Tortilla Maker Codes Individual Packages and Cases
PREVIOUS PROCESS:
A tortilla manufacturer had requirements to upgrade their packaging lines due to the acquisition of new business. The ability to code individual tortilla packages and outside corrugated cartons were essential.
An outdated Zanasi inkjet printer was being used to date code the individual packages.
For the outer carton identification, the manufacturer was manually hand stamping information on each carton. This process was extremely labor intensive and very messy. The manufacturer needed an automated system with little human intervention, high reliability, ease of use and higher quality print. They also wanted the capability to print barcodes to serve future customer requirements.
ID TECHNOLOGY PROPOSAL OR SOLUTION:
ID Technology installed a Citronix ci1000 to replace the existing Zanasi inkjet printer. The ci1000 was chosen because of the ability to print a sell-by date, Julian Date, plant designator, line number and military roll over and/or up date in real time. It was also important that the operator could edit the dates manually.
The outer carton identification was accomplished using a high resolution inkjet printer featuring the Pro Series 768 printhead. This printhead is capable of printing one to forty-two lines of text, barcodes and graphics with a 4" high image area. A Marksman Pro net controller was easily interfaced with the customers' XP based host computer running Box Writer which was also supplied with the printer. Box Writer software package is designed for editing and downloading messages via an Ethernet connection to an unlimited number of printers.
COST SAVINGS/PRODUCTIVITY GAINS:
The customer will experience less downtime with this updated equipment. In addition, the print quality and ease-of-use has drastically improved with both upgrades.
