Manufacturers’ first piece of manufacturing equipment is usually the Labelling Machine.
You might have a new product that has been boutiqued or manufactured in small batches and these days you have people seeking to obtain in larger volumes locally and/or overseas.
To be able to prepare or produce a product ready for the retail market, listed here are the most common steps: filling, capping, sealing, labelling and packaging.
The manual application of self-adhesive labels is definitely the fiddliest and probably the most frustrating task among the mentioned steps. Two factors that may make this task overwhelming maybe the product form and the aggressive nature of the label adhesive. Talk with your label supplier if they can source partially peelable adhesive for your labels that will permit reapplication should the label is applied erroneously.
All of the above mentioned manufacturing steps can usually be semi-automated. The value to semi-automation through bench-top hand operated device is ¼ the cost of in-line equipment with conveyors. And can produce about the same amount of throughput that demand for one person per production step.
Depending on the predicted development of your production, semi-automation may be sufficient. If increase is more fast or the numbers of production are high, skipping the semi-automation phase can move your items to a more professional level of packaging consistency, decreased production times and labour costs per unit.
Benefits of checking out the Semi-Automation phase first include:
- A slower and simpler way to comprehend the workings and aspects of each manufacturing step.
- You own an equipment and prior knowledge that will serve as a support equipment in case the in-line automation gets a little complex.
- For smaller production, this semi-automated equipment can be utilized.
Disadvantages of going through the Semi-Automation phase first include:
- The funding necessary which is on top of what you would pay for in-line machine.
- In-line automation may be put into action longer.
One of the processes that will have the biggest effect on your product is the self adhesive labelling and it is essential to focus on that area. In presenting your goods to the consumers, first impressions are everything. Wrinkled, misplaced, crooked and bubbled labels are difficult to prevent without the use of a label applicator.
There are modular in line labelling machines like the LabelOn range specifically designed to give new and existing manufacturers flexibility to accommodate current and future jobs with minimal change parts and, in most cases, no change parts at all. With the LabelOn range of Self Adhesive Labelers, you will experience the impression that the machine you own was specially designed for your particular kind of job.
The conventional accuracy a Label Applicator can provide is a position that will not change greater than 1.5mm about a mean central position. In short, take the ideal position of the label and imagine it can shift up to 1.5mm in different direction when examining finished product passing through that Sticker Labeling Machine. Note the shift of the label about an ideal position will be partially caused by variations in the bottles or product shapes passing throughout the Sticker Labelling Machine.
For those who consider a plastic bottle that is 100 mm tall – the bottle manufacturer is likely to specify a height variation of perhaps 0.5% or more. Labels themselves are unlikely to have significant variation in size though occasionally there may be variations in label spacing, thickness and even curl brought on by the labels being snugly wound into a roll.
Luckily there is Self Adhesive Labelling equipment on the market that is certainly accurate enough to provide you a confident blueprint in order to pay attention to resolving accuracy issues thoroughly without chasing your tail fiddling with machine settings.
