Quality Coding: A Cure For Insomnia?
For a contract packer, as for any business owner or manager, time is always of the essence and a hundred little stresses can be worrying you at any moment. Whether about meeting a deadline, coping with changes, or the possibility of an employee making a costly error, it’s enough to keep anyone awake at night! But one effective way to get a good night’s sleep is to invest in a quality coding and marking solution. Surely not, you might think, but let us explain why…
Reliability and control
The need to deliver on customers’ expectations is often likely to keep you awake. Thoughts of deadlines approaching as you juggle numerous orders are a sure-fire cause of sleeplessness. Regular maintenance as infrequently as every 18 months to two years will help with this by ensuring that your Linx printer continues to produce reliable, quality codes – and that disruption to the line is minimised.
Not only will a Linx coder provide you with greater reliability – but Printernet, our Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) offering, will also enhance the level of control you have over your coding. With Linx Printernet, you can track your coding progress via simple displays on your phone or laptop, ensuring you never fall behind unwittingly and can better manage each customer’s expectations.
Nor is this capability of remote monitoring only relevant to your coding and marking. When the printer is fine but not printing, you will know from Printernet that there is a problem elsewhere and consequently be able to fix it more quickly. In this way your coder doubles as an invaluable monitoring device for the entire production line – another worry gone!
The stress of the new
Newness is nothing new to you. Whether it’s new contracts, new products, or new pack shapes or sizes, every day is predictably unpredictable. This constant battle against unforeseen events can be stressful.
The best way to deal with this unpredictability is therefore to invest in a multifunctional printer that can perform numerous different jobs.
Even if you only perform primary coding at present, it won’t hurt to choose a printer that can also print onto secondary packaging, for example. This will mean you can meet the needs of your existing clients if they unexpectedly start to require coded outer packs, and increase your pool of potential clients the next time you look for new contracts. And you can further future-proof yourself by using non-contact technologies such as ink jet or laser, as these can handle any size or shape of pack.
If working with substances such as cosmetics or chemicals, consider alcohol-resistant inks as these will not be removed in cases of accidental contact. Again, even if you don’t work with such substances, it may be worth considering since they might enable you to widen your offering and find new customers.
Human error
Of course, the possibility of human error is one that keeps many businesspeople awake. When it comes to coding, all it takes is for your line operator to input the wrong message and this could mean a contract lost. Thankfully, with their picture-based displays and smartphone-inspired screens, our coders are so intuitive to use that such mistakes are now far less common.
Then again, maybe what’s troubling you is the thought of all the other things you’re neglecting while you focus on production. Printernet helps here, too. The ability to remotely monitor and control your coder provides you with the required flexibility to focus your energies on other areas of the business.
Finally, human error is one thing, but what about criminality? For contract packers that work with premium products such as spirits or cosmetics, fear of the counterfeiters is high on the list of potential sleep-spoilers. Beat them by opting for a laser-based solution, whose permanent codes mean the criminals’ attempts to remove them are likely to be unsuccessful.
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All of which demonstrates that choosing the right coding equipment can neutralise the source of your stress and allow you to get a good night’s sleep!
For more information about finding the right coding and marking solution for your business, read our new Contract Packing white paper