Sequential Barcode Labels on Bales of Pet Food
PREVIOUS PROCESS:
A producer of pet food needed a 6" x 4" label printed then applied to the sides of bales of pet food.
Their label contained product name, product description, SCC-14 barcode, sequential batch number and the customer's FGS code.
The FGS code requires real time information that relates to production line shift and time produced. Included in the time produced is year, week, day, hour and minute. The week corresponds to the client's fiscal week not a calendar week. Consequently, updates can not be read off any computer clock and a unique method for calculating the week was needed.
The throughput was up to 30 products per minute requiring a solution that processes the variable data, then prints and applies the label quickly.
ID TECHNOLOGY PROPOSAL OR SOLUTION:
ID Technology provided a terminal network connected to Label Printer Applicators and a single PC.
Each label printer applicator was connected via an RS-232 cable to a data terminal. The terminal has a photocell attached that reads the presence of a product to initiate the formatting and printing of the label data. A photocell is also attached to each printer applicator to initiate the tamp application of the label.
The operator enters a product bar code, which automatically sends all of the descriptive data and bar code data associated with that product to the label printer applicator. In addition the terminal's custom software program calculates the real time information for the finished product code and sends it to the printer applicator.
An operator can update/edit products from the PC and download the changes to the entire data collection network, eliminating the need to independently update each terminal.
ID Technology also provides this customer with Label/Ribbon "Kits", labels and ribbons of matched length and guaranteed compatibility.
