I.D. Images saves thousands of dollars with 100 percent Inspection

I.D. Images, one of the leaders in stock and custom labels, has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars and retained customers thanks to its investment in BW Converting’s Baldwin Guardian PQV 100 percent inspection system.

According to the company, the investment in a 100 percent inspection system immediately paid for itself with the very first job. Over the past eight years, the technology has saved the company thousands of dollars. Right from the start, the company could have retained a USD 250,000 lost customer if it had only adopted it sooner.

‘If we had this technology that delivers the assurance of perfection, I am certain we would still have that customer,’ said Allen Henry, general manager of I.D. Images' San Diego facility. ‘Besides losing that customer, right before we installed Baldwin’s 100 percent inspection system, we had to redo a USD 30,000 job. Avoiding just that one rejected job alone could pay for the system if we had it sooner.’

Henry emphasized that in the medical label industry, there’s no margin for error when it comes to print accuracy and adhering to other stringent protocols. I.D. Images’ press operators must follow strict guidelines to craft labels, including wearing gloves and executing multiple die cuts to capture intricate patient data and serial numbers.

For I.D. Images’ operators, any deviation from perfection — whether it's the intrusion of dust, unwarranted starts-and-stops, errant splotches or void prints — can yield substantial consequences.

Henry noted that when an operator manually inspects a job, with just one blink, they can miss 10 to 20 labels. Faced with these daily challenges to maintain quality and eliminate contamination risks, I.D. Images turned to technology to help.

The company adopted the Baldwin Guardian PQV 100 percent Inspection system on its rewinders, which provides complete print quality verification from pre-press through production, reporting and archiving with a more efficient, accurate, data-connected inspection workflow. Baldwin Technology is now one of BW Converting’s six product brands.

‘If anyone asks if it's worth it, I'd say absolutely. You can think you're good with what you have, but then you get something like this, and you can't believe how good it could be,’ added Henry. ‘It shows customers you're willing to go the extra mile. That you're willing to do what's right.’

Operationally, Baldwin’s 100 percent inspection technology has proven to be simple for I.D. Images’ operators to run, with a minimal learning curve and zero pushback, according to Henry. In fact, all the training was online, proving so simple that there was no need for in-person follow-up.

‘We are grateful for the collaboration with ID Images, where our Guardian PQV 100 percent print inspection enhances efficiency and ensures top-notch print quality,’ said Baldwin Technology Southwest regional sales leader, Adina Starke.