
production run,” said the company’s
Senior Regulatory Specialist. “Ifa shift couldn’t find the labels
they needed at production time,they’d just reprint new labels. And
chemical blending is not a finite
process—sometimes we had too
many labels, which wasted material,and other times we had to stop andprint a few more, which wasted timeand labor. The preprinted stock weused was expensive, and the amountof media we were throwing away
was unacceptable.”
As a result, the company often
exceeded the volume they had
contracted for with their printervendor, and thus were required to
pay considerable per-click charges.
“We asked ourselves, ‘How do we
do this better?’” the Regulatory
Specialist said.

The solution
The need to meet the new GHS
standards finally provided themotivation the company needed
to fix their inefficient compliancelabeling system. Because thecompany had previously owned
an enterprise labeling solution,

“and the experience wasn’t great,particularly the customer service,”the company proceeded cautiously,
spending seven months carefully
evaluating systems integrators andthe labeling software available.
“ADI was chosen because we wereable to present a comprehensive
solution that takes advantage ofthe data they already had,” said
Barker. “Using BarTender, we wereable to build a user-friendly GHS
solution that provided the company
easy access to their existingproduct data. The system reduces
media waste, and the company
is realizing additional savings
through the elimination of per-print
click charges.”
Given the need to quickly assimilate
data from the many and diverse
systems of the company’s newacquisitions, BarTender’s industryleading integration capabilities
were a differentiator. ADI createda simple, graphical interface thatallows centralized control of data
and labeling. One action, whether
job number, barcode scan, oralphanumeric key entry, gathers
data from various places, populates
the label, and sends the print job
to any of several different printertypes, sizes and brands at any of
the company’s online facilities.
The entry of one job number willtypically produce two to four
different labels, on up to four
different printing devices.

Intelligent Templates™
Initial estimates were that thecompany could reduce their 9,000

label files to 70 or 80. But after
the initial deployment, thefinal tally was 24. BarTender’sIntelligent Templates™ and thelayering capabilities that they
provide allowed the company
the adaptability to do so. Eachof the company’s new BarTenderlabel templates includes layers forregulatory, product and branding
information as well as images
required for industry certification.
When the operator scans or entersa job number or SKU, BarTenderturns on the appropriate layers
and retrieves all the information
to meet customer, GHS and DOT
requirements, as well the names
and folder locations of all variablegraphic elements.
Because only a small number oftemplates are required to print
thousands of different labels, andsince the operator creates the labelout of existing product information
through a forms-based point-andclick interface, the process is simple
and secure.

Benefits
The new ADI/BarTender chemicalcompliance labeling system isrunning a much higher volumeof labels than anticipated.
The company has realized greater
accuracy in labeling processes,
reduced waste and gained process
efficiencies, all translating into
cost savings. The labeling systemis scalable and adaptable toaccommodate the company’s rapid
growth—data for newly acquiredcompanies and products are quickly

incorporated into the label database,making new product labels
accessible to the production line
immediately. “It’s infinitely easierto get newly acquired companies
up and running,” said the Senior
Regulatory Specialist, “and thecustomer service we’ve received hasbeen excellent.”Because the company is constantly
folding in new product lines, thereduced effort required to manage
formats and create new productlabeling saves time and money.
The company has reduced thenumber of label formats it requires
from more than 9,000—that’s
before integrating newly acquiredcompanies into its system—to 24
across all of its current facilities .
“We’re now producing many moreand different labels than one year
ago, making it hard to calculate
the net benefit,” said the Senior
Regulatory Specialist, “but theprocess of making new labels isso much faster. For example, if a
product was packaged and sold by
the drum, but we wanted to add a
new SKU and sell it by the pail, thelabeling process had to start fromscratch—the product information
would be entered into a databaseby marketing, and information
would be added to the label by theregulatory group. A different person
would create the label, and thensend it though the approval chain.
Now, we just enter key data likethe new SKU and net contents into
the database—a five minute job—
and the label is done.”

Synopsis A specialty chemical company
had previously installed
an Enterprise Labeling
Solution that was expensiveand inefficient.
 The company was using over
9,000 label formats, and thisnumber was rapidly increasing
as the company grew througha robust acquisition program.
New companies and productlines had to be folded in to thelabeling process.
 The old system usedpreprinted label media,
resulting in expensive waste
and risk of user error.
 Working with Adaptive Data Inc.,
the company built a BarTenderbased labeling system that
employed data management
best practices.
 The new labeling system takes
advantage of BarTender’sIntelligent Templates™ tomanage variable data that caninclude images and regulatory
and product information stored
in several different systems,slashing the number of label
formats the company neededfrom 9,000 to a total of 24.
 The new system is scalable andagile, and can rapidly align tobusiness needs. It has realized
cost savings and reduced thehours required to manage
product labeling by: Increasing accuracy; Reducing waste; and Capturing process
efficiencies

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