Labeling equipment is changing fast to keep pace with ease-of-use and label-quality demands. Consider, for example, a manufacturer that must label many different containers or products each day. A frequent routine has managers printing labels with a thermal printer, then handing label rolls to employees whose sole job is to manually apply them to packages. If the product easily fits in your hand, there may be limited room for a label. Crooked labels look sloppy and unprofessional, so ensuring they are applied neatly could slow manual applications.

A better way uses more recent equipment, such as the Ultimate PAH Automated Print & Apply System from our company. It prints on a variety of materials including paper, polyester, polyimide, metalized polyester, polyolefin. It also apples them to flat, angled, or curved surfaces on packages, including their corners. Labels can measure from 0.25 x 0.15-in. (width by height) up to 4.5 x 9.8-in. for tamp applications. Larger labels can be rolled onto packages. Typical placement tolerance is 0.25 mm. And users can select resolutions of 300 or 600 dpi and print speeds to 10 in./sec.

The machine dispenses labels several ways. Tamping uses an arm to apply a label by gently pressing it against a product. A tamp-blow method has the arm position the label close to the product and a blast of air blows the label onto a surface so as not to press against the product. Roll-on labels are rolled onto product or packaging that passes on a conveyor belt sometimes at high speeds. And the corner wrap applies labels around a box's edge.

The printer accommodates label rolls up to 12-in. OD. A tension control and dispensing mechanism ensures labels all get applied to packages with precision.

The printer comes with ILS NiceLabel design-and-print software. Aside from the features needed to design a label, the software is easy to use. A manager might limit the front-end screens so later users interact only with the needed screens. The software lets medical-device manufacturers meet a variety of packaging requirements, including those from the FDA, such as Regulation 21 CFR Part 11, American National Standards Institute Accredited Standards Developer, and Health Level Seven HL7. The machine can also print primary and secondary ISBT-128 and ICCBBA labels. (ISBT is a global standard for identifying, labeling, and information processing of human blood, tissue, and organs. ICCBBA, the International Council for Conformability in Blood Banking Automation, describes product codes and donation types.)

On-board Ethernet 10/100 allows networking the printer, but connectivity can come from USB, RS-232, and RS-485 ports. And when there is no network or a nearby computer, the printer can operate alone using Compact Flash Card support. Users can connect a USB keyboard or a barcode scanner for variable data input at the time of printing. A computer-free deployment saves space and resources.