Linen Manufacturer Automates Line and Adds Printer Applicator for Sortation Labels
PREVIOUS PROCESS:
A manufacturer of linens and towels was automating their inventory/distribution process. The company had been manually bundling, shrink-wrapping and loading towels into totes to be transferred to inventory. A bundle ticket was placed on each stack prior to shrink wrapping.
In order to begin automating this process, the company purchased overhead scanners to read these bundle tickets. However, the tickets could not be scanned through the shrink wrap. This required placement of a sortation label on the outside of the shrink-wrap.
The sortation label consisted of a barcode, product number and product description.
ID TECHNOLOGY PROPOSAL OR SOLUTION:
ID Technology suggested installing an Accusort Mini-X omnidirectional scanner, a LabelView Printpad and a Label Printer Applicator.
An in-feed conveyor stops advancement of each bundle when the next bundle coming down the line breaks the photocell beam. This ensures that only one bundle is waiting to be placed into the scanning area by the operator.
The Mini-X decodes the bundle barcode label into ASCII data and passes it to the LabelView Printpad. The data is then sent from the Printpad to a label printer applicator.
The label printer applicator is custom designed with a smart-tamp-blow with a 20" stroke to apply the new labels. The wide range of stroke is needed to handle the height variances of each bundle. The tamp pad never touches the bundle surface since the label is blown off the tamp pad and onto the package.
The bundle is manually placed into the film to be wrapped and the label printer applicator applies the sortation label to the outside of the shrink wrap. The operator then slides the film-covered bundle into an L-sealer.
Before the bundle enters their sortation/distribution process it passes by a post print validation system scanner. If a no-read occurs, the bundle can be caught before continuing into the sortation system.
COST SAVINGS/PRODUCTIVITY GAINS:
The new automated system increased throughput and decreased sortation errors.
The system was also designed to be ergonomically friendly to reduce carpal tunnel syndrome incidence associated with the old procedures. The range of operator movements was reduced with the new automatic labeling system in conjunction with the automated take away conveyor.
