Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, TaylorMade Golf is a leading manufacturer of high-performance golf equipment, golf balls, and accessories. They have a history of innovative industry-leading products such as the groundbreaking Carbonwood™ Driver, TP5/TP5x Golf Balls, and P·Series irons.
While their corporate headquarters is based in the US, they have regional offices located all around the world including Canada, UK, China, Korea, Japan, and Australia—each with different printing volumes ranging from 1,000 to 15,000 labels printed per day. Designing a new product or shipping label from start to finish required two to three weeks for the base label plus one to two more weeks for exceptions tailored to specific customers, languages, or product offerings. It also involved upwards of ten individuals from various departments before a label was approved. Changes to labels required involving a third party and any significant changes cost approximately $8,000 USD.
Before implementing TEKLYNX, TaylorMade faced significant challenges in their labeling process. “Our biggest issue was the lack of flexibility in label data sources and the restrictions it imposed on our business processes,” said Rafal Janus, Senior Manager of Solutions Development at TaylorMade.
While using their previous system to generate labels from a third-party Warehouse Management System (WMS), TaylorMade dealt with various issues. Software limitations and lack of flexibility caused inefficiencies, duplicate labels, and wasted label stock—between 25% and 50% of all label stock used was wasted. Plus, their previous label design solution was limited to linear barcodes and didn’t support necessary barcode types—including GS1 and 2D barcodes. Their estimated labeling accuracy was at 85%, leaving room for improvement.
TaylorMade approached TEKLYNX directly while also evaluating alternative software providers. After collaborating with the TEKLYNX team, they determined TEKLYNX label printing automation software, SENTINEL, was the ideal choice. The key decision factors were the ease of setup, limited manual maintenance, a user-friendly interface, and the flexibility offered by TEKLYNX RFID and barcode label design software, CODESOFT.
SENTINEL and CODESOFT would give TaylorMade the ability to use advanced data queries and functions within label templates, allowing for more flexibility. Direct integration between SENTINEL and their in-house IT system enabled TaylorMade to print labels on-demand with variable data—such as the customer’s address and data, product details and customizations, and bill of materials (BOM)—from any physical location, removing the need to pre-print and distribute hundreds of varieties of labels.
CODESOFT supports robust database connections and over 100 barcode types, including the QR codes TaylorMade needed to encode and include on labels for specific customers. With CODESOFT, TaylorMade could also print labels in virtually any language, including Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese for their global locations.
TaylorMade wanted greater control and customization of their labeling process. Choosing SENTINEL and CODESOFT allowed them to do just that. Following the implementation of SENTINEL and CODESOFT, and integration with their in-house IT system, TaylorMade managed their labeling process internally and eliminated third-party software maintenance. “Previously we did not have the ability to make changes to our label templates without involving a third party. This was also true for equipment and server maintenance, which is now in-house as well,” stated Janus. Overall, they reduced their total equipment cost by 50%, showing a positive return on their investment.
The time required to design a new label template from start to finish was also drastically reduced from weeks to less than a day by using CODESOFT. TaylorMade now uses just 13 smart label templates for order labels, serial number labels, value-added service (VAS) labels, and a certificate of conformity (CoC) supporting regional differences and customer requirements. They also encode customer-specific data into 2D barcodes, which includes their customer’s product mapping and commands for their IT systems, allowing them to semi-automate inbound stock processes. None of these label customizations were possible with their old solution, but now customer satisfaction and service levels have improved by 50%.
TaylorMade currently has five installations of SENTINEL around the world and the ability to print to unlimited printers across their entire enterprise. Throughout their facilities, TaylorMade primarily uses Zebra printers along with the native label printer drivers developed by TEKLYNX to print highly accurate label designs at fast print speeds. As a result, labeling accuracy rose from 85% to an impressive 99%.
The success of SENTINEL and CODESOFT has prompted plans for future growth. Janus explained, “As the owner of internal IT systems, we would like to expand them to our vendors, including TEKLYNX software for serial number printing and bulk packaging labels. We’re also exploring the use of RFID technology.”
“With our innovative solutions, TEKLYNX has empowered TaylorMade to manage their labeling processes internally, resulting in more flexibility, minimized costs, and reduced dependence on external providers,” said Doug Niemeyer, President & General Manager at TEKLYNX Americas. “The improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and customer satisfaction solidify TEKLYNX as a valuable partner in TaylorMade’s ongoing business success and we look forward to what’s next.”
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