Mettler-Toledo PCE has introduced an integrated Mark & Verify system which makes it easier to fulfil product safety and compliance requirements.
These capabilities will also assist manufacturers in other industries that face growing requirements for traceability of the products they manufacture – for example, food & beverage, where product quality is critical to consumer health and safety; and clothing, cosmetics, and petrochemicals, where significant counterfeiting activity threatens legitimate business success.
Mark & Verify systems enable the printing and verification of 1D and 2D codes and alphanumeric text such as those used for accurate identification of individual products (serialisation) and those aggregated into containers such as cases or pallets (aggregation). In addition to these reference checks, integrated smart cameras allow for both presence and quality checks – verifying the presence of required labels and information, and that printing and labelling quality is high, with no damaged labels or smeared ink.
Market requirements across a large range of industries, from pharmaceuticals to food, require manufacturers to be able to track individual products throughout the production and supply chain, facilitating simpler and more targeted product recalls where necessary, and improving levels of product safety. The new Mark & Verify systems enable manufacturers to integrate these capabilities seamlessly into existing production lines with the minimum of disruption for installation.
The new systems are:
- T51 Integrated Mark & Verify: These systems are suitable for the inspection of codes on oriented products such as cartons, labels, cases and pallets. They can be easily integrated into production lines or packaging equipment and can be linked with existing printers. In addition, multiple sensors such as smart cameras, barcode scanners and machine readers provide support for presence, quality and reference checks. Systems are capable of throughputs of up to 300 ppm, supporting Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements and are easily upgradeable to a serialisation system.
- T61 Integrated 360 Mark & Verify: These systems are ideal for the inspection of round products such as bottles and vials up to a maximum product height of 230 mm and width from 6 to 110 mm. Systems use six image sensors to capture a full 360 degree view of the product. The inspection head can be installed over conveyors, into new equipment or on a standalone frame with minimal space requirements. Moreover, they can be easily integrated with existing printers to deliver presence, quality and reference checks. Capable of throughputs up to 500 ppm, these solutions also meet GMP requirements and are upgradeable to serialisation systems.
- PCE Line Manager – Mark & Verify: This pre-installed software package provides quality control management when used with Mettler-Toledo Mark & Verify systems. The solution manages presence, quality and reference checks, with the capability for multiple inspection options (for example, code, label, blister and text inspections). For a future-proof solution, it can be upgraded to PLM Serialisation or PLM Aggregation when required, giving users a familiar intuitive software interface capable of performing track and trace requirements.
“While pharmaceutical manufacturers are accustomed to the demands of track & trace, increasing numbers of other industries are also having to comply with the need to serialise their products for verification through the supply chain,” says Andreas Bechthold, general manager at Mettler-Toledo PCE. “Typically, companies in all these sectors need tailored Mark & Verify systems that integrate with existing production processes and packaging equipment.
“The new T51 and T61 Integrated Mark & Verify systems and software deliver this capability without the need to completely re-engineer packaging lines,” he continues. “They also give customers additional quality control measures, helping to ensure accurate verification of data, reducing waste and minimising the chance of product recalls.”
In addition to the Mark & Verify systems, a new manual multi-aggregation system is also now available, enabling the aggregation of serialised packages to cases and pallets.
- T16 Manual Multi-Aggregation: These systems include an automatically focusing high-resolution camera and advanced software algorithms that capture and verify product codes on serialised cartons and add them to the aggregation hierarchy with a single click. With a high-resolution camera, the T16 offers a wide field of view (600 x 400 mm) and detailed imaging capabilities to help capture each package code. The camera can also inspect label artwork for additional quality control.