Vital convenience located in Erkelenz, Germany, has a declared goal of delivering quality, freshness and excellent taste in its products. The company claims that the combination of quality and everything which makes modern living enjoyable and convenient is the very essence of the products that leave its doors.

To ensure that this is the case, Vital convenience has put in place a quality management system designed to maintain its exacting standards. Every step in the process is watched with great diligence. The marking which contains variable data is an essential aspect of continuous quality assurance.

Small printer - crisp text

ImageEU regulations stipulate that the marking on food packaging must be easy to read. As a result, marking systems have to generate a sharp, clear text image. However, quality expectations for marking systems in the food processing industry already go considerably further than that.

Since the beginning of 2015, all of the Multivac thermoformers at Vital convenience have been outfitted with MR cross web labelers, and Koenig & Bauer Coding ttPRINT XS thermal transfer printers are used on all of the systems with highly satisfactory results.

The barcodes, best by and batch traceability dates are clearly legible. The printing is accurately positioned in the reserved space. The thermal transfer printer easily keeps up with the speed of the production line.

Eliminating the need for a special design.

Programmable marking systems are needed to introduce production optimizations. Therefore the company began the search for suitable systems to replace all of the existing coders, some of which used clichés.

Various technologies from different suppliers were tested for suitability. The task definition was clear: uncomplicated integration into the existing production flows using existing Multivac thermoformers configured with MR cross web labelers. The effort had to be kept to a minimum. Marking containing variable data is applied directly to pre-printed labels before the labels are attached to the sealed trays by a cross web label dispenser. The labels are applied to the top of the trays on some of the packaging lines and to the bottom of the trays on others. Ideally, the existing mountings and frames could be used with the new marking System.

It was possible to continue using the existing frame for the three hot embossing printers which were replaced. Customer-specific frames were designed for the other printers.

The cross web printer completely traverses the line to apply the labeling. Constant motion causes some degree of wear. With minimal effort, the new frame was quickly modified to make it as compact as possible, which saves weight and reduces wear. The built-in print unit applies variable data to the label. Because the print unit and the controller are separate subsystems, the controller can be mounted on the packaging system to save weight, eliminating the need for a special design.