London-based Newman Labelling Systems has designed a faulty label removal (FLR) system for use with its pharmaceutical labelling systems. The company says the traditional method of tracking faulty labels, applying them to a container then rejecting the whole package, while effective, is wasteful.
In comparison, the FLR System removes faulty labels as designated by the labelling system's PLC control and, should the system not receive "good signals" from the scanning devices in use (including bar code reader, missing overprint detector, OCV camera and 2D matrix code reader) the offending label is removed from the web prior to application onto the container. Faulty labels are then transferred to a paper roll for batch reconciliation and inspection.
Newman Labelling Systems" md John Clayton said: "Newman isn't the first to introduce a system to remove faulty labels, but we have spent longer in r&d and designed a system that we believe is superior."
Many systems currently on the market have to slow the labelling machine down to remove the faulty label prior to application and some systems accumulate faulty labels on top of each other on a sleeve, making physical reconciliation impossible.
The Newman engineering team has developed a compact new system that overcomes the deficiencies of such systems, while meeting GMP standards.
The Newman FLR can handle both paper and clear labels and can be validated at production speeds up to 550cpm, with a full physical label reconciliation capability.