Founded in 1964 the Bradford based printer’s primary customer base is in the drinks and personnel health industry. States David Webster, Managing Director, “Many of our job runs are up to 5,000,000 labels which require a 100% quality guarantee and manual inspection puts a strain on both operators and production. While our customers do not mandate 100% inspection, we decided to install the fleyeVision system to enable us to guarantee quality and ensure customer confidence. One particular drinks customer requires four different labels per bottle with a need to also brand several variations of products and flavours. All four labels are applied at the same time. Should one defective label get through, the effects would be dramatic. We are more than satisfied with the performance of the fleyeVision system and the support of A B Graphic International Ltd in developing this project with an unwind capacity that gives us maximum efficiency”.

The fleyeVision is an optics-based system that checks text and images for print anomalies, dust that may have adhered to the substrate and registration errors. The system can recognise and classify all standard barcodes, check data in OCR characters and check Braille for errors. The images are recorded by a digital line scan camera with 2048 pixels as well as an alternative area scan camera with up to 1600 x 1200 pixel resolution.

Comments Mr. Mark Hyde, Group Product Manager at A B Graphic International Ltd, “Image processing is handled in the computer. The labels are continuously photographed and are compared to a previously learned master image. There is also the option to verify the master image using a PDF comparison process. When equipped with two cameras, the fleyeVision print machine can be used to inspect labels simultaneously, both front and back. If an error occurs, the machine stops and the error is brought to a pre-defined position or, in the case of a roll to roll operation, the defective label can be tagged for action later. The system at The Label Makers’ has a festoon station that enables the removal of an out of specification label without completely stopping the machine”

A progressive and proactive company, The Label Makers has both BRC/IOP Global Standard Food Packaging and ISO 9001/2000 – Design and Manufacture of Self Adhesive Labels. Webster concludes, “We are very close to accreditation by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), which we believe will be soon mandated by all label users.”