Skip the Label

But can you avoid some of the cost and inventory concerns associated with ordering preprinted labels and just print onto the package? Direct printing hasn’t always offered the same quality as labels, but it is steadily improving. Read on to learn about the latest advances.

Nothing Like the Real Thing

Randomly generated unique numbers, completely traceable to their origins of time, date, and location of packaging, can be printed on individual blister packages. CSAT America LLC (Louisville, CO) offers the DTS 1200 Blister Printing Unit for use in-line or as a stand-alone printer. The DTS 1200’s complete digital printing technology can also produce colors, bar codes, graphics, and UV features to provide a code identifiable as genuine anywhere in the global supply chain, the firm claims. A 1200-dpi resolution in the range of 0.5 to 20 m/min can be achieved in up to four simultaneous PMS colors. Patented electronic unit-dose printing, without mechanical stretching, protects the foil from microcracks caused by elongation. Standard and UV toner can be printed, with no additional fusing procedure or hardening time necessary, producing smear-free printing.

Better Late than Early

Two drop-on-demand printing systems allow users to employ late-stage customization (LSC) of blister packages and cartons. The Hapa 810 and the Hapa 830 from Hapa & Laetus Inc. (Rockaway, NJ) enable users to stock generic artwork for each product range and customize the required amount of blister lidding or cartons to fill orders just-in-time according to market demands. Blisters are first coded in-line with machine-readable codes and then identified before customization. The Hapa 810 can handle unpredictably shaped blisters, while the Hapa 830 can handle folded and glued cartons.

Along for the Ride

Greydon (York, PA), which offers MicroMax flexographic printers and Hewlett-Packard thermal ink-jet printers for in-line printing on form-fill-seal (FFS) machines, has devised a web-handling device. The HP is mounted on the MicroMax, which is then affixed to the web-traversing system. There is no need for any additional mounting heads or systems to carry out four-color printing across the FFS web. “We are the only ones moving across the web,” says Greydon president Greg Rochon. The firm has recently mounted the system on a Multivac for Trinity Sterile, a medical device manufacturer.

Slippery or Wet

A new resin ribbon formulation, NK45, from Dynic USA Corp., (Hillsboro, OR) allows users to print directly onto coated and glossy paper, synthetic substrates such as polypropylene and polyester, and films, using thermal-transfer technology. NK45 is designed for use in flat-head and near-edge printers and is compatible with a wide variety of substrates. Available in both black and white, the NK45 new ribbon resists chemical, isopropyl alcohol, and water.

Tall Order

Characters and graphics measuring as tall as 3.94 in. can be produced by the IP 7000 ink-jet system from Matthews Marking Products (Pittsburgh). The company says that such print height is among the highest in the industry.

According to Trace Bocan, marketing manager, the system’s printhead features 768 orifices, resulting in finer ink droplets. “When ink is broken up into small droplets, it doesn’t get absorbed by the corrugated paperboard substrate,” he says. “It uses as little as 2% of what drop-on-demand (DOD) systems use to print the same information because its droplets are smaller.” Text, logos, graphics, and bar codes can be printed on one or two sides of cartons or trays.

Minimal maintenance is required. Printing controllers use a repairable print engine from Trident, while Matthews rugged printheads need no filter change, recalibration, or flushing when the system is shut down. The IP 7000 is PC-based and network ready, providing maximum ease in editing print messages—up to 32 lines of text, fancy graphics, and scannable bar codes. “The graphics editor acts almost like label software,” says Bocan. Software indicates how many times a particular message can be printed with one 500-cm3 ink bottle, allowing users to change print messages to maximize either print quality or ink savings.

Hot Off the Press

Inks can be printed on almost any nonporous surface, including foil, aluminum cans, plastic sheets, bottle caps, plastic lids, and various metals. HSAUSA (Perth Amboy, NJ) offers PerformaCode UV Curable Inks in new HP 45 cartridges. Curing instantly, the inks are waterproof, producing high-quality legible text, numbers, bar codes, and graphics. Based on HP thermal-ink-jet technology, PerformaCode ink cartridges can be changed easily by exchanging the disposable printhead with a new one.

Proof of Purchase

West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. offers West Spectra technology for injectable pharmaceuticals to fight against drug counterfeiting and tampering. Sophisticated covert inks can be applied for rapid spectroscopic authentication of the drug package at any point in the supply chain. Overt technology incorporates high-resolution, full- color graphics as well as item-level information such as vial contents, product or brand name, dosage or strength of the drug, cautionary statements, and storage instructions. Manufacturers can layer and change security features as often as needed.