Label Traxx to merge with Siteline and Batched

For the last six years, Label Traxx has collaborated with Siteline to develop and deploy a web-to-print technology that enables label customers and distributors to reorder, approve the artwork, pay invoices, and manage their label product catalogs online. Siteline’s software integrates with Label Traxx to provide a modern customer experience while maintaining Label Traxx as the system of record. 

Label Traxx has also been collaborating with Batched for the last three years. Both companies developed and deployed production optimization technologies specifically targeting the unique needs of label printing, including automated scheduling, capacity planning and operational dashboards. This integration allows production operations to schedule and manages complex, multi-step production environments more efficiently.

‘We are approaching our 30th year in business. Over the last six years, we have cultivated partners to accelerate our innovation. Now it's time to consolidate the portfolio and the teams to bring a well-coordinated and seamless solution to the industry,’ commented Ken Meinhardt, co-founder of Label Traxx.

These companies' shared history and ethos make this merger a culmination of many years of partnership. All three technologies root back to ILS Labels of Ohio and its former owner, Jay Dollries. Label Traxx and ILS collaborated on the traditional flexo workflows as well as support for each new HP Indigo press. Siteline and Batched were built to meet ILS Labels’ evolving and growing business needs.

Label Traxx, Siteline, and Batched have similar cultures, believing that software that delivers a return on investment is built iteratively with the customer, not theoretically by committees several steps removed from the customer’s reality.

‘I have been in the commercial web-to-print space for 25 years,’ commented Jennifer Matt, Siteline’s founder. ‘In 2017, I immersed myself in the label segment with Steve Smith, founder of Lightning Labels and Wizard Labels. My company helped evolve Wizard Labels from a prototype to a scalable B2C solution, as well as integrating it into Label Traxx at ILS. I saw the need for a specific solution to address the tremendous labor required in customer service as well as the need for an online portal for existing B2B customers. Siteline is designed to provide customers convenient online access, which results in jobs on press days faster using less labor.’

‘Batched is focused on deploying tools to support the operations and supply chain functions of the label printer,’ said Matt Murphy of Batched. ‘We started with automating the scheduling process and have since added capacity planning and operational dashboards. These dashboards allow the printer to literally measure their ROI daily. Our roots are in the shop floor, and we know how important it is for software to make the lives of our customers easier, as well as add real value and profit back into the business.’

For the last year, Label Traxx, Batched, and Siteline have been working diligently to consolidate operations across sales, support, professional services, and product development. This consolidation results in a unified approach to supporting existing customers and building a team with complementary skill sets. The unified solution includes the Label Traxx system of record using a data model. Siteline provides the front-end web application for optimizing the front office, and Batched provides the web application for optimizing the production floor.

The ownership/leadership group will consist of Ken Meinhardt (Label Traxx), Jennifer Matt (Siteline), and Matt Murphy (Batched), with no outside investors.  Rob Mayerson will lead day-to-day activities and the consolidation of operations as president. 

‘Label customers of all sizes are participating in rapid consolidation,’ commented Mayerson. ‘We are investing in the ability to service growing organizations with the upcoming release of Label Traxx Enterprise, which will support multi-site operations. Siteline and Batched are tightly integrated into Label Traxx while being “loosely coupled” to Label Traxx, which means that in mixed ERP environments, Siteline and Batched will be able to work across the Enterprise. The new REST API from Label Traxx will extend the ability to connect Label Traxx to external systems.’