Envio Joins Zebra Technologies’ PartnerConnect Program
A digital shipping label is a reusable e-ink enabled device that can be fixed to a crate, case or tote. It shows carrier shipping information exactly like a printed label, but it is updated remotely over a cellular network. No printer, no thermal ribbons and no adhesive paper. When a shipment is re-routed or sent on to its next destination, the label is changed remotely from an online dashboard or API rather than reprinted and stuck on by hand.
The label is an e-ink screen, the same low-power display technology used in e-readers, mounted on the outside of reusable packaging. E-ink holds its image without drawing power, so the label stays readable even when the device is asleep. Each label has its own built in SIM card and cellular connection, so it does not rely on Wi-Fi or a nearby phone. New shipping information is sent from a browser dashboard or over an API, and the label updates in place, wherever it happens to be.
A thermal printer, its ribbons, and the adhesive paper labels themselves. It also removes the work that surrounds them: printing a return label in advance and tucking it inside the case, hunting for a printer at the other end when plans change, peeling off old labels, and living with the residue and part-torn barcodes that build up on returnable crates. Because nothing is printed, the wrong label cannot end up on the wrong case.
A GPS tracker tells you where something is. A digital shipping label does that too, but it also carries the carrier-facing information that actually moves the parcel: a scannable, industry-standard shipping label that couriers handle exactly as they would a printed one. In practice it does the job of two devices at once, the label and the tracker.
Yes. Artac displays standard 4x6 inch shipping labels and works with labels from carriers including UPS, DHL and FedEx. Labels scan correctly on existing handheld and in-line scanning equipment, so carriers do not have to change how they operate.
Alongside location, Artac reports temperature, G-force, tilt and light, so you can see not just where a shipment is but whether it has been dropped, opened, or exposed to temperatures outside its range. Alerts can be triggered by geozones or by sensor thresholds being crossed.
Up to 8 months on a charge, depending on how often the device reports its position, and it recharges over a USB cable. Because e-ink uses no power to hold an image, the label stays legible between updates.
They make most sense wherever the packaging comes back. Envio customers use Artac for cold-chain shipments, medical loaner kits, high-value equipment rental and touring event equipment. You can see how each of these works in practice.
Artac carries CE, FCC, ISED, UN 38.3 and DO-160G approvals, tracks in 160+ countries, and is manufactured and tested in the United Kingdom in an ISO 9001 facility. It has been approved for use across Air Canada's fleet and the technology was featured in DHL's Logistics Trends Radar report.
