Production proficiency and sustainability goals are easily achieved with these 10 MUST HAVE features on your labeling equipment.

 

In the past, automatic labeling machines were using counters and timers to indicate where the label was to be positioned on a container, bottle or box surface. A sensor which was placed in a strategic position would give the controller a trigger signal which would then transfer the information to a timer / counter. The counter would then allow a time lapse to occur and apply the label to the container accordingly.

Since companies spend thousands and sometimes millions of dollars on branding certain products or SKUs, no one wants to see their product hit the consumer retail market with an appearance that does not reflect their company’s commitment to quality.

Now, what happens behind the scenes during operation will most often not be reflected to the consumer. Major steps are taken to ensure that the packaging quality is indicative of the product itself, because it comes down to appeal on a shelf.

 

 There are ways to ensure that this does not happen. Thousands of dollars are invested by corporations to integrate reject stations, vision system as well as adding the human final touches as an inspection. Now rejection systems can be used for many things and they DO ensure our safety when it comes down to detecting impurities and product defectiveness but…

Have you ever seen a product on a shelf with a skewed label anyway?

 

What if, instead of all the fancy detection and reject stations, the labeling machinery manufacturers did their jobs adequately and went back to basics to ensure the results of what they were intended for?  Applying labels correctly….not just applying labels!

 

Every production plant employee, production manager, engineer and plant supervisor has to live with production time failure, product waste and rejects so that the consumer is never the wiser. It is not as translucent as one would think though…

 

See, the price of any product is foremost molded by the basic economic principle of supply and demand. The more a product is required, the more the demand, the more the production costs are amortised into each individual product and can be offered at a more reasonable price to the consumer. In times of crises such as a flood, ice-storm, hurricane or earthquake for example, there are always cases seen where a simply 1$ candle will sell for 10$ or a gas operated generator suddenly sky rockets in price to accommodate the highest bidder because demand simply surpasses the supply.

 

Now if a labeling machine would perform its job perfectly, it would increase the proficiency of all the prior steps performed in order to “get a product out the door” as they say. No rejects, no labels wasted, no containers thrown away, no product scrapped and no natural resources wasted such as electricity, air, and perhaps even gasses used to ensure a product container is filled, capped and sealed.

Quite frankly, if you are letting through a lesser quality product by not rejecting it because it is deemed borderline or the best your labeller can do, you are hindering your business’ identity in the market place. If you are concerned about your product and company’s identity, you are rejecting some and so would it not make more sense to do the job right…the first time!

 

The responsibility on the labeling machine manufacturer is huge, whether they see it or not, it is the final primary packaging step that can drive costs through the roof for the plant operators and owners thus possibly lead to direct price increase to the consumer and may ultimately result in loss of sales per unit. (you can also see the article called “Chain reaction to productivity loss”). Also, the loss of profits, the laying of staff which also leads to moral demise etc…

 

So here it is… A proper labeling system should have these 10 key points to ensure positive production proficiency and achieve your sustainability goals.

 

Accuracy

- Servo motors. Make sure the labeling system is equipped with servo motors this allows zero maintenance operations and has 100% accuracy at any range of speed from zero to its maximum and this is why it is known as TRUE synchronisation. The reflection of a great product often lies in the appearance of the product and reflection of quality assurance by the production operations staff.

 

Synchronization    is the real “key” to a high efficiency labeling machine. It is simply the manner is which all components communicate with each other to follow or compensate for speeds variances extremely rapidly. You must make sure that the system is synchronized so that you can run the initial NEW Product set up at a slow, almost crawl speed (as well as stop on a dime) to ensure accurate position of the label on the product if you are to be efficient (not losing any containers nor labels nor products).

As an operator performs a set up, it is illogical to try to tweak the system at a real production throughput speed. This was done traditionally and should be a thing of the past. It has too great of an impact on reliability and accuracy of the system PLUS it depends on a specialized operator to use his keen eyesight to correct skewing as well as label position on the product. If the system is not synchronized with servo motors, the initial imputed set up, varies and creates errors, skews, misplacement etc. Moreover, it will result in loss of time, production and possibly require an inspector to reject a series of wrongly positioned labels on products that were labeled before being noticed.

 

Memorization   Every time a product changeover is made, In 2010…IT IS NOT NORMAL for product or label gap sensors to be to moved in order for the system to identify the exact location of the label placement on a specific product. Using the memorisation feature ensures the fundamental information transfer between the operator and the system he is using…to the touch of the screen. Choosing the named product in a touch screen (commonly called a HMI) will make sure that the necessary information is immediately saved in each product recipe and makes start ups easy, fast efficient, accurate and sustainable. Moreover, it will automatically tell the operator where every guide should be positioned in true form using real measurements PRIOR to starting up production. It will allow all component such as Top clamp down belts, wrap stations, pathfinder orientation (video) spacing belt devices to automatically engage at the right speeds every time as it was specified in the product set-up recipe. The operator now does not have to rely on potentiometers for every component and spend countless amounts of time making sure each component is set the for a specific product.

 

 

 Truly User friendly feature as a standard

In order to avoid costly operator salaries, make sure that it is not necessary to have a specifically trained operator for the machine’s operation. The labeler should be able to be understood by anyone, it should have a logical sequence and should clearly indicate (through a touch screen), all the necessary steps to be taken by the operator to obtain fast and efficient results. It’s the old saying KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). This way a plant operator can minimise operation costs and is never dependant on the specific throughput made by an individual operator but rather can place anyone he wishes to start the machine and forget about it. Technology scares off some users BUT if the system is as easy use as a television remote control, the initial fears disappear quickly as it should guide the person looking at the screen through a compressive step-by-step start up.

 

 

Scales    As silly as it may sound, make sure any labeling system you purchase has a TRUE measuring scale system on EVERY possible adjustment. If the operator guesses, the labeling position is also a guess. A person should be able to look directly at the information on screen and follow the same positioning numbers on scales that are comprehensively placed on all adjustments. It is like referencing a GPS point to a specific destination, without the satellite (in this case scales or gradient rulers), you are simply not getting to the targeted point in a fast efficient way.

Scales allow any person to be able to reference a set-up point which again eliminates errors, time loss and errors in positioning. If the operator guesses, the labeling position is also a guess and will result in “misfires”, or “mis-positioned” labels on the product that will require more tweaking and adjusting resulting in sustainability loss.

 

 

Dependability     One way to ensure dependability is to look at the components used throughout the machine. A flimsy component can bring on the death of many other components. (Its like a plague or virus). Great components on the other hand will ensure stability between each other’s interaction. It will ensure longer life of the machine, better accuracy, and less time worrying about where it went wrong.

 

Maintenance-free components   are the way to go when dealing with any machine. The less human interaction is required, the more the dependability of the component generally is. Seal bearings, servo motors, open-architecture servo drives (that act like a network between all components and are accessible through any programmer and/or any pc) are a great indication of a well made labeling machine. Cheap components as those found in machines from developing countries are very often cheaper to purchase BUT cost more to replace and have proprietary ties. This means that the only people who can provide you with the component, is the manufacturer itself…This always means bad news, more money to spend for the part (since they are the proprietor of it and can be the only ones to provide it), costly delays and more importantly, the replacement of a non-reliable component by an exact copy of another non-reliable component. Less expensive is not better when a production line is at stake. That isn’t to say a component should be expensive…Just well constructed, reliable and should offer the user the possibility to source the component where they see fit.

 

Non-proprietary components   The components used by the labeler manufacturer should be Non-proprietary, meaning they will be available, without modification in a worldwide manner through any source of mechanical, electrical or electronic outlet you usually use. This is often referred to as catalogue engineering.

 

Certification    Another way to make sure that all the components used come from a reliable source is to DEMAND a certification of the entire system that will meet the standards of the industry. Your machine SHOULD be UL, ULC, CSA certified by the Underwriter’s Laboratory, Canadian Standards Association or any certified qualifiers like CRIQ or ETL, in any case the system should clearly bear a distinctive certification label indication the compliance to the specific UL/CSA norms.

 

 

Sanitary, GMP design  Any labeler or labeling system should be able to fit in an environment that is susceptible to contamination. Therefore, it should have a sanitary design where the frame work is made of stainless steel with as less welds as possible. Some welds can trap impurities and find a way to seep out after a while, By using systems that use very little welding on their frames, the ROHS (zero welding contamination from lead)  norms to also be observed.

 

A labeling machine or labeling systems that meet all of these factors will ensure your production throughput to be optimized.

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