How to Guarantee Packaging Compliance (Part 3 of 4)

Part 1 and Part 2 of our packaging compliance series defined packaging compliance and packaging levels and explained the risks of non-compliance in product identification. Our final two installments in this series will cover four areas manufacturers should consider to achieve packaging compliance.

KEY CONSIDERATION 1: PRODUCT IDENTIFICATION SOLUTION SELECTION

Comparing Product Coding Technologies

The first consideration when building a packaging compliance game plan involves understanding your manufacturing code and application requirements. Once this is determined, you can select the ideal product coding technology.?

Print Message Requirements

What kind of compliance information needs to be included in your print message??

• Product information, which could include product name, product description, quantity/counts, ingredients or nutrition facts panel
• Manufacturing codes such as batch code, lot code, line code, operator code or date code (manufactured on or expiration date)
• Barcode requirements (EAN/UPC, 1D, 2D, GS1-128, GTIN-14, ITF-14 or other available barcode formats)

What are your packaging requirements?

• Primary, secondary retail ready packaging, case level packaging or pallet level labeling?packaging levels
• Packaging substrates including glass, metal, plastic, paperboard, cardboard and shrink wrap
• Other line speed and product throughput?

Once print message requirements are considered along with the application details, manufacturers can begin to evaluate and select the ideal product coding technology for their operation.

KEY CONSIDERATION 2: MESSAGE VALIDATION

Achieving Readable & Correct Marks

There have been many advancements in product identification and machine visioning technology that have enabled manufacturers to automate the monitoring of real-time print quality. This allows workers to focus on other critical areas of production rather than checking in to make sure their manufacturing codes are being applied accurately to the products. Thus, the next step in ensuring packaging compliance is validating that the real-time printed message applied to products is readable and correct.?

Scanners and vision systems are common components added to the production line postprint to inspect and report any illegible codes or incorrect stock. At the most basic level, these scanners simply confirm that a print occurred on the product – regardless of accuracy. A level up from basic, scanners in place verify that the product was printed as instructed and correctly matches the data requested by the printer. The most sophisticated configuration will confirm a product was printed with the mark that matches the printer’s information and is scannable.?

Levels of Message Validation

BARCODES ON PACKAGING
Barcodes are the most common mark example used to identify and track products as they move through the supply chain. Information like product numbers, serial numbers and batch numbers can all be encoded within barcodes and the type of barcode used (EAN/UPC, GTIN, DataBar, 1D, 2D) varies by situation. Knowing your industry's compliance regulations will be crucial to create the appropriate composition of your product mark.