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Coding is a CRAFT
Top 3 Tips for Choosing a Coding Provider
It can be difficult to choose a marking, coding and labeling equipment provider with so many available. These tips will help you find the best provider for your business:
At Diagraph, we are dedicated in solving your coding and labeling challenges. Diagraph has been assisting customers for over 120 years improving production line efficiencies with simple, reliable, cost-effective coding and labeling solutions. Visit us at www.diagraph.com or contact us at 800.722.1125.
1. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – This seems like an obvious consideration, but year after year manufacturing companies new to marking and coding make equipment purchases that cost them big over time. Ensure you understand your ongoing costs for equipment parts, consumables and service as well as downtime costs associated with routine maintenance before making a purchase. TCO varies widely from manufacturer to manufacturer.
2. Ease of Use – Can your line operators easily change messages, refill fluids or labels and perform preventative maintenance with as little impact to uptime as possible? Equipment that is the easiest to use and most reliable features design elements that are engineered directly into the machines (as opposed to being applied after-market).
3. Service Support Structure – Coding providers who are most responsive to your needs have field service operations dedicated to your neighborhood. Look for providers that offer telephone support and have layers of expertise available within the organization to ensure that your unique application gets every consideration necessary.
If you are at the Craft Brewers Conference this week in Philadelphia, please stop by at see us in Booth 4257!
Seasonal Coding Tips
By Chris Pangallo, Product Manager – Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) and Laser
Many manufacturers in food processing and consumer goods experience seasonal fluctuations in demand. As a result, their production must ramp up and down throughout the course of the year. Should their product require variable coding such as batch codes and date codes, these companies often make use of Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) coding technology.
Reliable Coding
Companies that need reliability in their product coding both in peak and off peak production often turn to Linx CIJ printers. All Linx CIJ coding solutions feature a hermetically sealed and potted simple design ink jet printhead that cleans itself. Linx customers experience greater uptime as they do not have to align the ink jet or constantly clean their printer for best print quality. Linx CIJ printers are offered in stainless steel IP55 or IP65 rated enclosures suitable for wash-down and dusty environments. Linx also offers a broad range of fluids to ensure quality marks on a variety of substrates.
The following coding tips will help you plan for the challenges of seasonal production:
Ramping Up
Encoding
If product output needs to increase, the production lines may be running at higher, variable speeds. To ensure quality marks it is recommended to provide a speed signal to your CIJ printer. The printer will adjust drop output to match the line speed, keeping the message from stretching out. Line speed measurement is commonly achieved with the addition of an encoder. The encoder mounts to your conveyor and the rotation of the encoder wheel signals the printer as to how fast the production line is moving so that printing output can be adjusted on the fly. In addition to preventing message stretch, the signal will also keep the message from contracting when the production line is moving at a slower rate.
Software Upgrades
If a customer has standard CIJ printers and finds that its production line speed exceeds the printer’s capability, do not panic. Linx offers software upgrades that customers can install themselves. The software upgrade for a higher performance message type is achieved with a Configuration Code. When entered into the printer higher speed printing is enabled.
Consumables ordering
When planning increased productivity, don’t forget to take inventory of your coding consumables. Place appropriate orders for ink & solvent and arrange for Preventative Maintenance filter changes based on expected usage.
Ramping Down
Decommissioning
Linx customers have a great benefit with the automatic print head cleaning feature known as FullFlush™. At the end of printing, simply hit the Stop button. The printer will engage a solenoid to shut off ink to the nozzle and then flush the printhead and its tubing out – through both nozzle and gutter- with solvent. This leaves the printhead clean and dry and ready to start when next needed.
Planning for a few weeks of downtime
If there is no need for CIJ printing for a few weeks, many customers keep the printer in the production area and will start the unit in the morning and turn it off at night once or twice a week. This keeps the fluids from settling within the ink delivery system and ensures a good start up when they need it.
Planning for downtime that extends beyond 6 weeks
If production completely shuts down for an extended period of 6 weeks or more, decommissioning of the CIJ printer should be considered. Decommissioning involves removal of fluids from the printer and a change of filters. This eliminates the concern of solvent evaporation or ink thickening within the ink delivery system while your printer is in storage.
It is clear that cyclical production provides many challenges, but all of these challenges can be addressed head on with the innovations in the Linx CIJ product line.
The Container You Choose for Your Brew Determines Which Coding Technology You Should Choose
An excerpt from 2016 Comprehensive Guide to Date and Batch Coding in the Craft Brewing Industry
Different types of technology are needed for printing on your primary (bottle or can) package and on your secondary (outer box) package. Continuous ink jet (CIJ) and laser are the most common options for printing date codes, batch codes, other text, graphics, barcodes, QR codes and other codes onto primary beverage packages. When selecting a coding system for your primary packaging, the first step is to consider what type of material you will be printing on. Keeping in mind that you can reasonably expect the printer to last five to seven years, what types of packages are you using now and do you plan to use in the years ahead? Bottles can be coded with either laser or CIJ systems. Cans are coded with CIJ technology. This means that a craft brewer who wants to be able to code on both cans and bottles will need a CIJ system.
The next consideration that should factor into your coding technology decision is production volume. Download our free guide to view cost comparisons based on the number of bottles and/or cans you fill per day.
2016 Comprehensive Guide to Date and Batch Coding in the Craft Brewing Industry
As a leading provider of marking and coding technology, Diagraph works with breweries of all sizes across the country to fulfill product traceability needs that can easily scale up for future capacity and complexity. Diagraph manufactures batch coding and date coding technologies that span the entire packaging line -- from primary product to secondary packaging all the way to pallet labeling.
With an ever-growing array of product types, packaging formats, costs, and innovation driving and shaping packaging in the personal care product market, effective marking and case coding equipment must continue to deliver high-quality codes onto a variety of substrates while ensuring code quality, reliability and low cost of ownership.
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Dairy Manufacturers are often required to code products in an environment where printers must deliver accurate, durable codes at high speeds, on a variety of packaging substrates and formats. Even in this increasingly complex setting, downtime and product scrappage are not an option. You need a coder you can rely on.
6 Factors to Consider when Choosing a Coding Solution for the Meat Processing Industry