Product category:
Coding and marking materials, equipment and services
News Release from: Imaje UK | Subject: Imaje S4 and S8, Crayon
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 03 November 2005
Inkjet Printers Code And Mark Provide
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Following the merger of Waverley Vintners and the Beer Seller, Waverley TBS has become the UK's largest drinks distributor.
Following the merger of Waverley Vintners and the Beer Seller, Waverley TBS has become the UK's largest drinks distributor The bottling and packing facility in Gateshead supplies wines to several major supermarkets, as well as numerous other outlets including public houses, restaurants, clubs and hotels
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 11 Jan 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Imaje has worked with Waverley for over 10 years assisting the company with its coding and marking requirements, which change according to their customers' preferences.
Identification of product is a priority for Waverley TBS.
It currently employs four different coding technologies, all supplied by Imaje, to meet varying demands, from small and large character inkjet printers and desktop label printers to label print and apply equipment.
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Waverley TBS's production shift manager, Jim Sisson, said: "Our most important consideration when purchasing any new equipment is reliability and ease of use.
We currently operate 24 hours-a-day, 6 days-a-week and our coding equipment must do the same otherwise production would be adversely affected." The Gateshead plant bottles and packs a large selection of wines from all over the world.
Imaje S4 and S8 small character inkjet printers are used to print the lot number (Julian date) on the neck of each bottle and, if required, on to the bottle back label prior to application.
The small character printers are also used to print information (lot number and the percentage of alcohol, wine description and best before date, for example) on to the boxes used for bags of wine (such as bag in a box).
Last year Waverley packaged approximately 30 million litres of wine in varying sizes of bottles and wine bags.
With throughput on the main bottling line running at approximately 9,000 bottles per hour and another 8,000 bottles per hour running on the smaller bottling line, Waverley has to use equipment it can count on.
The bottles are packed in cases of six, 12 or 24 (depending on the bottle size and customers requirement) and continue down the line where the cases are printed on using Imaje Crayon large character printers.
The Crayons print directly on to the outer case all, or some of the following - the lot number, time of packaging, wine description, case contents (for example, six x 75cl), plus any information requested by the customer.
Sisson said: "The Crayon printers are basic, good value, easy to use machines.
We set them up at the start of each run and then just leave them to do their job and apart from replacing empty ink bottles, the operator intervention is minimal." With an increased demand from customers requiring more information and good quality, machine-readable barcodes on case labels, Waverley TBS looked at alternatives to pre-printing labels and applying them to the outer cases with a label applicator but that is a time consuming and labour intensive process.
The new Imaje 2000 print and apply system underwent rigorous on-site testing and was Waverley's final choice.
"Having researched numerous suppliers of Print and Apply Equipment, we agreed to trial the new Imaje 2000 system.
The 5,000-label roll was a distinct advantage as our previous label applicator could only accommodate a 2,000-label roll, plus the labels had to be pre-printed.
We were also impressed by the minimal time required to change consumables, thereby considerably reducing printer downtime.
The pre-installed label design software simplified the process of changing from one label design to another for different customers," commented Sisson.
The 2000, fitted with a tamp applicator, is said to be capable of producing labels with the customer name, wine description, size of bottle, weight of case, barcode and customer specific codes.
Since installation Jim Sisson reckoned throughput on the packing line has increased: "This is mainly due to the increased size of blank label rolls.
Now the line is only stopped every five hours to replace the roll, instead of every two hours.
The shift supervisor also no longer has to leave the production floor to arrange for labels to be pre-printed.
He is now able to spend more of his time proactively monitoring the line, which again has resulted in a reduction in line-downtime." Waverley TBS also operates a bag in a box packaging line.
An Imaje Nova desktop printer preprints labels, which are loaded in to a label applicator for application to the three-litre or 10-litre boxes.
Sisson concluded: "Our business demands good quality, reliable equipment backed up by a responsive support network.
Our long association with Imaje speaks for itself.
The equipment is adaptable, easy to operate and, above all, reliable.
If we do experience difficulties we know we can receive immediate assistance via the telephone helpdesk, although with regular preventative maintenance visits from the Imaje service engineers, this is kept to a minimum.".
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