Reference: TDK Electronics · 1,000+ labels migrated
Done with BarTender.
Labels straight into SAP standard — with SAP ADS / SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe.
Manual label migration costs 6–12 hours per format. Label2SAP fully automates this process — from BarTender to SAP ADS / SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe — and delivers finished SAP transport requests instead of months-long projects.
SAP Clean Core
S/4HANA-ready
STMS transport request
SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe
SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe · Clean Core · S/4HANA-ready · STMS-transportable
Project costs compared to manual migration
instead of months project duration through AI automation
external print servers after migration — no BarTender, no Windows service
1,000+ labels migrated
Label2SAP by the numbers
manual effort per label without Label2SAP
Industry standard for manual migration
project costs through full automation
vs. classic migration consulting
label formats successfully migrated
TDK Electronics AG, global manufacturing
STMS transport chain — templates in SAP ADS / SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe
DEV → QAS → PRD, GS1-compliant
Why act now?
BarTender can be a structural cost trap
What started as a pragmatic solution is today a measurable risk — especially in the context of S/4HANA transformations and SAP Clean Core. The hidden costs grow with every SAP release.
Vendor Lock-In
Proprietary BTW formats, Windows server infrastructure, per-printer license costs — completely outside any SAP governance and without a transport chain.
Separate license + server infrastructure per site
S/4HANA transformation risk
Every SAP upgrade and support package forces an external regression test of all BarTender interfaces — an invisible brake on every S/4HANA migration.
Additional test cycles with every SAP release
Key-user dependency
Template changes rely on 1–2 specialists. No STMS, no SAP transport chain, no audit-proof change history.
Knowledge loss on staff turnover cannot be mitigated
Inconsistent label landscape
Deviations in fonts, barcode standards (GS1-128, DataMatrix) and layouts accumulated over years — across plants and countries.
Diverging standards across plants and countries
Opaque TCO
License, server, middleware adapter, external specialists: the true total cost of ownership for BarTender is rarely fully visible.
Maintenance + infrastructure costs often underestimated
Manual migration effort
6–12 hours of manual work per label format — with four-digit label portfolios, this turns into projects lasting months to years.
200 labels × 8 h = 200+ project days manually
A mid-sized company with 200 label formats typically pays 1,200–2,400 hours of project work for the label stack alone in a manual S/4HANA migration — at €130/h, that amounts to €156,000 to €312,000 — plus ongoing BarTender license and infrastructure costs.
The Transformation
What changes concretely — layer by layer
Label2SAP doesn’t just migrate label formats — it transforms the entire architectural positioning of the label solution within the SAP ecosystem.
The Solution
What makes Label2SAP unique
Not consulting, but automation — a complete migration service with an SAP transport request as the finished result. Not a DIY tool.
AI-automated migration
BTW files are analyzed with AI assistance and fully automatically converted into XDP forms for SAP ADS / SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe — not manually, not semi-automatically. The difference from any consulting project.
Delivered as SAP transport request
A finished STMS transport request — DEV → QAS → PRD, like any other SAP development. No additional tooling required.
PDF comparison document
Automated before/after comparison for every label as audit-ready documentation. Optional: real printouts and barcode verification for GxP environments.
Two migration paths
Path A: Format + data binding (fast, middleware stays).
Path B: Full architecture transformation incl. NACE/BRF+ and SAP BTP Print Service.
Before / After — direct comparison
Business Value
What companies concretely gain
Months become days — and an infrastructure risk becomes an SAP-native, low-maintenance standard. The savings are measurable, not theoretical.
Project duration
Manually: 6–12 h/label. Automated: scalable to hundreds of labels in just a few days. What used to be a 12-month project becomes a sprint.
External print servers
No BarTender server, no Windows service, no third-party infrastructure needed anymore. Maintenance effort and license costs are eliminated entirely.
SAP transport system
All templates in STMS — with full versioning, audit trail and change management. No more template changes outside the SAP control perimeter.
Clean Core compliant
SAP ADS / SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe are part of the SAP-native forms world — no upgrade risks from external print servers. Every SAP release rolls through without having to regression-test BarTender.
Approach
Three phases — from analysis to go-live
No lengthy consulting project. Clear phases, defined deliverables, minimal operational disruption to your production environment.
Analysis & migration option
AI-assisted analysis of your BTW/NLBL files. Automatic fingerprinting of layouts, barcode types, field bindings and design deviations between plants. Definition of the appropriate migration path based on sample labels — without any manual preparation on your part.
Automated migration
Fully automated conversion into XDP forms for SAP ADS / SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe. Font harmonization, GS1-compliant barcode calibration (GS1-128, QR, DataMatrix), layout standardization. PDF individual comparison for every label as a verifiable before/after record.
Delivery & validation
Delivery as STMS transport request or direct system handover. Detailed comparison document per label. Optional: validation based on real printouts including barcode verification — suitable for GxP and regulated production environments.
Reference
TDK Electronics AG — global label landscape migrated
Worldwide manufacturing plants, a four-digit number of label layouts, an EWM go-live as the trigger — and Label2SAP as the answer.
Global manufacturing
SAP EWM go-live
Multiple plants worldwide
As part of our SAP EWM implementation, we wanted to realize our label solution consistently within the SAP standard. With support from 4IoT, we were able to systematically replace the existing BarTender landscape and migrate our numerous labels to SAP ADS / SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe.
BarTender fully replaced
EWM-native output solution
Fonts & barcodes harmonized
Multiple global plants
Without operational disruption
How many labels do you want to migrate?
Whether 20 or 2,000 — Label2SAP scales with your label landscape.
Start with a free initial consultation including analysis of your existing labels.
Response within 24 h
4IoT GmbH · SAP partner