A worldwide leader in the procurement and marketing of fresh avocados and other fresh produce as well as the manufacturing and distribution of prepared avocado products and salsas were looking for a better system.

The company has been proudly serving produce wholesalers, retailers, and restaurants worldwide since 1924. Now, faced with excessive material expenses, downtime, and waste due to coding errors, and a critical lack of after-sales support, they turned to MPERIA to increase efficiency and decrease costs.

The company was using a standard Product Traceability Initiative (PTI) labelling solution that was costly in terms of operational expenses and risks.

By implementing MPERIA’s automated and centralised marking and coding solution with thermal inkjet (TIJ) print technology, they were able to achieve the following:

• MAJOR COST REDUCTION – of material and maintenance
• INCREASED EFFICIENCY – due to automation and centralised control
• STRONGER SECURITY – via tiered user access
• PEACE OF MIND – with excellent after-sales, one-on-one support
• EXCELLENT ROI – solution will pay for itself in under a year

The Challenge
The company ships 12 million boxes of avocados annually. Their 53,000-square-foot facility contains 23 production lines and has served multiple purposes over the decades.

“Our previous marking solution was very expensive and completely lacking in after-sales support,” explained the Operations Manager at the plant. Repeated mislabelling issues resulted in production downtime, waste, and additional expenses to replace materials and product; a new solution was needed. “Data integration issues were not uncommon and—unfortunately—when they cropped up there was no one we could call to help us sort out technical problems.” In short, the traditional PTI labelling solution was costing the team, money and aggravation on an almost daily basis. They needed a more advanced solution that used technology to streamline the marking process; and they needed a reliable and responsive support team to help ensure everything was running smoothly.

The Solution
The MPERIA®️ platform with TIJ technology was the solution. Easy to implement, MPERIA is the only universal marking and coding automation platform that works with virtually any hardware or software. Its impressive flexibility makes it the ideal solution in a wide variety of environments and scenarios.

MPERIA®️ also allows for the centralisation of the marking process, simplifying initial setup and making it easy to scale the operation for growth. The system enables consolidated control over all marking and coding—whether from the factory floor or the production manager’s office—across primary, secondary, and tertiary lines.

The final solution included 22 L50 Printheads with thermal inkjet print technology and one MPERIA Standard Controller. This configuration allowed the company to put an individual printhead on each drop line—a creative idea that wasn’t possible with their old labelling solution. This innovation eliminated 100% of data integration errors as each drop line managed its own PTI coding information—no more camera system required for variable box sizes on the main conveyor line.

The Results

MAJOR REDUCTION IN COSTS: By transitioning from a labelling solution to direct print and eliminating the need for costly label materials, the company was able to instantly reduce overall costs to about one-fifth of what they had previously been paying. Also, because the cartridge-based system reduced maintenance issues to virtually nothing, they were able to eliminate what had previously been regular, ongoing maintenance costs.

INCREASED EFFICIENCY: The MPERIA®️system’s full automation combined with the elimination of labels meant line workers no longer needed to hand apply PTI codes. This allowed the team to reallocate resources to more profitable and productive tasks. It also takes the operations team much less time to manage changes and updates due to the centralised system.

STRONGER SECURITY: The MPERIA®️ system enables different levels of user access to guard against accidental setting changes that could create errors or otherwise jeopardize productivity.

EXCELLENT ROI: After assessing all the benefits of the new MPERIA®️system, estimates suggest that it will take less than a year for the MPERIA solution to pay for itself.

 

Click here to watch a video on MPERIA® and the benefits it could bring to your business.

For further information about MPERIA® and our range of printing technologies, please call Xact on 0151 479 3020 or email info@xactpack.co.uk

A large manufacturer of hygienic wet wipes achieved greater labelling efficiency with centralised control, reduced ink costs, and an anticipated quick-turn ROI.

Summary
Adaptability and agility are critical assets for any business, but today—with the additional challenges created by COVID-19—they are more important than ever. The global pandemic forced a fundamental shift in how companies do business, regardless of the industry they serve. Many had to adapt to a completely digital operation almost overnight while some were forced to develop new delivery models. And others faced an unprecedented surge in demand.

For this large manufacturer this meant an exponential increase in demand for their cleaning products as the coronavirus took hold all across the globe. To help respond to the situation, MPERIA® helped the company quickly replace their existing coding system to deliver:

• Centralised control to boost efficiency
• A 30% cost savings on ink
• An anticipated quick-turn ROI

The Challenge
The company which has been established for almost 25 years is a manufacturer of sanitising wipes that offers contract manufacturing to a variety of industries (foodservice, hospitality, cleaning, healthcare, and beauty) as well as their own premium and value wipes for the consumer market.

When COVID hit they pivoted to operating in the new norm while witnessing an astonishing increase in demand for one of their biggest product lines – the individual wipe packets included in many first-aid kits.
Unfortunately their existing coding system had several critical shortcomings. Most importantly, it could not scale to meet the surge in demand. Because the system was neither centralised nor capable of integration with the rest of the production systems, expanding their operations simply wasn’t feasible.

Additionally, the legacy system was truly inefficient. Its clunky, standalone user interface (UI) required floor operators to manually make changes across fifteen individual printers each time a code or date needed to be updated. Not only was this process incredibly time consuming, slowing production on a regular basis; it also increased the risk for potential coding errors.

The company knew a more efficient and modern coding solution must exist, one that would positively impact their bottom line while driving efficiency gains in operations and ink consumption.

The Solution
The MPERIA® controller with VIAjet™L-Series thermal inkjet (TIJ) printer offered everything they needed to modernize their production line for greater efficiency and cost effectiveness while also providing a seamless method to scale operations and meet growing demand.

ACCURACY, SPEED, AND HIGH RESOLUTION
They chose the L1 VIAjet printer, an ultra-compact, high-performance printhead, perfect for tight spaces and OEM integration. It’s an excellent solution for high-resolution codes up to 2mm (as well as larger codes and text up to 6mm), and ideal for the kind of high-speed commercial printing they do.
In addition to unmatched speed and quality, the VIAjet L1 also helps positively impact their bottom line with superior ink utilisation. Droplets of ink from the L1 printhead are smaller, translating to a yield advantage of nearly 30% over comparable HP cartridges. Also, because cartridge changeover is easy and happens less frequently, the company saves on routine maintenance costs and reduces downtime.

FLEXIBLE INTEGRATION OPTIONS AND SCALABILITY
Perhaps the most appealing feature of this solution is seamless scalability. The compact, low-profile system is fully networkable, allowing the company to connect all necessary components to a single MPERIA controller via Ethernet. True scalability enables easy expansion of their production capacity, adding printheads as needed.

EFFICIENT CENTRALISATION, USER-FRIENDLY INTERFACE, AND REMOTE ACCESS
Unlike their previous system, the MPERIA platform integrates easily with existing systems—virtually any ERP, MRP, or database. Because there’s no middleware or third-party hardware required, The company was able to manage the integration quickly and with very little effort.

Once integrated, the MPERIA platform centralises control of all the L-Series units so that making changes is painless. Instead of having to make the same change on multiple printers—slowing production and risking errors—the operator makes one change at the MPERIA controller, instantly updating all the printers on the line.

MPERIA® also gave the convenience of VNC (virtual network computing)—allowing remote management of the system from anywhere. This is especially relevant as production lines run five days per week, two shifts per day. Reliable, 24/7 remote access ensures consistently smooth operations and tremendous peace of mind.

The Results
The company was up and running with their new MPERIA solution in a couple of days. Their staff handled the installation without middleware or third-party hardware. The commissioning to set up the line, controller, and VNC also only took one day.

FAST, EASY SCALABILITY
The company initially implemented five VIAjet L1 Series printers at one location. They were so pleased with the initial results that they quickly installed five more printers in that facility and five additional printers at another location. Their plan is to expand this solution to their full production capacity, between 40 and 50 printers across two facilities. Flexible and scalable, the solution facilitates the easy addition of printers for them, ensuring they’re always able to meet a surge in demand.

CENTRALISED CONTROL
The MPERIA® platform gives efficient, centralized control of all the printers on their production line through a simple, user-friendly interface. In addition, it allows for remote access via VNC so that operators not only maintain social distance protocols while on the production floor, they can also see and manage what’s happening even when they aren’t on site.

COST SAVINGS AND QUICK-TURN ROI
Cost savings were apparent in three areas:
• Lower Ink Costs: Superior ink utilisation, as compared to HP cartridges, allows the company to generate 30% more printable quantity for the same cost.
• Lower Maintenance Costs: Easy-to-change cartridges and reduced frequency of changes helps them reduce expenses related to regular maintenance and upkeep.
• Greater Overall Efficiency: The centralised control, speed and accuracy of the printing process, and seamless system scalability all contribute to an overall increase in their production efficiency.
All of these cost savings combine to deliver an anticipated quick-turn ROI.

ENDS

Click here to watch a video on MPERIA® and the benefits it could bring to your business.

For further information about MPERIA® and our range of printing technologies, please call Xact on 0151 479 3020 or email info@xactpack.co.uk