Durable Not Disposable

I just finished reading a story in Financial Post Magazine called Reinvention through Disposable Furniture by Peter Kuitenbrouwer, dated October 2016. The story was about disposable furniture and prominently named Ikea but also made notice of Zara, a clothing manufacturer. One paragraph in particular made me sit up and take notice.

Disposable furniture mimics trends in clothing and technology, and many consumers think that is just fine. “Look at Zara,” Soman says. “Most of their clothes fall apart after 10 washes. You get the sense the consumers say,” I am glad that jacket fell apart because I wanted a new design anyway.” If you use low-cost materials you are not going to get durability, but I don’t think durability is what people want.”

This paragraph particularly affected me because the company I work for sells label printers for heavy industry.

Gettyimages/Volodymyr Krasyuk

Our customers do not want a disposable product. Our customers want the peace of mind that says this printer will work after 10 labels, a thousand labels or hundreds of thousands of labels. They want reliability. They do not want a new design unless it will work harder, be more efficient and be easier to use.

The manufacturers of industrial labeling equipment know this and are focused on innovation and durability. For example, the Epson PX-900 is made of industrial grade high-impact plastic that meets MilSpec drop test specifications. A handle was designed into the frame for easy portability. Included quick-change magnets allow for hands-free label printing in tight environments where efficient use of space is a must. These innovative features accent durability, not disposability. All this is topped off by the Epson PX-900 lifetime warranty.

Our customers understand that value costs some money. If it’s made too cheaply, performs poorly and cannot be repaired easily it’s of no value. It’s true some of the portable printers cannot be serviced; but their duty cycle is measured in years, not double-digit uses, and they understand they have received good value for their money.

Our customers do not change printers because of design boredom. They buy a piece of equipment to do a job. And because it does that job efficiently, consistently and reliably. When they buy a product, they expect it to work as hard as they do for as long as they are on the job.

Label printers for industry should be durable not disposable.