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General Print Supplies, Services for Printers
News Release from: Linx Printing Technologies | Subject: 500SL laser coder
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 13 December 2007
Laser Coder Integrates With Bottle
Labellers
One of Linx's scribing laser coder's a 500SL, is being used by the Heineken Brewery at Schiltigheim (Germany) to apply codes onto the labels used on its glass bottles.
Linx said that its ability to integrate the coder with Heineken's labelling equipment had ensured a reduced production footprint, which was a fundamental reason for choosing the Linx equipment Heineken had been using a mask laser coding system from another company but wanted to adopt new technology to improve speed of marking and print quality
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 29 Jun 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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Linx said that Heineken believed that the 500SL scribing laser was suitable because of its high speed, print quality and low cost of ownership compared to mask lasers, which require the use of CO2 gas cartridges for operation.
Integration with the existing labelling machine in use at the plant was a key concern for Heineken, to save space and to allow improved access to the labelling machine for operation and maintenance.
Linx devised a set-up where the laser is mounted horizontally above the labelling machine, with the arm and marking head reaching down to the pallet station where the bottles are coded.
A shaft encoder is installed to prevent the speed variation and to deliver a sync print signal.
Sophie Lesenfans, the industrial buyer at Heineken, explained: "The experience of Linx's engineers in dealing with labelling machinery enabled them to install the complete coding system without the need to employ a third party as systems integrator, thus optimising the efficiency of the project." She added that the Linx 500SL prints a two-line code on to the paper labels, incorporating the 'use by' date on the top line,and traceability information - the date of manufacture, the production line number and the shift code - on the second line.
Claimed speeds of up to 50,000 labels per hour have been achieved.
Traceability is assured thanks to a computer link with the production management system, which enables automatic updating of codes and dates without manual intervention, added Linx.
Patrick Kinder, head of the Pole Curatif (Curative Centre) at Heineken in Schiltigheim, added: "Linx proved extremely capable of meeting all of our requirements on this project, both in terms of machine performance and in the company's willingness to configure the installation so that we can get the best out of the Linx 500SL.".
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