Product category:
General packaging materials, equipment and services
News Release from: Imaje UK | Subject: Imaje S7 deviated ink jet printer
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 11 January 2001
Food manufacturer crisps up its date
marking
Giles Foods has tried most types of coders and printers to apply 'use by' dates and batch numbers to product packaging and have now standardised on the Imaje S7 deviated inkjet printers.
Giles Foods has tried most types of coders and printers to apply 'use by' dates and batch numbers to product packaging and have now standardised on the Imaje S7 deviated inkjet printers The company says it is simply because they give the crisp, high quality print needed to maintain the quality perception which the company has worked hard to establish
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 11 Jan 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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"In the frozen and chilled foods market, perceived quality is what really matters," says David Marx, Giles Foods' Sales Director, "and it is all too easy to spend time and money on the best ingredients, careful production and attractive packaging only to destroy the quality feel by poor printing of the 'use by' date and batch number on the pack.
It's a small thing but, in very competitive markets, often it's the small things that make the difference." Giles Foods supplies a range of quiches and speciality breads to most of the major supermarket groups and is well aware that the relatively short shelf life of its products means that its production process must be very flexible and efficient.
With up to 17 product change-overs per day, the simplicity of resetting the Imaje printers has proved to be a big advantage over earlier systems.
Further reading
Ink jet printers code 500,000 units/week
St Davids Assemblies, one of the UK's largest manufacturers of kettle controls and safety cut-outs, has chosen Imaje S4+ ink jet printers to code directly onto the 500, 000 units/week.
Printing on almost any surface
Described as 'all terrain',Imaje S8 range of printers can print on virtually any surface, under the most difficult dusty, damp or hot conditions using a wide range of visible and invisible inks.
"We used to print 'use by' dates and batch numbers off-line", says Site Co-ordinator, Jonathan Clifton, "which meant that the packaging hopper had to be emptied and refilled with sleeves for the new batch at every change-over.
This was not only a time waster, we often had to discard over 5% of the packaging because it was printed with an out dated 'use by' date or batch number.
With the Imaje S7, the operator simply selects a pre-set product and pack program and enters the use by date and batch number on the keyboard attached to the printer.
What used to take several minutes, now takes seconds and, as the date and batch are printed at the end of the packaging line, there is no waste.
I estimate that the quick change-over alone gives up to an extra hour a day of production.
Equally important is reliability.
We move the printers frequently, especially during rush periods such as Christmas, and we never have a problem even when printing onto frozen food packaging straight out of the freezing plant.
Simple to set-up and operate, the Imaje S7 is as near 'factory proof' as you are likely to get." Imaje UK is a subsidiary of Imaje SA (part of the Dover Technologies Group), one of the world leaders in industrial coding and marking.
The company specialises in the development and distribution of continuous ink systems to the food and drink, pharmaceutical, mailing, aerospace component and cable industries.
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