Labeling Innovations from Weber

When you have packages to label and orders to fulfill, the last thing you want is a breakdown in your print-and-apply equipment or headaches when it comes to setting up, adjusting, and maintaining your system.

Fortunately, you can avoid these problems and upgrade your aging or underperforming systems by upgrading to Zebra’s ZE500 Series print engines.

In this quick overview, we’ll take a look at the ZE500 Series and five ways that it will help you improve your print-and-apply operations and keep them running smoothly.

1. Durable, Uninterrupted Performance

In packaging applications, it’s all about high-volume printing and labeling, often in tough environments where debris, dust, and even water might be present. Thankfully, Zebra continues to set the bar for label printer durability with ZE500 Series print engines, which are engineered without the need for cooling fans and with an external cabinet that’s impervious to debris, dust, and even washdowns with water.

ZE500 print engines also feature industrial all-metal constructions, so components can easily withstand the most demanding print requirements and environments.

2. Easy to Set Up and Use

Problems with print-and-apply systems often start with printers that are difficult to set up. Zebra’s ZE500 print engines make things much easier with a large, graphical display and a simple five-button menu. The display can be rotated or remotely located up to two meters away with an optional kit, so it’s easily accessible for even unusual mounting. The applicator IO is the same for 5V and 24V, so you can just simply switch jumpers to convert.

The rural town of Stewartville, Minnesota, holds one of the best kept secrets when it comes to salad dressings. But that secret is getting out through sales at Walmart and other major area retailers. 

The small but mighty Jimmy’s Salad Dressing & Dips (www.jimmysdressing.com) has built up a strong following and continues to grow their distribution each year. We recently visited Operations Manager, Sam Slightam, and SQF Practitioner & Office Coordinator, Abby Rager, to get the full story on the production and packaging of these tasty treats.

Jimmy’s is best known for their salad dressings which include Thousand Island, Blue Cheese, Ranch, Sweet & Sour, Coleslaw and more. They also make Ranch Vegetable, Dill Vegetable, Spinach, Taco and HolySmoke! dips along with Tartar Sauce and Caramel Dips. These products can be found in the refrigerated sections of the produce aisle at Walmarts and other grocery stores throughout the Midwest primarily in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.

Their story all began back in 1958 when Sam’s grandfather, Jimmy, and his wife, Ella, opened a restaurant called the Fish House in Stewartville, MN. Over time, Jimmy grew tired of the available salad dressing on the market and decided to make his own. He came up with a fresh, flavorful, creamy dressing that was a hit. The local patrons loved the handmade dressings and wanted to buy some to take home with them. Jimmy started hand-packing his “Fish House” salad dressing for home use and the legend grew. Soon local grocers wanted to carry the Fish House salad dressing in their stores.

Then, in 1990, Jimmy’s son Tom purchased the salad dressing business, officially naming it “Jimmy’s Salad Dressing & Dips” as a tribute to his father.  Watch a video about Jimmy’s.

With the tag line, “Homemade Taste. Hometown Goodness.”, Jimmy’s has always been dedicated to producing the highest quality dressings and dips. And it’s very apparent when you see their production facility in Stewartville, MN. The best fresh ingredients are used to create original recipes. Products are sourced locally to support the community and to maintain consistent quality. The products are made in small batches, one flavor per day, to maximize freshness and stringent food quality guidelines.

One of the most important steps taken on the road to their success has been getting SQF certified. The SQF (Safe Quality Food) Program is recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and links primary production certification to food manufacturing, distribution and agent/broker management certification. Administered by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), SQF benefits from continual retailer feedback about consumer concerns. This allows your customers to have confidence in your food safety program and know that you have a rigorous food safety system in place.

Jimmy’s continued success had created a need to automate their production and packaging line to keep up with demand. In the past, up to 1000 cartons a day had to be hand-labeled before production could begin. For a small company, this is a very labor-intensive and time consuming job. 

Their production line recently added automated labeling equipment to help speed things up and adhere to the requirements of Walmart’s PTI (Product Traceability Initiative) GS1 regulations. Jimmy’s needed to add a GS1-128 bar code label to adjacent sides of every carton of salad dressing. Walmart needs this for tracking store inventory, food safety and recall, effective quality control, faster receiving , and to measure supplier performance. 

There are some simple things you can do to keep your labels printers running in top form. Good maintenance is critical to keeping your thermal printers running properly and avoiding expensive repairs or replacements. Thankfully, there are some easy ways to avoid downtime and unnecessary costs with proper thermal printer maintenance.

Here are the five things you should be doing regularly to maximize your printer lifespan and return on investment:

1. Clean Your Printhead

You should clean your printhead every time you replace the ribbon or a roll of labels, and, ideally, you should also clean the printhead between these replacements. Cleaning takes as little as one minute each time, but it can save you thousands of dollars in unnecessary printhead replacements.

If you’re using a Zebra thermal printer, follow the instructions in your user manual and use the right type of cleaning solvent and materials for your model. If you need a Zebra printer cleaning kit, you can get one from our team at Weber Packaging.

2. Clean Other Printer Areas

Always inspect the interior of your printer after changing rolls. Remove any particles, dust, or residue from the previous roll by using a soft bristle, duster, or vacuum cleaner. If your printer operates in a hash or dirty environment, pay special attention to cleaning these surfaces often.

Also remember to clean other installed accessories, such as a label cutter.

You should also clean your printer’s outside surfaces using a lint-free cloth. Use a mild detergent for external residue and avoid abrasives and harsh chemicals or solvents.

Until now, industrial printers were limited in intelligence and adaptability. They’ve been impossible to upgrade in the field and often difficult to integra

te and connect with some of the latest apps, devices, or communications protocols. But all of that has changed with Zebra Technologies’ new ZT600 Series industrial printers.

The ZT600 Series is an ultra-rugged, durable, and reliable barcode and RFID printer that combines the brawn of an industrial-strength device with next-generation brains and adaptability. The end result is a future-proof printing solution that’s far easier to integrate, operate, and upgrade.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the many breakthrough improvements Zebra has unveiled with the ZT600 Series.

24/7 Reliability in the Harshest Environments

Like the unbeatable Xi4 Series that came before it, Zebra’s ZT600 Series printers are built to withstand the most demanding industrial environments and print high volumes of labels with superior print quality and speed.

Each printer is manufactured with all-metal structural components, built-in thermal management, and high-quality print mechanisms to ensure continuous, extremely reliable performance in the most demanding industrial applications.

Highly Adaptable, Future-Ready Design

ZT600 Series printers are available in 4” and 6” print widths with optional UHF RFID. They also support field-installable media handling options such as a label cutter and rewinder, and you can even upgrade your printer with RFID encoding capabilities without sending it in for servicing.

“It’s all about the community and how we bring people together through beer,” said co-founder and Master Brewer Deb Loch.

Celebrating their fourth anniversary in business, Deb and co-founder Jill Pavlak have been slowly building their brewery through quality products and local participation. Urban Growler (www.urbangrowlerbrewing.com) was opened in July 2014 when Deb and Jill combined their talents and passion to create outstanding beer, food and a welcoming space for the community.

And their brand tag line says it all: “We’re Beer For You!”

As Minnesota’s first female-owned brewery, they had many challenges getting their vision in place. But with the help of friends, family and even total strangers, Urban Growler became a reality. Their patrons believed in the founders vision and their support helped get one of the hottest new breweries off the ground. Now that spirit is being repaid with a company that is there for the community.

The brewery, located at 2325 Endicott St. in St. Paul, Minnesota, features a warm, welcoming taproom, on-location kitchen and an outdoor beer garden. There are also indoor retail spaces that can be rented for hosting meetings, weddings, and local social gatherings.

But one of the most interesting things about Urban Growler is the building itself. This century-old brick and timber space was once home to the St. Paul Police horse stables back in the late 1800’s. After that tenure, it became a manufacturing facility for wooden skis and hockey sticks (after all, this IS Minnesota) as well as other warehousing in later years. The designers for Urban Growler did an awesome job of resurrecting the true character of the old building while adding a few modern updates for comfort and accessibility.

The brewery is looking to output 2000 barrels this year, up from about 1250 last year. Their flagship brews include traditional beers like their CowBell Cream Ale, Midwest IPA and their De-Lovely Porter. They also brew an interesting Kentucky Uncommon Ale and a “West-Coast-hops-meets-East-Coast-maltiness” Golden Hammer IPA. All Urban Growler flagship beers are lovingly handcrafted in 10-barrel batches under the close supervision of Master Brewer Deb.

But one of the best things about being a small brewery is that you can brew small batches and experiment with limited releases. Last year, Urban Growler brewed over 40 different beers, some as small as half-barrel experiments! Most of these end up in the taproom where their popularity is voted on by their customers’ consumption. The more popular winners then might end up as a seasonal or limited release for distribution in cans.

Lately much of their focus has been on a concept that they call “Plow to Pint®”. They have found that people would rather drink locally and that they appreciate locally sourced products. For this endeavor, Urban Growler uses ingredients harvested from farmers in the area to create unique beers with a distinct twist. Some of the recent favorites include Blueberry Wheat featuring blueberries harvested from a family-owned farm in Princeton, MN, and an Oak Aged Imperial Ale with Frontenac Grapes that used classic oak barrels and Frontenac grapes gown outside Red Wing, MN. They are currently working with the Rainforest Alliance in Guatemala and the University of Minnesota to create a collaboration brew using the sustainable ramon nut. Not your ordinary Stout.

While most of the flagship beers at Urban Growler are filled by a Wild Goose system into preprinted cans bought in bulk, these new small batch creations are getting canned and labeled using pressure-sensitive custom-designed labels. This allows the brewery to be more flexibile while doing a small batch economically and using eye-catching designs for their new brews.

Urban Growler has been canning approximately 150 cases of their small batch seasonals every few months. But because of their success, they are now looking to ramp things up to 250-case batches of their special beers once a month. To do this, the brewery had to invest in a new automated labeling system.

After much research and a few false starts, they happened to find Weber Packaging Solutions online. They contacted Weber whose local rep came out to see what the best solution would be for Urban Growler. The brewery was growing and would need to be able to scale up to the larger brew runs at higher speeds in the future. Reliability was key to a new system and it had to be easy for the staff to operate.

You see them everywhere. Small labels attached to your products at the grocery store, Walmart or big box store that allow you to peel them off and save money at check out.

Weber prints many of these type of labels and in this blog we will feature two examples of "Point of Purchase Coupon" labels.

These labels are perfect for adding to packages like boxes, clamshells, bottles, and bags to give your customer a discount or rebate buying incentive. It's a good way to get your product noticed or to entice a potential buyer into trying your brand for the first time.

Two of the most common types of coupon labels are the  extended-content, multi-panel construction label that works best for mail in rebates that requires more space for text and the  simple peel off coupon with deadened adhesive on the back. The peel-off coupons are usually collected at check out and the savings are immediate. 

How to Apply Coupon Labels

There are two basic ways to apply your new coupon labels. The method you use is dependent on whether your products are on the manufacturing line or already offline or in-store. 

• Towa Hand-Held Labeler

When your products are already at the store or at the warehouse, you can apply the labels by hand (labor-intensive!) using an affordable hand-held labeling tool. We would recommend something like the Towa hand-held labeler. Available in six different sizes, the Towa is perfect for small labeling jobs and on-demand labeling.

If you plan to use a hand-held labeler to apply your coupon labels, remember that your labels need to be wound on a 1" core and the roll has to be no more than about 5" in diameter.

This method is labor intensive because you have to swipe the labeler on each product, one at a time. If you have a lot of items to label, this could take a while!

•  Automated Label Applicators

If you plan ahead and can label your products while still being manufactured on a conveyor line, you can use one of the many labeling systems on the market.

We would recommend either a PackLeader labeling system or a Weber Alpha Compact label applicator. Automated labeling methods like this are meant for high-volume labeling that also requires close accuracy (like your coupon label).

Depending on the shape of your product and the speed of the line, you can choose from a range of systems including the PackLeader 501 for round containers like beverages or the Weber Alpha Compact which is perfect for applying labels to the top or sides of a product.

Both systems are economical yet full of advanced features like rugged die-cast aluminum construction, single-key calibration, automatic recognition of missing labels, in-production speed adjustment, and more.

An example of a tricky application is this coupon label applied to a clamshell plastic container filled with trail mix. The clamshell lid is recessed so the label needs to be blow onto the top of the clamshell using a Alpha Tamp-Blow labeling system. The label is brought to within a 1/4" of the product (clearing the lip) and is then blown onto the lid.