An electrician's essential tool: A label maker

When he was a supervisor for a leading electrical company in central Arkansas, John Saucier found his label printer system an indispensable tool of the trade. “It’s such an essential tool in this line of work,” says Saucier, who served as a field superintendent for at an electrical contractor in Conway, Ark. for more than 16 years.

"I used it for labeling equipment, for safety applications and training, and labeling multiple power supplies on electrical panels and many other applications. I also used it for warning tags on panels, voltages, control wiring, wire terminations, supply sources, multiple power sources, disconnect switches, variable frequency drive tags, shrink tube for wire numbers, and much more.”

Saucier and his crew rewired existing facilities and completed a new addition at a water treatment plant in Arkansas. A manufacturer’s tag on new equipment might not include all the information needed for operation and maintenance, he said. “Say you have a new pump and it’s tagged with the model number ‘Pump 7-J-0-3.’ That doesn’t tell the operators much, so I’ll make an additional label that identifies it as ‘No. 4 Peak Flow Pump.’”

In addition to identification, Saucier says labeling is the key to simplifying and streamlining processes, equipment and installation. “For example, it’s can be compared to taking notes,” he says. “When you start a big job, you have so much to remember. If you label as you go, you give yourself an advantage in that you don’t have to remember every detail and you can, as a result, be more efficient. It’s better than any other system. As a supervisor, it is my job to make the job simple so the electricians and contractors can complete it with ease. In the long run labeling with clear and accurate information makes an operator's job easier, too.”

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“My employees can use it in the field,” Saucier says.

“It is such an essential tool, I make sure to tell them to take good care of it.”

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Saucier finds it useful to label equipment as it is being installed: disconnect switches, variable frequency drive tags, electrical panels, multiple power sources for equipment, and voltage. “If you do as much labeling as you can early on, then you save time at the end of the job while you are checking for anything that might have been missed,” he said.

Labeling also is essential for operator training and safety. “Supervisors in the plant like the extra data because it helps make training easier for new operators,” Saucier notes. “Labeling is an awesome tool for this training element, plus safety and operations. We also make labels to correspond with key points in the equipment operation manuals.”

Saucier also uses provisional thermal transfer labels to serve as markers when he orders embossed stainless steel or engraved plastics tags for equipment, conduits or pipes (left).

“I make a label exactly like the tag before I place the order for the tag. If managers and operators see changes that need to be made, then we can make them before we order the final tags. Then if we have to be off-site near the end of the job when the tags arrive, the plant staff can easily retag with the correct steel or plastic tags. It prevents errors and saves money.”

Sauciers used the K-Sun 2012XLST-PC both in the office and in the field as a stand-alone printer or with his laptop computer when he is making labels for termination drawings.

“When I make termination drawings, all the equipment on-site has to be interconnected with wire,” he says. “I’ll review equipment wiring diagrams and then decide what wires I will run between them. I do all that on an Excel data sheet, which simplifies the installation and subsequent labeling for my installers. Essentially I’ve built the wire termination sheet, and on that sheet I have my wire labels and how I want them to look. What is great about is that I can pull up in MaxiLabel Pro software (now Label Editor Professional) and simply import my data sheet and print off an entire row at once. It’s a real timesaver.”

Clear, accurate labeling is a benefit to both the client and their employees and the contractor’s electrical and other professional staff on the job.

“My employees can use it in the field too,” Saucier says. “It is such an essential tool, I make sure to tell them to take good care of it.”