RELM Wireless

Smart Cell Printer, Powerful Software Package, and Highly Durable Labels Provide RELM Wireless with a Complete Solution

Relm Wireless Corporation in West Melbourne, Florida designs and manufactures land mobile radio (LMR) products sold to a diverse market mix serving the government, public safety agencies, and a variety of commercial and industrial businesses. The radios are sold under the brand names of BK Radio, RELM/BK, and RELM.

Because these products are used for high-security and public safety, reliability, durability, and high-performance are required. But it is not quality at any price - the company is committed to providing high quality products at the lowest costs.

One of the requirements is to use serialized labels on their radios for FCC identification. These labels are customized and must have good adhesion, and be highly durable. The labels must outlive the product. Since these radios are extremely resilient, that's a tall order for a label to fill.

In looking for a supplier who could provide a sophisticated solutions package that would include not only highly durable, customized labels, but a system to produce the labels in an efficient, cost effective way, Joel Villanueva, Mechanical Engineer at RELM, went directly to Brady Corporation, a company whose products he has been familiar with and has been using for almost 10 years.

"We started using Brady's CodeSoft 3 software with their Thermal Transfer Printer in 1999. I got comfortable with Brady products," Joel remarks. Previously, RELM had purchased ready-made labels from Brady, but they needed the ability to customize labels on the spot.
 
RELM is currently using Brady's new IP™ Printing System that utilizes smart cell technology to communicate with the label material, the ribbon, and the software. Setup time is greatly reduced, loading materials is foolproof, and the BradySoft™ program is highly intuitive. This contributes to an efficient, lean labeling process, which is both time- and cost-effective.

"We especially like the ease of switching from one label material to another," comments Joel. "With Brady's IP Printing System, there is no need to adjust temperature, ribbon size, stock - it saves time and makes the whole process more cost-effective."

Although RELM is now primarily using BradySoft to produce the serialized labels required by the FCC, there are other features of the software that they hope to utilize. BradySoft has intuitive and easy-to-use features for designing labels quickly in a familiar environment, similar to MS Word. Templates with variable and constant data areas identified are available to create labels to fit specific requirements. A Barcode Wizards feature walks users through creating barcodes. It also has flexible date and time stamping. Graphics can be imported from a variety of file formats. You can preview an image of the graphics and labels before selecting them so you know that you have the correct label or image selected. BradySoft also makes database management easy, and does not require users to have knowledge of database administration. You can pull in data from multiple data sources into a single or multiple labels.

In addition to a printer with the latest smart cell technology, and an intuitive software program, RELM also required labeling material that is highly durable, had exceptional adhesive properties, and would remain legible for the life of their highly durable product. Brady was able to provide a complete solutions package that met all of RELM's requirements. Joel also appreciates that "when you need support, Brady is very prompt and very responsive."