>We are not quite sure as to what technology we are going to go with (either php or asp.net), and this is not my issue here.
>
>What are the alternative approaches for printing in an operational environment (stockmanagement) where documents and labels have to be printed on the fly and reliably.
>
>Thanks for any light you might shed on what is at this moment a somewhat perplexing problem for us.

Are you looking for something like this http://www.telerik.com/products/reporting.aspx ?