FlexPackPRO CASE STUDIES
UPGRADE INFERIOR TECHNOLOGY
Replace Inferior Coding Technologies with FlexPackPRO® TTO
The Challenge: A popular powdered mix company was producing some of the country’s finest drink and baking mixes, but had been receiving complaints about the inferior quality of the product identification on each bag.
Unfortunately, the company had originally outfitted its VFFS baggers with in-line inkjet coders, which simply were not up to the task.
Messy to maintain and fill, the inkjet units were producing inconsistent, blurry and sometimes completely illegible words and numbers…not the image the well-established company wanted to promote to its customers. They needed a superior variable imaging solution, and they needed it quick and within a budget.
We determined that the cost-effective FlexPackPRO® 130 Series TTO was the clear choice, and within a few weeks the inferior printers were removed and all lines were refitted with custom brackets and FPP 130i units. Now they’re generating perfect 300 dpi resolution product information on every bag. A delicious solution indeed!
ENHANCE AN OLD PACKAGING MACHINE
Add Modern Coding Technology to Your Aging Packaging Machines
FlexPackPRO’s team of mounting and installation engineers can fit almost any of your existing Form, Fill, Seal machines – regardless of age – with a state-of-the-art FlexPackPRO® brand Thermal Transfer Overprinter.
In this case study, a leading fresh coffee producer in business since 1968 wanted to utilize an older VFFS machine to handle additional product for an important retail client. Regulations required a high-resolution production date and expiration date on each bag, but the decades-old machine was never expected to marry with a sophisticated digital date coder like FlexPackPRO®.
After FPP’s regional representative visited the plant, we were confident we could do it – and the results have been outstanding, saving the customer from buying an extremely expensive new VFFS bagger in the process!
INTEGRATE WITH A LABELER
A Great Choice for Print & Apply Labelers
A young specialty preserves maker from Vermont was growing fast and needed to begin automating their jar labeling process. They found the perfect wrap-around label applicator system, but was at a loss when it came to choosing the right high-resolution coder for printing batch codes and expiration dates on their prime labels.
The company’s high quality image demanded the best variable print quality, so thermal transfer printing was the clear choice. However, the labels were heavily pre-printed and not very “thermal transfer compatible”. Traditional thermal printers, which utilize “flat” printhead technology, would not create solid codes on the challenging labels. FlexPackPRO’s compact 130 Series TTO however – which employs superior 300 dpi “near edge” printhead technology – had no problem mounting to the label applicator and producing the clear, bold images required.
NEW CODING EQUIPMENT FOR A GLOBAL BRAND
30 Lines Upgraded to FlexPackPRO’s New XT Series TTO
One of the world’s best-known candy brands recently found themselves facing forced end-of-life for their existing TTO printers. Our competitor was shutting down parts and service for one of their most popular printer models…and this customer had more than 30 of them! Instead of being pressured into buying from the same higher-priced manufacturer, they turned to a FlexPackPRO Premier Partner for an alternative solution.
The requirements were clear – superior equipment at a lower cost, immediate access to technical resources at both the distributor and manufacturer levels, top-quality consumables at a discount to our competitor’s prices and a significant long-term ROI.
Through a deeply cooperative process with the customer, we were able to match their coding requirements with our rugged, cost-effective 130XT TTO model, and secure trial installations on two lines.
Based on the dramatic cost savings, excellent feedback from their machine operators and our distributor’s outstanding responsiveness, we were awarded the full plant upgrade. Our own flexibility in developing software, machinery, mounting brackets and consumables options to meet the customer’s developing needs also played a part. And now we’re being invited into many of the other plants in this large company’s network – a sweet deal for everybody!
ELIMINATE LABELS WITH A TTO-MOUNTED FEEDER-CONVEYOR
ECONOMICAL ON-DEMAND PRINTING/CODING
SOLUTION FOR FLAT, ZIPPERED OR GUSSETED POUCHES
We hear it all the time – a snack, nuts or baked goods company spends time, money and a lot of TLC creating the perfect retail-ready stand-up pouch design…only to be forced to add a visually unappealing white label with the required variable information. Barcodes, date codes, ingredients, nutrition facts, product names, etc. WHAT A SHAME! Like throwing white paint on a work of art.
When FlexPackPRO’s Premier Partner in Omaha, NE came to us with this complaint from a large baked goods co-packer, we had a perfect, cost-effective solution. Our FCS-1 Compact Feeder-Conveyor System with a mounted FlexPackPRO 130i-hp Thermal Transfer Overprinter.
The co-packer handles many baked goods brands, and with the explosive popularity of preprinted stand-up pouches, they’ve been tasked with not only filling, but also coding each bag.
Printing and applying labels was not only costly and time-consuming, but it interfered with the look of the bag. Their customers demanded a direct-to-bag print solution, that only FlexPackPRO could provide. A compact TTO-mounted Feeder-Conveyor System. A stand-alone table-top system that prints press-quality barcodes, text and graphics at 30 bags per minute. Perfect for short-run projects requiring variable information with a direct-to-bag pre-printed look.
REPLACING PRE-PRINTED LABELS ON BAG-IN-BOX SPOUTED POUCHES
A MORE EFFICIENT ALTERNATIVE TO HAND-LABELING, RUGGED ENOUGH FOR COLD OR MOIST ENVIRONMENTS
A prominent milk and cream dairy was printing variable information with Zebra® label printers in one part of the facility, and then bringing the labels over to the production area and applying by hand prior to filling.
Utilizing FlexPackPRO® TableTop TTO systems, mounted on stainless steel custom carts, the customer was able to bring direct-to-pouch printing straight to the production area for immediate, high-resolution, on-demand variable printing of logos, text, date codes and barcodes
Not only did the dairy save significantly by eliminating labels, they gained even more in enhanced productivity. And with multiple printer ribbon colors to choose from, their branding options greatly expanded as well!
PLANT-WIDE TTO UPGRADE ACCOMPLISHED WITH REMOTE INSTALLATION SUPPORT
30+ LINES UPGRADED TO FLEXPACKPRO TTO, INSTALLED BY CHIP MANUFACTURER’S OWN MAINTENANCE TEAM!
An established potato chip manufacturer was upgrading the in-line coding equipment in their midwest plant. Naturally, they wanted excellent equipment at a reasonable price, but that wasn’t all.
They wanted their own crew to do the printer installations on more than 30 form fill and seal machines throughout the facility!
In this way, they would save 5-figures in installation fees, and become intimately familiar with the new printers, controllers, software, brackets and connections.
FlexPackPRO® was the only supplier willing to (and capable of) handling this extremely unusual request, and beat out 4 other well-known coding equipment brands for the contract.
Using our proven RIS (Remote Installation Support) system, we helped the customer collect all of the necessary specifications to custom-design brackets, adaptors and special configurations for dozens of different packaging machines. In the process, their teams became expert in our equipment, and manage all parts exchanges and repairs themselves. A great accomplishment for everybody!
