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Success stories - John West.
An important part of any manufacturing process is labelling and packaging the product, to ensure the actual product corresponds in all aspects with the product descriptor on the final packaging. John West came to Barcode-IT with an outer case labelling query in early 2004 after being referred by another supplier. They required a system that would reduce errors in labelling but would require as little human input as possible.
Both John West and its parent company Heinz are very pleased with this outer case packaging project created by Barcode-IT. The systems continue to be rolled out to sites throughout Europe and North Africa and even with language barriers, no problems have been encountered. What was once a costly problem to John West was solved by an off the shelf software package and a little help from Barcode-IT. The system can be operated easily and products are now received into the distribution centre in the U.K. with the knowledge that cases are correctly identified and meet customer expectations.
Application Overview
The basic project worked as follows. Heinz supplied a modified version of their own master product database (NOP) to retrieve the information, NiceLabel Suite was used to print labels offline and then the rolls of labels were placed onto applicators. Barcode-IT developed a NiceForm front end for operators in the canneries so that all the operator was required to do was scan a NOP code from the selection given, the database found the corresponding label, the operator was asked to preview it and add quantity and then the final stage was simply to hit the print button. The correct labels were then added to the correct quantity of boxes solving the initial problem.
click on image above for an expanded view
However, the project is not quite as simple as it initially seems. Canned goods also require a best before date which must be shown on the label, and additionally there was a requirement to print the Julian date code of manufacture (a number generated from a specific point in time). In order to incorporate this data correctly into the label, a number of calculations and considerations had to be made. To do this Barcode-IT designed the label to be put onto the outer casing, containing the product barcode, product description, the best before date, calculated by the computer clock from information provided by the NOP, the origin and the Julian date, calculated using a complex VB script designed in house by Barcode-IT. After testing the software it was discovered that modifications to the generation of the best before date needed to be made due to possible delays between canning and packaging which potentially resulted in different best before dates being shown on the product and the barcode label. A simple solution was found and operators are now allowed to override the best before date if necessary.
How it startedIn February 2004 Barcode-IT was approached by John West to assist with an outer case labelling challenge they were experiencing. The information on some of the cases/trays sold by John West did not consistently conform to all the requirements of its customers. Originally Barcode-IT was approached to give advice on barcode scanners that could be used to identify any failures when product information was printed at the supplying factories. After significant consideration and assessment of the project, Barcode-IT's team suggested that a change in labelling software would provide a solution to prevent the problem altogether instead of just checking for any mistakes already made.
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The John West project appeared simple. They wanted to ensure identification of each product complied with customer requirements, but to prevent operator error at the time of manufacture they also required a system that would minimise manual intervention. Barcode-IT recommended to John West that they should use NiceLabel Suite to solve their problem. NiceLabel Suite contains tools for creating data entry and printing applications, making label production simple and error free, exactly what John West required.
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