Boosting Productivity with Premium Ribbons

Productivity Gain with Premium Ribbons

A customer in the packaging industry faced a major hurdle:Their labels required printing with a Zebra printer, but the standard ribbons they were supplied failed to print effectively over the label’s varnish overlay. This forced staff into manual stamping, consuming hours every day and slowing production.

By working with Intermax to trial different ribbon options, the customer discovered the premium resin ribbon — a simple change that eliminated hand stamping, saved up to 25 hours of labor each week, and restored smooth, compliant operations.

The Challenge

Labels are often the last step before a product leaves the warehouse — and when they fail, the whole process slows down.

For this customer, the problem began with a varnish overlay on their labels. Standard wax resin ribbons could not adhere properly, and simply did not print. The consequences were immediate:

Standard ribbons failed to print over the varnish.
Manual hand-stamping became the fallback method.
One employee was forced to spend four hours per day hand-stamping packages.
The process created inefficiency, increased costs, and limited overall throughput.

What should have been an automated, reliable step turned into a costly bottleneck.

The Solution

Instead of continuing with an inefficient process, the customer engaged Intermax for support.

At our plant, Intermax conducted controlled testing using six different ribbon options. Each sample was trialled for compatibility and print quality. Once the optimal ribbon was identified, we provided the customer with a sample roll, along with recommended burn temperatures and print speeds, to guarantee consistent results. This allowed the customer to see how each option performed under real-world conditions.

Through this process, the premium resin ribbon emerged as the clear winner. It offered:

Consistent, sharp print quality;
adhesion strong enough to handle the varnish overlay; and
a durable finish that met compliance and quality requirements.

With the new ribbon in place, the Zebra printer could finally handle the job seamlessly — no manual intervention required.

The Results

The shift to premium resin ribbons created immediate improvements:

Eliminated Manual Stamping. The Zebra printer handled every label flawlessly.
Productivity Gains. Saved around 4 hours per day or 20–25 hours per week.
Cost Efficiency. Reduced labor costs and accelerated production throughput.
Customer Satisfaction. Management was delighted by the dramatic time savings and efficiency boost.

What started as a printing frustration turned into a lesson in finding the right supplies for the job. By switching to premium resin ribbons, the customer eliminated wasted labor and unlocked measurable productivity gains — up to 25 hours of saved time every week.