Are You Spending Too Much on Asset Tags? Time for a New Solution.

There’s no denying that tracking assets is an important part of daily business. Asset tags are essential tools for auditing inventory, tracking asset movement, monitoring repairs and protecting valuable items. All of these activities help your business operate more efficiently and effectively— and we all know time is money.

So why spend more than you need to on asset tags? New industrial label innovations have drastically reduced the cost of reliable asset tracking, allowing you to print asset tags from a desktop printer. Printable asset tags that don’t compromise quality for convenience have changed the way your team can successfully implement asset tracking systems.

Asset Tags for Any Job

Is your IT team looking for security labels? Do you need to track equipment in your office, laboratory or on a construction site? Maybe you need barcode asset tags to make bin and rack locations digitally searchable in your warehouse.

Whatever the asset tracking task, printable asset tags make your job easier. Gone are the days of having to custom order asset tags with high minimum order quantities (MOQs). This means lower start-up costs and less waste. Supplying your facility with printable asset tags means you can print on-demand, only as needed.

Durable Metallic Asset Tags for Tough Jobs

It takes a tough label to track assets in heavy-duty environments. Industrial facilities and operations managers, construction companies, laboratories and manufacturers have to take extra care to ensure the asset tags won’t fall apart, fall off or become too damaged for reading and scanning.

How can you protect items if asset tags are easy for thieves to remove? What good is an asset tag for identifying tools and equipment if it falls off? There is no point in using asset tags for digitally tracking equipment in your auto body shop if they’re too scratched or torn to be scanned.

When choosing printable asset tags, look for durable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) strengthened with aluminum. The best type of blank metallic labels are specifically designed for self-printing without static buildup. Choosing asset tags with these qualities ensures they’re extremely durable (resisting water, chemicals, tears and abrasions) and you won’t have to worry about unpleasant shocks when printing.

Long-Lasting Light-Duty White Asset Tags

Paper labels designed for office and clerical work aren’t meant to withstand the frequent use required of asset tags. When ordering light-duty asset tags, look for durable PET materials (that resist water and tearing) so they stand up to frequent scanning and handling in light-duty environments.

A smooth bright white matte finish is the best choice to ensure high contrast for optimal barcode scanning. Light-duty PET film asset tag solutions are ideal for high-volume industries such as libraries, catering companies, and consulting services.

How to Generate Custom Barcodes for Asset Tags

In addition to high MOQs, custom asset tags can be very costly to design as well. Most businesses face the choice of using an expensive graphic designer or expensive (and complicated) software. The good news is there are barcode generators available for little to no cost online.

Online barcode generators can be extremely convenient, and even powerful, tools— as long as you choose a good one. A quality online barcode generator should offer tutorials and demos that make it easy to get started barcoding.

If you choose the right barcode generator you can create high-quality custom barcoded asset tags without any design experience or software installation. In fact, some online label design software not only allows you to add unique barcodes to your asset tags, but also serialized numbers, logos, graphics and other design elements.

Affordable Custom Printing Options

Print-on-demand asset tags have made it incredibly easy to save money without sacrificing performance, while also providing an unparalleled level of flexibility and responsiveness to business demands. However, sometimes you need to delegate in order to operate at maximum efficiency.

Try custom asset tag printing solutions that offer low minimum order quantities so you can scale without the price jump and rigid cost tiers usually required for professionally printed asset tags. It’s important to be able to adapt your order quantities to fit your asset tracking needs.

It’s also important to factor time spent into the cost of printing asset tags. How long will it take for custom asset tags to be professionally printed for you? Are there additional fees to expedite “processing” before your order even ships?

Be wary of any printing services that want to add several days of file preparation or charge you additional set up fees. An honest custom printing service will just apply your designs and get to work, so the turnaround time should be relatively fast.

So Are You Spending Too Much on Asset Tags?

If you’re still ordering asset tags from printers that require huge minimum order quantities, or long lead times (because time is money) and using expensive graphic designers… the answer is yes. Luckily there are fast, effective, convenient asset tag solutions that can drastically reduce cost without compromising your asset tracking system.

Editor’s Note: Updated November 18, 2019