Labelling with a difference

Industrial labelling machines are an essential component in production lines because they allow, in an automated way, the application of labels and printing data on products. Moreover, these machines apply labels quickly and accurately. Meet TracePack’s new S series line of industrial labellers.

Tracepack's latest S series line of industrial labellers is very versatile, including seven models for every need and every market, even where large label formats need to be applied and can be equipped with devices for printing and marking using four different technologies.

Each industrial labeller in this range has the following unique features:

• Small size for maximum adaptability

• Modularity

• Optimal efficiency performance

• Network connectivity for Industry 4.0

• Remote control

TracePack’s Performance 4.0 label applicators are fast and will keep up with almost any production line, including the fast-paced lines in the beverage industry. It features intuitive control, even remotely with even more advanced features and is very high performance in terms of frequency, speed, accuracy, autonomy as well as motorised rewinder and control technology that allows the perfect synchronisation of the two motors while the label roll housing has a diameter of up to 400mm for exceptional autonomy. Considering that time is precious, the Performance 4.0 labeller constantly updates you on its residual autonomy expressed in pieces informing you through the mobile app, wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Architecture, mechanics and the engines’ latest generation electric (step, step and brushless) ensure performance unattainable in each market segment: from 20m/min to 200m/min with up to 1 800 labels dispensed per minute. It also has maximum energy efficiency and lower noise than that of a refrigerator.

Tracepack’s machine vision systems and industrial barcode readers offer powerful solutions to protect product quality and safety

Successful food and beverage operations embrace innovations in product quality inspection, packaging inspection, assembly verification, allergen management, traceability, and food safety to minimise downtime and deliver consistently high quality, safe products with fewer defects and less waste. Tracepack’s machine vision systems and industrial barcode readers offer powerful solutions to protect product quality and safety, ensure package integrity, manage allergens, and maintain traceability.

Food and beverage product labels contain product-specific data such as origin, date, expiry, amount or class. In many factories, machine vision controls the alignment and placement of brands and the inspection. Smudged ink and low-contrast printing commonly affect print and apply inkjet labels, jeopardising the readability of many barcodes. Barcode printing errors and poor label quality require manual intervention, slowing down production and presenting challenges to vendors and partners. In addition, many defects are hard to detect during the label application process due to the belt’s orientation and the curved surfaces of items. However, quality inspections ensure product labelling is defect- and error-free. Machine vision systems with surface detection technology ensure labels are applied cleanly and squarely without wrinkles, air bubbles, rips or other raised errors.

TracePack’s vision systems with feature extraction technology use lighting and software algorithms to create high-contrast images that enhance the 3D features. It catches errors and defects such as torn, ripped or warped labels. Monochrome and colour models identify colour errors and inspect labels for consistency and quality in size, shape and texture. This quality control measure reduces the incidence of error, helps meet label quality standards and guarantees customer satisfaction.

TracePack’s vision systems inspect for the presence or absence of allergen labels

During the food and beverage industry manufacturing process, labels can be applied to products through several methods, such as print, and use laser marking and thermal inkjet printing. When manufacturing at high speeds or on small, hard to mark products, labels can drift and change orientation over time. Poorly applied labels can lead to misaligned text, overprint and other issues impacting a product’s legibility, and label alignment. Without visual inspection to ensure alignment, food and beverage manufacturers canincur unwanted waste, costly rework, chargebacks, and non-compliance penalties related to industry and retailer marking and label regulations.

By using TracePack’s vision systems, food and beverage manufacturers can ensure labels are correctly positioned on the product and avoid product quality recalls or brand damage. Likewise, automated inspections identify errors before a misaligned label creates issues further along the supply chain. In addition, the label alignment inspection can be coupled with our optical character recognition (OCR) and other vision tools to ensure overall label legibility and compliance.

Mislabelled allergens threaten public health and can result in expensive and damaging recalls. Strict rules established by government agencies worldwide require manufacturers to label and trace common allergens such as peanuts, soybeans, milk, eggs, shellfish, tree nuts and wheat. To ensure product safety and efficient recalls, manufacturers must be able to quickly identify and locate non-compliant products in the supply chain, posing hazards to consumers. Therefore, manufacturers need to ensure the correct label is on the right package. TracePack’s vision systems inspect for the presence or absence of allergen labels and ensure they are printed. In addition, pattern-matching technology locates allergen labels on packages, bottles and other items, and verifies that they are correct to ensure customer safety and limit a product recall.

TracePack’s vision systems with feature extraction technology can catch errors and defects such as torn, ripped or warped labels.

Food and beverage manufacturers takegreat measures to avoid labelling mix-ups that, at best, damage brand reputation and, at worst, can lead to expensive recalls and liability. Many companies print and scan 1D and 2D barcodes or text on items to ensure they are labelled accurately and advertise the correct contents. These barcodes or alphanumeric values verify that multi-part packaging components match like a top lid and bottom container.

Tracepack’s vision systems and deep learning OCR solutions can check that lids and containers match each other, accurately reflect the package contents, and confirm that labels comply with regulatory bodies’ in-house procedures and quality standards. In addition, this technology ensures codes and text can be read and decoded at high speeds in the most challenging environments. •

TracePack – www.tracepack.co.za