STURM VERPACKUNGEN
is a manufacturer of high-quality folding boxes and fine cardboard boxes. For customers in the pharmaceutical industry, the company invested in a HSF friction feeder for folding boxes with integrated printing and camera system. This allows folding cartons to be additionally equipped with variable data or country-specific pharma codes.
At FachPack 2015 in Nuremberg, technical solutions were therefore looked for and discussions with b+b trace began. An HSF friction feeder for folding boxes with integrated printing and camera system, integrated into the bb-trace SiteManager software modules, with which the jobs are created in advance on a Windows PC and then simply called up and processed via the bb-trace LineManager on the HSF system.
The work steps
Empty cartons are separated from a storage magazine and fed past the printing station with two parallel webbings. This is where the marking takes place - e.g. with serialization data in the form of bar codes or data matrix codes. Sturm Verpackungen uses a thermal inkjet for printing. The printed data is evaluated by an integrated camera, unreadable folding boxes are automatically ejected by an ejection unit. A shingle delivery belt then takes over the folding cartons and groups them for manual removal. Up to 120 folding boxes can be processed per minute. All HSF processes are operated and monitored by a central IPC touch terminal.
The bb-LineManager enables convenient camera and printer operation. The existing jobs are displayed to the operator for selection. The associated texts and serial numbers are printed, validated, aggregated if necessary and then transmitted back to the b+b SiteServer, which acts as a database and interface to a public database such as Securpharm or EU Hub. With the software module b+b SiteManager the user has access to line, article, order and serialization data. Orders/articles can be edited and assigned to the line. New serial numbers can be created, imported and managed. Used serial numbers can be viewed and analyzed hierarchically.
Positive experience
A few weeks ago the system was installed at Sturm Verpackungen, and Friedrich-Joachim Sturm commented after the successful commissioning: "Our experience with b+b trace is without exception positive. The consultation in the run-up was competent, and the schedule and implementation of the promised services proceeded within the framework of the agreed specifications. The integration into the production process was implemented cleanly and clearly by b+b trace, and acceptance and validation went without a hitch. Our employees in production praise the easy to understand control via the central operating terminal of the plant and the low-maintenance operation. In the future, we will also be able to supply folding cartons to pharmaceutical manufacturers for which the serialization requirement has not yet been implemented, or to support small batch sizes for which the serialization effort is not worthwhile. This is an important added value for our existing customers and opens up new market segments for us, as we will also be printing folding box materials that do not originate from our company".