3 Reasons You Should be Marking Your Tags In-House

Companies of all sizes rely on marked information for their tools, equipment, and other assets. Many organizations turn to custom tag manufacturers which mark their information for them.

However, in some cases it can make more sense for a company to mark their own tags in house.

No Lead Times

One of the main benefits for marking your own tags is alleviating the need for lead times.

In many cases, an organization needs to mark their tool or equipment right now, not in a few weeks. They simply do not have the time to wait for a manufacturer to produce and ship custom marked nameplates to them.

Marking tags in house is simply faster, depending on the overall quantity. While massive productions of thousands of tags cannot efficiently be marked by hand, running one or two hundred tags through an embossing machine or stamping a dozen by hand can be done in just a few minutes.

For organizations which will only mark a few tags here or there, hand stamps are more than sufficient. These tools will create an indentation in just a quick smack.

Those that need to mark hundreds or even more nameplates on a regular basis should turn to an automated device such as an embossing machine. This is simply a more efficient process.

Embossing machines help fit that middle ground between a large scale production run, and a few tags marked by hand.

Price

Another key reason why companies decide to bring marking capabilities on-site.

Upfront cost of a marking device needs to be considered before going down this route however. Steel hand stamps are typically inexpensive, and will last forever.

A variable data embossing machine on the other hand is a much more significant investment. This can be upwards of several thousands of dollars. For small marking needs, it may not be worth this investment. For organizations which eat through hundreds of tags a month, it makes much more sense.

Cost of the blank tags is also an important consideration. Blank metal tags are cheaper than buying the custom marked variety.

Low quantities of any custom product are very expensive. For example if you want a single custom t-shirt, it is going to be more expensive than 200 custom shirts (price per shirt).

The same principle applies to custom marked tags. One custom stamped tag might be very expensive per piece, while the piece price for a run of 5000 will typically be significantly lower.

Control Over Marking

The third and final benefit to marking in house is simply to have full control over the marking process from start to finish. When working with a manufacturer, you are at their whim. If they need to delay an order, if something gets lost in shipping, if a machine breaks, you can’t get your tags.

Additionally, marking in house provides the ability to take full control over the final marked tag. This allows you to mark things as needed, test out different designs, and create the right marking to your needs.

Wrap-up

Marking blank tags in house is an effective way for organizations to save time and money. There are major benefits such as cost savings, and autonomy, however it is entirely situation dependent.

Organizations which utilize thousands of tags are better suited for custom tag manufacturing.