Print & Apply | Take control of your supply chain traceability
Historically, plant managers have overlooked marking and coding. Instead, it's always been the necessary evil. It is a minor part of the manufacturing process, but no product can leave the site without it. That's why it's always the last component to integrate and the easiest to go wrong.
Printing and applying labels in the tertiary packaging stages were always one of the forklift driver's duties.
But what about mistakes associated with manual operations? How can you ensure the correct label information on the right pallet? How can you ensure traceability, efficiency, and less rework? What about cutting costs, minimizing inventory, and complying with standards?
Is it possible to tick all the above boxes manually?
Print & Apply – 2200 Pallet is one of the Markem-Imaje innovative answers.
The 2200 Pallet builds on a proven concept, providing reliability, efficiency, and ease of use in demanding 24/7 environments. The 2200 Pallet takes "Print & Apply" to the next evolution stage, giving you optimized operational intervention and unparalleled reliability.
It's a modular system with one single print engine for direct thermal or thermal transfer and interchangeable applicator modules.
However, the Packaging Intelligence Suite System makes the 2200 Pallet system shine, automating and integrating the entire packaging and coding process.
We're not talking about simple software that monitors the operation and alerts us when something goes wrong. The suite will be fully integrated into your IT and OT environment. Covering all four production levels, from the conveyor through the different devices like printers, scanners, vision cameras, PLCs, and scales, to messages design, management, reporting, production HMI & SCADA, all the way to communicating and connecting with the plant MES, WMS, and the enterprise ERP.
As much as this may sound technically complicated, the Packaging Intelligence Suite is a modular-based system where modules can be standalone or connected with other modules.
Traceability is one of the most critical elements of pallet labeling. Most market sectors embrace digitalization to improve profitability through more sophisticated matching of product demand to supply and by permitting greater product handling automation.
Manufacturers also see it as ensuring end-to-end product traceability to deal with recalls more efficiently. Due to this, case and pack traceability is becoming more critical since insufficient coding on secondary packaging is causing traceability chains to break.
For example, pallet-splitting is expected to reduce inventory space and enhance product freshness. Suppose cases from split pallets are only coded with ITF-14 barcodes. In that case, the information is limited to the Global Trade Identification Number (GTIN), so retailers and wholesalers lose sight of where specific cases of products end up. Using over 100 application identifiers to identify batch numbers and global location numbers, GS1-128 barcodes can solve the problem.
However, GS1-128 barcodes have requirements regarding quality and placement, limiting the options that can be chosen at this packaging level and still being compliant.
The Packaging Intelligence Suite is designed to handle exceptions and achieve compliance. At the end of the palletizing, there can be a partial pallet of only a few cases, and unless the label position is in a suitable place, the last pallet needs to be manually coded. Without an appropriate backstop, the traceability chain can break as it relies on the human to ensure the printed label is correct. The partial pallet's data is correctly aggregated with the rest of the back-office data. In such situations, a system like CoLOS will receive information from the PLC that a partial pallet is coming. CoLOS will tell the equipment not to apply an automated label. Upon receiving an alert, the operator asks CoLOS to print a label on a desktop printer and manually applies it to the pallet. The worker then scans the barcode for CoLOS to confirm it is ok. Assuming all is correct, CoLOS releases the pallet into stock and adds the partial pallet data to the remaining recorded items.
For maximum efficiency and traceability, it is advisable to use one experienced supplier who can code across many surfaces at the unit, case, and pallet packaging levels and provide a seamlessly integrated information management system with minimum integration risks. Such a supplier can automate much of the coding process and ensure real-time information exchange between all production and back-office systems, vastly reducing the scope for operator error and achieving detailed stock visibility. And, where human input is still required, with user interfaces similar across a single vendor's technologies, the likelihood of errors is minimized. Other benefits of dealing solely with one company include making consumable purchasing, maintenance, and invoicing more effortless and cost-effective.
Marking and coding have gone from being a necessary evil to one of the core digital age tools to minimize waste, drive efficiency, achieve compliance, and protect & promote a brand.
