Post Date: August 8, 2022

PPE provider Upgrades its Codes & Capacity

There’s no question that COVID caused many businesses to adapt and innovate in a way that they never have before, some even entering completely new markets with products unrelated to the ones they had been manufacturing previously.

One such business, an award-winning blind manufacturer, with their production process and sales being impeded by lockdown, quickly realized that they could adapt their facilities to produce vital PPE which were in very short supply.

Just weeks into the first lockdown the company began producing thousands of boxes of clinically compliant face masks at their factory headquarters.  It was a race to automate carton coding to meet urgent PPE demand.

The vital service that they were providing, soon led to volume orders coming in from nearby hospitals and surgeries, as well as many other front-line services.

With demand increasing to 35,000 cartons per month, each carton containing 50 face masks, they needed to find a fast and efficient solution that could rapidly overprint critical, variable data onto the cartons, including date codes and batch numbers. They also needed to ensure that teams could work at safe distances, while still being able to quickly pack and dispatch products.

Having outlined their requirements, we proposed a flexible, high-speed printer and conveyor system that would work with their Keymac automated cartoner. This would give them both the space they needed and fast, seamless working.

Combined parallel printer and conveyor system

To offer maximum speed and flexibility, we designed and installed a modular conveyor system. This comprised of a high-speed X2Jet printer with touch controller, and multiple operator stations, each with emergency stop switches located strategically along the length of the belt.

The face mask cartons are erected automatically by the cartoner and then dispensed directly onto the conveyor which runs at 90 degrees to the outfeed of the cartoner. Each carton passes by the printer head which applies high-quality printed data.

 

Intelligent Printer Controls

The X2Jet printer is both compact and highly versatile. It allows users to print variable data with one or two print heads to heights of 25mm. Even at speeds of 180 prints per minute, the quality remains at 300dpi.

True Type font capabilities also allow users to match any font type and print in a range of different print formats which can be saved in the software. Its compatibility with both water and solvent-based inks, also enable users to print variable data onto a wide variety of porous and non-porous materials, allowing the company to code a range of PPE.

If you’re looking to upgrade your codes and your capacity, be sure to contact AT INFO by calling (201) 529-0202 or shoot us a message to [email protected].