Laser coded watershed

In order to speed up the bottled water coding speed and increase the brand effect, Natural Springs Water Group adopts laser coding to improve the clarity of the code, the reliability of the equipment and the efficiency of the production line.

Natural Springs Water Group, LLC, a manufacturer of bottled water in Johnson City, TN, decided to replace the original old ink coder and fully update the equipment. The original ink printer had problems with cleaning, and the company admitted that it was not so stable. "It's downtime and there is ink everywhere, and it's not very efficient," commented Danny Aviles, Natural Springs's Quality Assurance Manager. 'Ink's chance to stain the bottle because of the hot and humid weather cannot form a clean code. If they are not positioned accurately, the graphics will be distorted.

At this time, the company found the SmartLase laser coding system through MARKEM Markon.

Natural Springs, formerly known as Lauré brand beverage, was founded in 1991 to collect free-flowing water resources in the nature reserves of the Northeastern Tennessee. The amount of collected water is more than 5.5 million gallons per day of high purity water. The collected water resources are located in Cherokee. Within the National Forest Nature Reserve. The company processes, filters, and finally fills containers ranging from 8 ounces to 1.5 liters, of which gallons of bottled water are packaged by an exclusive supplier, this PE (polyethylene terephthalate). Ester) packaging is sold primarily to retail stores in the southeastern United States.

Natural Springs obtains information on Marken from the internet. In order to succeed in the retail industry, its barrel line must run accurately and continuously. Natural Springs's fully automated production process is based on its advanced technology, nine-step water purification, and micro-purification, UV light and ozone technology. Lauré Pristine Springs Water and Mountain Forest mineral water brands, like the other 56 of its brand, the company wants to code transparent plastic bottles to create a good bottled water brand impression. Can laser marking achieve this on PET?

A year ago, Natural Springs decided to find Marken MARKEM and purchased the SmartLase 100 series laser coder, a compact, CO2 technology laser coding system designed for primary packaging applications such as paper boxes, labels, glass and plastics. On the bottle, the application industries include food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, personal care, tobacco and daily necessities industries. Systems like the SL110 have been proven to print clear, accurate, one-line validity periods on one end of the bottle. 'With laser coders, as long as they are set up, there is no need for more control,' said Aviles, 'it will be cleaner, more efficient and less maintenance'.

Equipment equipped with Fumex's suction device can remove smoke from plastic products and other air dust generated by PET. In addition, Smartlase 110S can be used in harsh, damp and waterproof environments, mainly due to its stainless steel housing and With NEMA 4X and IP65 protection, the laser series uses electricity to produce CO2 to emit invisible infrared light. Infrared light is actually a form of thermal energy. When the light beam is directly placed on the label of Natural Springs bottled water, thermal energy either burns or etched the surface of the substrate to form the logo.

Laser coders have proven to be very efficient in using laser energy, and the use of small, air-cooled laser tubes has brought new hope to Natural Springs. The computer-controlled lens prints the laser beam onto the substrate to print clear, clean and highly accurate characters or graphics on the fly.

The service life and reliability of a 10-watt laser depends on the number of times the laser is turned on and off. Natural Springs discovered that other laser coders have on and off for each character code, but MARKEM's SmartLase laser coder prints a legend (a line of characters) to open and close once, which will extend the length of the laser tube. Service life. Some materials (such as printed paper boxes) require less energy for laser marking, so the laser coder can use the laser effectively according to the energy required to print on the substrate. The effective use of energy can not only reduce costs, but also have a positive impact on the performance of the equipment.

Filling water, the factory collects spring water first, then filters and purifies it, and the whole process protects the minerals in the water. Next, the water passes through the water tank to the bottled water line (the laser machine is installed here). The speed of this line is 250 bottles/minute, Aviles said. He describes the packaging line: After a bundle of empty bottles is delivered, it is transported to the bottling room, cleaned, and finally sealed. This set uses Sidel's system and uses pressure from Quadrel Labeling Systems. Sensitive label, place the surrounding label on the bottle. Finally, use the SmartLase series to print single-line, digital, etc. dates. Next, the well-coded bottles are packaged, palletized and ready for shipment.

With the laser coding system, Aviles believes that the efficiency of online coding is improved a lot. 'This system is very stable, and once it is properly set up, there is no need to worry about it. We need to use it correctly, so we need reliable equipment. We get the code of our accuracy, that is clean and clear. There is no problem with laser marking on PET bottles.

Source: MARKEN