Wet and steamy coding

Coding plastic pouches in a wet steamy environment has proved no problem for the latest small character ink jet printer from Videojet.

Now running for several months at Kaweka Foods, Hastings, the Videojet 46s printer replaced machines from two other suppliers, both of which had been unreliable.

The requirement was to code a 'best before' date on to plastic pouches on a production line just before they are filled with hot food, then sealed. Ambient conditions are tricky, involving temperature and moisture fluctuations.

For 12 months Kaweka Foods had hired a printer which proved unreliable. It then tried another machine and supplier for about eight months before it failed, totally, and had no backup. The economy promised with these machines proved false.

Says Kaweka Foods operations manager Mike Renfree, "We then called Tronics on a Thursday and by 9 pm the next day the 46s had arrived in Hastings and was up and running." The machine's printing performance had previously been tested on a trial on site.

Tronics sales engineers John Bayliss and Douglas Brownlie worked as a team of the organise delivery, installation and commissioning.

"The ordering, supply, installation and commissioning service from Tronics has been exceptional," says Mike Renfree. Kaweka's product is a heat-and-serve style meal in a plastic pouch with a stylish outer carton.

The 46s codes the pouches at about 25/min. "Its performance to date has been perfect," says Renfree. "We're looking at getting Tronics to upgrade another machine in due course."

An IP54-rated stainless steel cabinet protects the 43s in temperatures up to 45°C and humidity up to 90% non-condensing. The printhead flushes automatically during start-up and shutdown, and the machine needs no factory air.