OFFLINE CODERS RESPOND TO THE PREMIUMISATION OF DAIRY DESSERTS

Many high-end desserts come in sophisticated pack formats, which can cause headaches for the sleeve coding operation.

Premium desserts are often made and packaged by hand. To code the packs with use by dates, factories can hand stamp or runn the packs past a coder mounted on a dedicated conveyor belt. Applying the code in the right place can be tricky and mis-coded packs can potentially cost manufacturers thousands in retailer fines.

Thankfully, there is a third way: offline coding. Many companies are seeing the benefits of such systems. When a multi-site food company won a contract to produce a new range of desserts for one of the multiple grocery retailers the packaging consisting of a tall conical sundae container with a watch-strap sleeve. As the dessert was packed by hand, online coding didn’t make sense and would have been difficult due to the pack design.

Rotech recommended its RF2 – a standalone friction feed overprinting system that would enable the manufacturer to code sleeves offline and bring them to the production line already printed. Engineered specifically for the food industry, the RF2 uses Rotech’s stack-to-stack feeding technology to pick sleeves from a stack, accurately print date or batch codes, and place the printed sleeve neatly onto another stack for collection, all at speeds of 400 per minute.

Off-line coders also come into their own when immediate additional capacity or super-fast coding is needed. Artisan dessert producer Pots & Co produces a retail range of high-end desserts packed in individual ceramic ramekins with plastic lids and an outer cardboard sleeve.

Fraser Thomson, operations director at Pots & Co comments: “Over the past couple of years we have rapidly expanded and using the Rotech RF2 coding system has allowed us to keep up to speed with production levels to meet our customer demands. The RF2 prints date and batch codes with ease in the correct position each and every time. We are delighted with the system and no longer have the worry of poorly printed eligible codes which can be resultant of hand stamping.”

Tel: 01707 393 700
www.rotechmachines.com