Off-line digital case printing has proven to be the technology of choice at Sunnyside Corp. It has replaced on-line ink jet printing on packaging lines for several reasons, including the fact that the off-line technology is a practical and economical alternative to ink-jet printing for Sunnyside's purposes.

The off-line technology has the capability to print bar codes, something that the Sunnyside's old ink jet printers couldn't do. Maintenance expenses and labor costs to use these on-line printers ran much higher than they do now with digital case printing, moreover.

Sunnyside is a manufacturer of about 100 solvent, chemical, and oil products, all packed in cases. To handle all the box coding needs for its product line, a digital case printer has replaced four ink jet printers on two packaging lines.

"We knew we were going to need to print bar codes on cases in the future," says Sunnyside plant manager Rey Hurdogen. "Our ink jet units did not have that capability."

"Many of our customers were just beginning to use bar codes," adds Sunnyside director of operations David Osiadacz. "Without the ability to print bar codes, we were penalizing ourselves from pursuing other markets. But we've secured more customers by printing bar codes on all four case sides."

Off-line digital printing enables Sunnyside to print more than just bar codes, moreover. Graphics, product description, item, and batch numbers as well as hazardous material warnings can be printed on the sides of cases.

The off-line digital case printer comes with its own software program. This easy-to-use software allows an operator to design graphics, text, and bar codes on a computer.

The computer-produced message is next transmitted to a thermal plotter that burns the image onto a plastic-backed fibrous film. This stencil is then rolled onto the digital case printer's print cylinder. Flat cases are then fed to this cylinder, and markings are applied at rates up to 60 boxes per minute.

Knocked-down shipping cases are printed on two adjacent sides of the case with one pass through the digital printer. After they exit this print run, the printed cases are stacked and squared in bundles of 25 cases. Then a powered roller conveyor takes the cases on a U-turn back to the printer's infeed area. An operator flips the cases and reloads them to print on two more sides.

When a printing run of cases at Sunnyside is over, the stencil is removed and a new one is put on the cylinder. There is little or no maintenance or downtime in changeover with the digital case printer.

"Our decision to go with the digital machine was based on a cost-per-unit basis including labor. The cost to print cases is significantly less than before," says Osiadacz.

The new printing process is very efficient. "We have a weekly schedule that we follow," says Hurdogan, "and we produce boxes to that schedule. We try to stay a week ahead of the production lines so if any problems arise on any of the lines, we can switch over to different product cases."

Iconotech
800-521-0194
www.iconotech.com