17th International Logistics Total Expo 2026 (LTT2026) exhibitor series, Part 14
Look at the paper stuck to the box, and count. Every operation has this. Misreads all surface together at stocktake, and which one went wrong is no longer knowable.
This time it is about substituting a machine for that step. But something stays behind when you do. Where the label goes.
The RFID, barcode and labelling exhibits at LTT2026 — four substitutions
| What is substituted | What the person stops doing | What the exhibits led with |
|---|---|---|
| ① Read them all at once | Scanning one at a time | Bulk reading by RFID and 2D code |
| ② Hold it or wear it | Walking back for a terminal | Handheld and wearable terminals |
| ③ Take instructions by ear and light | Reading a paper pick list | Voice guidance and digital displays |
| ④ Print a label and apply it | Writing and copying by hand | Label printers and applicators |
① Read them all at once — the most frequent word in the exhibit text was "RFID," then "stocktake." Stop scanning item by item and read a whole carton, a whole shelf, in one pass. Both forms were present: reading simply by passing through a gate, and reading several at once with a proprietary 2D code.
② Hold it or wear it — handheld and wearable terminals. Proposals that free both hands by strapping the device to an arm or a finger stood out. Many exhibits led with ruggedness and ingress-protection ratings, which tells you these are chosen on the assumption they will be dropped.
③ Take instructions by ear and light — this one ends the state of not being able to look away from a paper list. Instructions spoken and answered by voice; shelf displays that light up and show the quantity. "Without stopping" was the phrasing they had in common.
④ Print a label and apply it — label printers, stock and issuing software, extending to proposals that give the act of sticking it on to a machine as well. They divided by use: shipping tags, part numbers, picking, sorting, delivery.
What all four had in common
All four reduce the step where a person looks, a person counts and a person writes. Reading becomes the machine's, instructions arrive by ear and light, writing is done by a printer.
What shrinks is the labour and the misreads. What does not shrink is the question of what must be written on the product itself, and how.
What is written on the product has a legally prescribed form
For cosmetics, Article 61 of Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Act provides that "cosmetics shall have the following matters stated on their immediate container or immediate wrapper," listing the name or appellation and address of the marketing authorisation holder, the name of the product, and "the manufacturing number or manufacturing code," among others.
This is where it meets the exhibits. The label we apply to manage our own operation and the statement the law requires on the container are two different things. A number issued for lot control is not itself the statutory manufacturing number.
And where it goes is in the provision too
Article 53 (method of statement). The statutory statement "shall be in a place that is easier to see in comparison with other letters, articles, drawings or designs," and furthermore "shall be an accurate statement in terms that are easy to read and easy to understand."
"Other letters, articles, drawings or designs" includes an operational label. If applying a large code label leaves the statutory statement in a place less visible than that label, the state the provision requires no longer holds. Article 53 applies to cosmetics as well, because Article 62 provides that "with respect to cosmetics, the provisions of Article 51, Article 52, paragraph 2 and Articles 53 through 57 shall apply mutatis mutandis."
What happens on a breach comes before the penalty
Here is the part that bites in practice. Article 55(1) provides that pharmaceuticals in breach of these "shall not be sold, given, or stored or displayed for the purpose of sale or gift." Through the application in Article 62, the same holds for cosmetics.
Not merely "must not be sold." They may not be kept for the purpose of selling, nor laid out. Stock whose labelling does not meet the form the provision requires becomes, on the spot, goods you cannot move. Notice it after it is already in the warehouse and the remedy goes back to one item at a time.
Food runs the same way. Article 5 of the Food Labelling Act provides that "a food-related business operator shall not sell food that is not labelled in accordance with the food labelling standards." And Article 4(1)(ii) lists, among the matters the standards are to cover, "the method of labelling and other matters a food-related business operator is to observe when labelling the matters listed in the preceding item." The method is inside the standards too.
So there are two separate things to look at
One is reading and printing performance — what can be read in bulk and how far, how much dropping it survives, how much the label itself withstands. That is a product comparison.
The other is the state of things after the label is on — whether the statutory statement remains in a place easier to see than the operational label, and whether that holds up in a step where labels are applied to imported goods after the fact. That is an operational design.
Decide on the first alone and you can end up with the misreads gone and the stock unable to move. This is a place to check one step further after being told "it reads fast and accurately." Which provisions apply, and how, depends on the product and on how the labelling is held, and any individual determination rests with the competent authority.
We will take the enquiries together, on your behalf
Companies exhibiting at a show are waiting for enquiries. But if you approach them one by one, sales contact keeps coming from the ones whose conditions do not fit. The more of them there are, the heavier that becomes, and comparing stops being possible.
We have organised the exhibit information for this show in full, and we handed our card to the exhibitors at the venue. Tell us what it goes on, roughly how many labels a month, and in what environment it has to be read, and we will check with the ones that fit and come back with the answers collected in one place. We do not pass your contact details to them without your agreement.
What we hand over is information. We are not a distributor or licence holder for any one company; we set out several approaches to the same problem side by side. From our position importing and distributing pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food, we also tell you how the reading side fits with the statements that have to remain on the container.
Primary sources
- e-Gov Law Search — Act on Securing Quality, Efficacy and Safety of Products Including Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices (Articles 53, 55, 61 and 62)
- e-Gov Law Search — Food Labelling Act (Articles 4 and 5)
The descriptions of exhibits in this article organise trends from the exhibit information published by the organiser and from public information on each company's official website. No individual product or company names are given, and no comparison or evaluation of merit is made. Published content is as of August 2026. Which provisions apply and what measures are required depend on the form of the transaction, the product and how the labelling is held, and any individual determination rests with the competent authority.