Labeling Innovations from Weber

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology has been around for many years.  It first caught on in retail and logistics as a natural fit.  Items with RFID labels, also referred to as Smart Labels or Intelligent Labels, can be tracked and identified efficiently through every stage of the supply chain, from purchasing to shipping to delivery.

Why is RFID a good solution for medical devices?

Consider the FDA requirements that mandate unique device identification (UDI) for medical devices. With a UDI system already in place, barcodes can become smart codes by having RFID sensors embedded in the barcode labels. RFID sensors can be engineered to withstand the high temperatures of sterilization, and by using thermal data logging technologies, hospitals can track assets through use, sterilization, and reuse.

Comprising of a small chip, which is capable of carrying up to 2000 bytes and an antenna, the RFID devices do a job similar to that of a bar code or a magnetic strip on the back of a credit card or ATM card – provide a unique identifier for an object. Like a bar code or magnetic strip, an RFID device must also be scanned to gather the identifying information. 

Today, pharmaceutical companies are also recognizing the benefits of RFID labels, and for very good reasons. In pharma, RFID labels help to manage inventory, increase operational efficiencies, remain in compliance with governmental regulation, and ensure the wellbeing of patients and consumers. RFID labels also enable itemizing and sorting of stock to ensure quality and prevent waste.  

RFID within the healthcare segment helps make medicine and assets smarter by providing improved visibility of inventory and assets. It's true that lost or stolen materials cost the healthcare industry millions every year. With RFID labels, you can see medicines and devices travel through the supply chain as intended, providing an accurate chain of custody.  Improved visibility reduces the risk of counterfeit drugs entering legitimate distribution channels and unintended product diversion. Accurate, timely and complete data helps avoid product expiration and stock outages and effective recall management. 

Nothing is more important than patient safety, but counterfeit drugs are real and one of the largest fraudulent markets in the world. Radio-frequency identification can help provide a quick way to retrieve information, track pharmaceuticals or items in the supply chain, and help avoid the costs associated with counterfeit or adulterated medications. The tag is placed on an individual object, which allows for unique identification.

Efforts of the FDA, in collaboration with pharmaceutical suppliers, to maintain a secure drug supply in the wake of rising counterfeit drugs prevalence, has encouraged the pharmaceutical industry to use RFID in combination with the electronic product code (EPC) for real-time tracking, tracing, and authentication of drugs.

It is critical to provide the right drug and of course, one that's free of tampering.  RFID not only ensures integrity, it delivers strong counterfeiting deterrence as the label itself could be used to authenticate the pharmaceutical product and tamper evidence. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has played a vital role in escalating the widespread adoption of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in the pharmaceutical sector to strengthen anti-counterfeiting and track-and-trace efforts. Besides these benefits, RFID technology is acknowledged for its ability to increase supply chain efficiency, reduce errors by proper storage of information, boost patient safety and monitoring, enhance staff, patient, and asset workflow, easy adoption and flexible usage, and cut down labor requirements. 

Back in 1926, when the automobile was starting to become commonplace in the United States, there was a problem. Cars like the Ford Model T and the Dodge Series 116 were going faster and farther, but the roads they traveled were mostly still unconnected dirt ribbons.

Two entrepreneurs, Cyrus Avery of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and John Woodruff of Springfield, Missouri, decided they wanted to try to connect the country with a paved road to enhance auto travel. They lobbied the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) for the creation of a route across the country near the center. What eventually evolved over the years was Route 66, which connected Chicago in the East to Santa Monica in the West.  The road grew by connecting smaller local roads into one unified paved US Highway. It opened up the country to commerce and travelers, especially helping the migration to the West during the Dust Bowl years of the 1930’s.

While many changes occurred over the century, including the endpoints, Route 66 has remained a special magical highway romanticizing auto travel in the 40’s-60’s.

The scenic by-ways, small town diners, museums and tourist attractions still bring travelers looking to relive those special times when traveling by car was more than just speeding down a crowded concrete multi-lane raceway. When you mention Route 66 to those that know, it conjures up images of large un-air-conditioned beasts full of families traveling down long stretches of two-lane asphalt.

Larry Tarantolo was lucky enough to grow up in Cicero, IL, right along where Route 66 (Ogden Rd.) passed by on its way to the endpoint at Lake Michigan. He was enamored with the legend of that highway, often traveling it with his family. He learned the history and lived the magic of the famed first road across America.

As a beverage marketing entrepreneur, Larry worked in the industry for years, creating multiple products and working with many experts in the bottling and distribution arena. One of the professionals that Larry befriended was Ron Filbert, a fourth-generation bottler of custom root beers and sodas. Filbert’s Old Time Root Beer is a well-kept Chicago secret that is a hard-to-find Southside treasure. Ron’s plant is located in a brick building on South Ashland in Chicago and it turns out custom hand-made sodas daily. The equipment is old but well-maintained, as you would expect from a seasoned craftsman.

About twenty-five years ago, Larry met Ron and they have developed a great working relationship over the years. And one of the special things tying Larry to Ron’s company is that Filberts and Route 66 were both opened in 1926.

In North America, 250 million blood bag labels are used on average every year, and demand is expected to continue to grow significantly.  Giving blood is a simple, straightforward process and donating a pint of blood typically takes less than 12 minutes. 

Now transporting blood and components to the end user is a much more complex process.  Blood processing and transportation require the use of specialized labels that can withstand both the rigorous lifecycle of a blood bag and communicate critical information about its origin and contents. 

Robust product performance and extensive adhesive safety testing are key for specialty healthcare applications like blood bag and IV-bag labeling. Primary and secondary labels must withstand extreme temperatures common to blood processing protocols.  Labels must be reliable to meet the stringent tracking and identification requirements for each bag stored in blood banks, healthcare facilities, hospitals and laboratories. Blood banks and collection centers require robust labels to reliably track blood from the donor to the final recipient; these labels need to survive multiple processing, testing, and storage steps through challenging environmental conditions.

The majority of blood bags contain one to two labels, and some may have three and four labels. These labels ensure that these blood products are correctly identified and reach their destination safely and securely. There are two types of labels that must be applied to the blood bag at different stages of the supply chain.  

These labels are: 

1. Primary Labels: The primary label, or also referred to as the base label, is applied to the blood bag by the manufacturer during production. Primary labels provide identifying information such as the manufacturer’s name and address, reference and batch numbers, and codes for traceability. After label application, the bags are filled with anticoagulant and sterilized with steam heat at high temperatures before they are shipped to hospitals and blood centers.

This has been an interesting year indeed. The global pandemic we have faced in 2020 has posed numerous challenges and obstacles to businesses across all industries. We have witnessed a shift in the way the world and people do business. Traditionally, Weber Packaging Solutions regularly exhibits at various industry trade shows around the country each year.  And for the first time ever since the inception of this fall packaging show, Pack Expo will be a virtual tradeshow. 

PMMI has decided to hold this year's Pack Expo Show virtually, with exhibitors and attendees gathering online for live demos, chats and virtual information. Pack Expo Connects is November 9-13, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm CST. Companies, like Weber Packaging, will be represented online with our own site that you can visit, watch live demos and talk with our staff - just like a real trade show. 

What does that mean exactly? A virtual tradeshow is a type of virtual event run in an online environment, that is hosted online for a limited period of time. It can be considered the online equivalent of a traditional tradeshow or exhibition. But exhibitors and visitors connect with one another on the web, rather than in-person.

Virtual tradeshows can be accessed anywhere, as they are not limited by their geographic location, so all that's needed to attend is a device with good connection to the internet. Virtual tradeshows facilitate direct interactions between exhibitors and attendees with interactive features, such as live chat, chat rooms, 1 to 1 or group video calls, Q&A, Live webinars or on-demand webinars, webcasts, and more. 

Visitors to a virtual tradeshow fill out an online registration form to create an online badge, and then enter a virtual exhibit hall to visit virtual booths. The virtual booths often reflect the imagery of a real-world tradeshow booth with desks and displays. 

How do you get started to attend? 

All you need to do is to go here and register for your free access to the show. Go to:

https://www.packexpoconnects.com

After you register, you can set up your MyConnects Planner and sign-up to watch live demos, get more information on new products, and search for what you need.

You can visit our Pack Expo Connects page here: http://nvyt.es/c399fc0d68e95bb2fb22

If you go to our page, you can sign-up for our Live Demos. Weber will be doing live demos on a variety of products being used in vertical markets:

• Craft Beverage Labeling Solutions
• Complete Cannabis Labeling Solutions
• Best Ways To improve Your Food labeling
• Labeling & Coding Options For Life Sciences

These demos are at specific times (live) and you have to sign-up to watch as audience sizes are limited. Visit our site and you can see the available times along with a brief description. If you don't register, you won't be able to see and interact with all the features on our site (or other exhibitors).

We also have Product Videos on our site showing interesting information about:

• The Secret to Getting Great Labels
  
• When You Need Reliable Print-Apply Systems
• Alpha HSM High-Speed Modular Labeling Systems
• Complete Cannabis Labeling & Coding Solutions
• Best Ways To Improve Your Craft Beverage Labeling & Coding
• Exploring Different Types of Inkjet Coding Systems
• Labels For Life Sciences and Healthcare Applications
• Discover the Wide Range of Labeling Systems From Pack Leader USA

We hope you will register and stop by Pack Expo Connects. This will be the largest gathering of Packaging Industry Professionals this year and you don't want to miss the opportunity to learn about what's new and exciting! Make plans to visit us at one of the sessions to learn more about the variety of labeling solutions that Weber can supply. Our booth always has a wide-range of labels and labeling systems with videos and demonstrations. It is always easier to learn about products when you can see them close-up, watch a demo, and ask questions from the experienced staff. 

If you have any questions or need more information, please visit our web site - www.weberpackaging.com 

Across the labeling industry, customers are looking for more sustainable options. We are excited to announce a NEW label material that can solve the issue. Weber’s Thermathin 375 is a down-gauged, uncoated direct-thermal paper for basic applications requiring a wide temperature range.

Thinner than traditional facesheet and liners, Thermathin 375 delivers efficiencies to manufacturing, converting, shipping, transportation and warehousing through less raw material usage, increased labels/footage per roll, reduced packaging waste, reduced freight, and more. The label construction provides economic, environmental and productivity benefits.

The material features a permanent rubber-based hot melt adhesive. The adhesive has excellent tack and ultimate adhesion to a variety of surfaces including polystyrene, polypropylene, polyethylene, paper and corrugate.

Thermathin 375 direct thermal labels do not require a printing ribbon so, by using these labels, there is a cost savings right away. This type of label has a special heat-activated layer where a black print image is formed when heat from the print head is applied. Thermal labels are more accurate due to the fact that the ink is embedded in the paper instead of coming from a ribbon in the printer. 

If you are printing millions of variable information labels like shipping labels, this is the way to go. Your printer will cost less to operate. Eliminating a printing ribbon makes for easier media loading and a lower cost per printed label.

Instead of purchasing ink, toner or ribbons, in addition to the print materials themselves, only labels are needed in order to print. Thus, for short-term, high-volume printing, such as addressing boxes for shipping and fulfillment, direct thermal labels are the economically perfect answer! 

Advantages of direct thermal printing include:

• First and foremost, direct thermal labels are much more environmentally friendly
• As they have a lower shipping weight, your carbon footprint will be greatly reduced
• Without the need of a ribbon, a lot of time will be saved especially when you are reloading your printer
• Direct thermal printers are simple to operate compared to most other print technologies because there is no ink, toner or ribbon to monitor or replenish
• Direct thermal printing produces sharp print quality with good scannability
• Direct thermal enables batch or single label printing with virtually no waste

These affordable direct thermal paper labels are appropriate for general-purpose labeling applications.

One of the biggest challenges for cold temperature labeling and packaging is ensuring a product’s label will withstand the extreme cold, wet, freezing or changing application conditions of the cold chain.  We can help with our Arctic products!

Common Problems

In frozen food labeling, labels can become stiff and fall off in the
freezer.

In refrigerated labeling, if outdoor temperatures are hot and humid, labels may flag or fall off when transported from store to home.

In beverage labeling, bottles often move from place to place, like a
cold refrigerator to a warm car, creating condensation and affecting label performance.

The Solution

To help with all these issues, Weber has expanded their Arctic 300 portfolio to include NEW direct and thermal transfer labels. These labels feature a unique hot melt adhesive with excellent tack and ultimate adhesion to a variety of surfaces.

The labels with this versatile adhesive can be applied at temperatures as low as -10 degrees Fahrenheit and has a service range of -65 to +150 degrees Fahrenheit.  It can also be counted on to work great at room temperature creating a true all temperature economic identification solution for any food or packaging labels.