Whether your industry is pharmaceutical, food and beverage, packaging, tires or other rubber automotive products, plastics, or steel and metal, the challenges in providing indelible coding and marking while keeping costs down seem to be ever-present. At REA JET US, we want to help manufacturers realize the ‘real cost’ of marking their products, and offer our thoughts on increased efficiency for reducing costs.
The number of manufacturers who use manual marking techniques today is amazing, even with the increased demand for traceability. Manual techniques leave plenty of room for error, and are generally labor-intensive – which means increased production costs. Even if you were up to speed and had an innovative coding and marking system installed years ago, it may have a hard time keeping up with today’s ever increasing production demands.
Ultimately, using outdated equipment costs manufacturers more than you might think. A mismarked product can really cost you in terms of recalls, shipping products back to the factory, and most important of all – the loss of business to your competitors. Other costs associated with outdated equipment include higher consumable costs, increased direct labor, and lost production. Today, improved traceability is a critical issue for manufacturers who want to protect their brand, consumer trust, and ultimately, their success.
Reduce costs by evaluating how efficient your coding and marking operation really is. Here are a few tips:
Does your equipment regularly produce low-quality or incorrect marks? This means reworked product or worse – scrapped altogether.
Consider the process, and whether it could be completely automated, without the need of operator intervention.
How often does your equipment have to be adjusted, cleaned, or maintained? Perhaps you should consider more reliable equipment.
Integrating your ERP/host system with your coding and marking process allows for automatic data capture. Are you taking advantage?
When changing over to a different mark, does it require stopping or slowing down production? If you are having to bring a halt to your production process when changing over shift or date codes or using a different color, you may want to rethink your marking technology.
At REA JET US, we know there are several factors that determine the best coding and marking system for manufacturers’ applications. These include the substrate being marked, how frequently the data being marked changes, environment, production speed, and more. Come see all of the quality marking systems we provide, and you will understand how the ‘real cost’ of marking can be significantly reduced.