Packaging: Printers ensure quality for direct-to-consumer business
Meat processor enjoys reduced maintenance costs for printer capable of marking a variety of surfaces.
Yantai Xiwang Food Co. is the largest meat processing company in the Shandong province of China with more than 500 employees and producing more than 16 different products on 12 different production lines. New marking and coding equipment provides the company with consistent printing and minimal production downtime.
The facility runs 10 hours a day, six days a week to produce 300,000 total products each week. A large source of growth for the company has been its gift boxes and external packaging designed to be shipped directly to consumers. Previously, the company used a combination of printers and inks to mark gift boxes with a production date, time, quality control pass indication and quality control employee ID code. However, the ink would often smudge or rub on the boxes’ special polyethylene coating, making the printed codes illegible. In addition, the company’s older continuous ink jet printers required frequent maintenance, causing considerable downtime.
“Our gift boxes are significant to our growing business and poor quality codes can have a costly impact on our brand image,” says Luyin Deng, head of Yantai Xiwang’s production department. “It was important for us to find the right solution to meet our adhesion needs and comply with local regulations.”
New continuous ink jet printers and a fast-drying solvent-based ink provide rub resistance, are designed to adhere to non-porous surfaces, and run longer with less preventive maintenance. Deng says customer complaints and product returns have decreased, and the company reports saving more than $40,000 since deployment by reducing preventive maintenance.
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