Make your mark to minimise waste and fraud

An important part of successful packaging is finding those coding and marking solutions that will assist processors and manufacturers to meet the ever-changing standards in the industry while increasing efficiency. One of the most important is stipulated by EU regulations: all the marking on foodstuff packaging must be easy to read.

Marking systems must generate a sharp, clear text image. TracePack’s Inkjet Coding machines offer high production reliability and very high production speeds with typefaces of exceptionally high print quality - designed to meet the exacting requirements of the sector.

In the food industry, packaged food manufacturers of products such as ice cream and dairy products, snacks, frozen products, ready meals, teas and coffees, sugar and eggs must code their products’ packaging.“We have laser coding solutions to code on materials such as paper, cardboard, glass and plastic, food film, cans, as well as on the product itself, such as on fruit and vegetables or eggshells,” explains Gary Chilton of local distributor Tracepack.

Information ensures traceability and quality checks

The equipment allows the coding process to be integrated with other processes such as pre-cutting for snack bags or micro-perforation of strawberry boxes, among others. This helps to significantly increase productivity. Software is specifically created for food chains, which helps to guarantee safety for consumers by controlling traceability effectively. Beverage manufacturers (sodas, soft drinks, mineral water, wines, beers, ciders, juices, etc.) must print codes on the packaging of their products on high-speed lines, on a wide range of materials and in one of the most demanding production environments.

Laser technology can apply these codes, due to their ability to mark a wide range of materials such as PET, glass, aluminium cans, cardboard cartons, etc. with easy legibility and low maintenance costs. “Our laser equipment allows both the bottleneck and its base to be marked. These solutions are especially useful for wine and drinks companies because the laser can mark both the bottle and the cork, make white markings on the glass and mark on the wooden boxes and barrels,’ he notes.

Successful food and beverage operations embrace innovation 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.

Scanning packed products

Machine vision systems and industrial barcode readers offer powerful solutions to protect product quality and safety, ensure package integrity, manage allergens, and maintain traceability. The In-Sight 2D machine vision systems are unmatched in their ability to inspect, identify and guide parts. These self-contained, industrial grade vision systems combine a library of advanced vision tools with high-speed image acquisition and processing. A wide range of models, including line scan and colour systems, meet most price and performance requirements, powered by In-Sight ViDi software which designed specifically to run deep learning applications.

This embedded solution helps factory automation customers easily solve challenging industrial OCR and random defect detection applications anywhere on the line that has gone uninspected because it is often too difficult to program traditional, rule-based machine vision tools.

Print apply labellers are ideal for labels with high-resolution texts, barcodes, product batches and images on any product, typically installed at the end of the line, labelling machines can satisfy many production requirements and types of application thanks to numerous applicators •

Tracepack - www.tracepack.co.za