Case Study No.0006 Inline Print and Apply w/ Scanner Portals
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Explorer 5.0 and above.
Overview
Customer needed an automated print and apply system to replace
a manual application of labels to cartons that not only printed
and applied labels, but verified the label through barcode scanning
.
Major Issues
Box specifications:
• Heights from 4” to 20”
• Widths from 7” to 14”
Vendor label:
• Could be placed anywhere from bottom of box to 8”
high with up to 14` of skew.
• Varying qualities of barcode to be read
Application of shipping label:
• Top application meant label had to be applied to different
height cartons
• Single printer/applicator could not keep up with the customer’s
40 cartons/minute requirement due to height variance.
Informational label:
• Applied to side of carton
AIDEA’s solution
After the system’s issues were outlined, we decided a dual
inline printer/applicator for the shipping label and a third printer/applicator
for the side label would more than fill the customer’s requirements
at a cost much less than the multiple conveyor line solution offered
by other integrators. Utilizing Videojet Labeljet series printer/applicators
and Microscan MS-860 barcode scanners for the primary hardware and
a Windows based application, we created the three zone system. The
first zone determines the height of the carton and scans the vendor
applied label to determine the shipping label and informational
label to apply. The second zone prints and applies a shipping label
and customer information label. The last zone scans the vendor applied
label again, the shipping label, and the information label to ensure
the correct labels were applied. Any failure in the last zone would
push the cartons onto another conveyor to be checked and re-inducted
into the system.
The essential piece of the system is the tracking of the cartons
as they pass through the zones. As the carton enters our system,
we put the carton into a software slot that allows us to apply the
labels at the correct time and to the correct carton. Without this
piece of software, the system would be incomplete.
Partial product list:
Videojet’s Labeljet series printer/applicator
Microscan’s MS-860
Conveyor system by Hytrol
