If you’re a supply chain specialist at a mid-sized manufacturer, you’ve probably felt the squeeze from multiple directions. The production team wants labels on time, while the finance team wants to see less cash tied up in shelved inventory. Your operations team, meanwhile, is constantly juggling storage space, managing obsolete stock, and dealing with the logistical concerns that come with ordering labels weeks or months in advance.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. The traditional approach to label procurement—ordering large quantities well ahead of production runs—may have made sense in a time of slower markets and longer lifecycles. But today, a competitive team needs agility above all else—and that’s where just-in-time labeling comes in.
Ahead, discover how just-in-time labeling reduces waste, streamlines production schedules, and creates leaner operations for manufacturers.
If you’re looking for timely solutions to your labeling needs, start a conversation with one of our consultants.
The Hidden Costs of Traditional Label Inventory
Let’s talk about what’s really happening with your current labeling approach. Most mid-sized manufacturers order labels in large batches because it seems more cost-effective per unit. But when you dig deeper, those “savings” can diminish quickly.
Consider what happens when you’re holding weeks or months of label inventory:
- Storage costs eat into your margins month after month.
- Labels can get damaged, degraded, or lost in your warehouse.
- Regulatory changes can make entire batches obsolete overnight.
- Product changes leave you stuck with unusable stock.
And then there are the operational headaches: tracking expiration dates, monitoring storage conditions, and constantly reconciling what you have versus what you need. It’s a lot of work that doesn’t add any real value to your products or your customers.
Just-in-time (or JIT) labeling flips this model on its head. Instead of stockpiling labels and hoping you’ve ordered the right quantities, you align label delivery directly with your production schedule. Labels arrive when you need them, in the exact quantities you need, without the waste and complexity of traditional inventory management.
Synchronizing Labels With Production Schedules
The real power of just-in-time labeling comes into focus when you consider how it integrates with your existing production planning. Instead of labels being a separate procurement decision, they become part of your overall production flow.
Here’s how it works in practice: your production schedule drives your label requirements, not the other way around. When you’re planning a production run for next Thursday, your label partner receives that information and ensures labels are ready to ship so they arrive exactly when your production line needs them.
This synchronization eliminates several common pain points:
- No more rushing to find labels when a production run gets moved up.
- No more sitting on expensive inventory when runs get delayed.
- No more emergency orders when you discover you’re short on a critical SKU.
- No more production delays caused by label availability issues.
When in doubt, label production should work backward from your line schedules—this allows time for your labels to be printed, quality-checked, and shipped to arrive precisely when your operations need them. This is how the team at Systems Graphics has empowered our clients with tight integration and even tighter turnarounds.
Vendor-Managed Inventory: A Safety Net Without Overhead
A common concern of supply chain specialists—especially when it comes to just-in-time labeling—is risk management. What happens if there’s a supply disruption? What if demand spikes unexpectedly? While these concerns are legitimate, the right label converter can help to address them proactively.
In these scenarios, vendor-managed inventory support becomes an invaluable asset. Instead of you holding safety stock, your label partner maintains strategic inventory levels based on your historical usage patterns and production forecasts. You get the security of knowing labels are available when you need them, without tying up your cash or warehouse space.
This approach works because your label partner can aggregate demand across multiple customers, making it more efficient to hold safety stock than if each customer maintained their own inventory. Plus, they have better visibility into their own production capacity and can make more informed decisions about inventory levels.
The key is working with a partner who understands your business well enough to make smart inventory decisions on your behalf. This means sharing production forecasts, seasonal patterns, and any changes in your product mix that might affect label requirements.
Digital Proofing: The Ticket to Tight Turnarounds
One of the biggest obstacles to just-in-time labeling used to be the time required for artwork approval and proofing. Traditional proofing processes, complete with physical samples going back and forth, could add days or even weeks to the timeline.
Digital proofing changes this equation completely. Instead of waiting for physical samples, you can review high-resolution digital proofs that show exactly how your labels will look when printed. Everything you need for approval can be verified digitally:
- Color accuracy matches your brand standards
- Text clarity meets readability requirements
- Barcode readability passes scanning tests
- Layout and spacing align with your specifications
This dramatically compresses approval timelines. What used to take a week can now happen in mere hours. And because digital proofs eliminate the back-and-forth of physical samples, you can iterate quickly on design changes without blowing up your production schedule.
Minimizing Downtime Through Predictable Delivery
Production downtime is expensive, and label shortages are one of the most frustrating causes because they’re typically preventable. Just-in-time labeling, when done right, actually reduces the risk of production delays because it creates more predictable delivery schedules.
The difference comes down to planning and communication. Instead of placing large orders months in advance and hoping everything works out, a JIT approach creates ongoing visibility into your needs. Your label partner can see what’s coming and plan accordingly, while you get consistent, reliable delivery that matches your production rhythm.
This predictability also makes you more adaptable to unexpected changes—if and when you need to adjust a production run, your partner can adjust label quantities and delivery timing accordingly. Try doing that when you’ve already committed to large batch orders sitting in your warehouse.
Here’s a pro tip: work to establish clear communication protocols with your label partner from the outset. This means sharing production schedules, providing advance notice of any changes, and maintaining regular check-ins to ensure everything stays aligned.
Make the Transition With a Partner You Can Rely On
Moving to a just-in-time strategy isn’t something you just implement overnight with the flip of a switch. It will probably require careful planning, an experienced partner, and a phased approach that minimizes risk while you’re learning how the new system works.
Start by identifying your highest-volume, most predictable SKUs—the well-established usage patterns and volume make these ideal candidates for your new approach. Once you’ve proven the model works with those products, you can gradually expand to more complex or variable SKUs. And, when in doubt, a strategic labeling partner like Systems Graphics can offer guidance in moving forward.
Connect With Systems Graphics Today
Success with just-in-time labeling ultimately comes down to partnership. You need a label converter who understands your business, has the operational flexibility to support your production schedules, and can maintain the quality standards your products require.
At Systems Graphics, we’ve engineered our operations specifically to support just-in-time labeling for manufacturers like you. From vendor-managed inventory programs to digital proofing systems, our capabilities make just-in-time labeling work not just practical, but preferable.