Knocking out downtime and costs

Catching a cold is a lot like downtime on a production line—plenty of preventative maintenance goes into avoiding both, although some might consider each equally inevitable. While Vitamin C may be the best way to stop the sniffles, CCB Packaging has found laser-marking to be the most proactive method to avoid downtime when coding products.

CCB Packaging, an American contract packager uses a Focus S10 laser-coding system from Videojet Technologies, and has discovered that it complements the ink-jet solutions it has relied on for years. Because a laser-coding system doesn’t use ink or other fluids, CCB Packaging doesn’t have to deal with issues like clogged nozzles or running dry. This translates to less maintenance, which allows technicians to handle the more crucial tasks that keep the lines running.

Equally important for CCB Packaging has been the coding flexibility and ease of programming the laser offers, along with high-quality marking for a roster of customers, such as leading cereal, snack-food and retail pharmaceutical companies. CCB Packaging also appreciates the $1,200 annual cost savings in consumables alone.

Multiple customers, demands

When its customers don’t have the capacity to fill orders, CCB Packaging assists by expediting the final packaging and shipping processes. For example, one customer produces snack foods. CCB Packaging receives the product in bulk, then fills, closes and seals the boxes. Those boxes are then packed in a cardboard carton, palletized and shipped to their destinations.

Thus, CCB Packaging buzzes like a beehive most days, running sometimes as many as 10 lines with different products during its three shifts, all of which have to be coded in some way. That includes ‘better if used by’ dates, expiration dates and closed-code formats, along with the typical time and shift notations. Coding-parameter shifts, such as switching from one to two lines of text, are common.

Varied needs

The sheer variety of products CCB Packaging handles creates unique coding issues, which has necessitated the use of a variety of solutions. Years ago, the company used an embosser that embedded a code date right into a carton. However, bits of cardboard would accumulate within the wheel and the chain would jump, throwing off the timing position of the code. More recently, the company has used a host of ink-jet solutions, including small-character printers for individual products/cartons and several large-character printers for cases.

Versatility makes ink jet attractive, explains CCB Packaging’s plant engineer, Robert Arauz. The company has rarely had to shut down a line completely due to ink-related problems. However, Arauz says that on average, “each month we can have a total of 4 to 6 hours of a technician’s time spent recovering from any ink-jet issues.” The average hourly-pay rate for technicians approaches $20, so Arauz would rather have them working on other tasks to keep the lines running. If lines stop, workers are paid to assist on other lines or perform housekeeping tasks until the lines are up again.

Laser coding avoids both those problems. The Focus S10 system delivers steered-beam coding via CO2 laser technology, where carbon-dioxide laser gas is electronically excited to provide a laser-light emission. The light creates an intense heat source for a microsecond, resulting in a permanent surface mark. The system is capable of printing dates, time, bar codes, logos and foreign-language characters.

But best of all, there are no fluid-related issues and maintenance, which is important when coding an average of 40 to 60 cartons per minute (as many as 300 cartons per minute for the cold-medicine cartoning line). “Other than occasionally wiping the lens off and changing the air filters, we don’t have to do anything to the laser,” says Craig Cross, CCB Packaging’s maintenance mechanic.

Advantages

CCB Packaging’s director of Operations, Frank Cotty, explains that a larger customer considered installing laser coders several years ago. Instead, it allowed CCB Packaging to use its current fleet of ink-jet printers. But when the customer saw the results of the Focus S10’s laser coding, “they approved the application right away,” Cotty says. “The customer likes the laser coding better than the ink. The quality is a great improvement.”

But cost reduction has also significantly improved. “By eliminating fluids, we have lowered the cost per carton by $0.002,” Cotty reports. “That equates to a $1,200 per year reduction.”

There was another factor that merited consideration for CCB Packaging when considering a laser coding system—customers were beginning to ask about it. Instead of losing potential business (and eventually, subsequent market share), the introduction of the Focus S10 has allowed CCB Packaging to upgrade its technology to meet coding demands and pull-in jobs that required laser coding. Service and support from Videojet has also provided further efficiency for the system.

The Focus S10 has also complemented CCB Packaging’s ink-jet coding offerings. The variety of coding products allows CCB to be able to meet any demand, which increases the value to its customers.

Cross is looking forward to the days when laser coding is the norm. “We could use those lasers on almost all of our packaging lines. They are cost-effective to operate and print a really good code,” he says.