Logopak International has installed one of its 920PF pallet labeller’s into a Scottish production facility of one of Europe’s premier producer of quality folded cartons.
With plants throughout the UK and Europe, Field Packaging’s East Kilbride production site specialises in the production of high quality cartons, primarily for the premium drinks, confectionery and speciality branded sectors.
As part of a £10M project to upgrade the site, Field has installed an automated material handling system. A pallet labeller was included in this system, applying labels to pallets of cartons after robot palletisation and stretch wrapping to improve product information and presentation to the customer.
Fitted with a double side label application system for both A5 and A4 labels, the 920PF was supplied in a full steel pressurised enclosure with operating trap-door system.
By applying labels to two adjacent sides in real-time with exact, but variable data, Logopak says the unit assists in ensuring product recognition to Field’s customers. It also provides traceability of products into the food chain in order to meet ISO standards of supply.
Connected to the company’s host system and its manufacturing process software, the 920PF receives data in real-time as pallets arrive for labelling. The EAN standard pallet label format is saved on-board the machine in Logopak’s iLEAP642 software and control system which has fixed fields and pre-programmed calculations.
By using this method, Logopak says the sending of data is simplified and therefore does not require the sending of a full bit-map image to the machine each time a label requires to be printed.
Additional features supplied with the pallet labelling system include RSMa dial-in service facilities and ethernet connectivity with IP address functions.
Field’s project manager Andrew Degnan said: “Logopak has an excellent reputation for quality and reliability, and such equipment will aid us in servicing our customers even more effectively. Logopak proved to be a responsive, flexible and efficient organisation that was a pleasure to do business with.”
Logopak has also announced a record order intake last Autumn, with a large proportion of the 160 machines on its order book consisting of 920 labellers – 48 in all ordered by a number of major companies across Europe including Pepsi, Henkel, Sasol, Metsa Tissue, Grolsch, Nestle, Wesergold, Interbrew, Coca-Cola and Agrozumos.
The company says demand is being driven by the new EU regulation 178/2002 which demands the uninterrupted traceability of goods between manufacturer and final consumer and is required to be implemented by 1 January 2005.
“It appears that the our Logopak 920 pallet labelling systems have become the standard in the last few years as our enquiry levels on this product seem to be never ending,” said Logopak managing director Chris Hastings-Long.
Within the total, Logopak UK’s contribution was also high with over 20 units being manufactured for its UK customers.