Kimberley Clark: Double Stacked Pallet GS1 Labelling

One of the major UK suppliers of tissue and household paper products based in the North West of England has recently installed 4 automatic (GS1 compliant) pallet labellers for the application of A5 labels to its outgoing double and single pallets.

4 Logopak 920 PFR systems were installed, 3 of which were Logopak's 920 PFR units one stacked above the other in a unique format for the application of labels to three sides of each pallet at throughputs of up to 85 pph.

Double Stacked Pallet Labellers

Logopak have now installed 18 of its double stacked pallet labellers within the tissue in the UK alone for this difficult and demanding operation.

Two double stacked pallet labellers have also been installed in one customer in the manufacture of breakfast cereals.

Operating on double stacked pallet and single pallets which are of different height, each bottom labeller labels at a fixed height from the floor, whilst the top unit has to label pallets at the same GS1 specification, this unit has to raise and lower to compensate for the height of the base pallet and operates from a table of pallet heights in its software.

If the base pallet is 1,400mm high then the label to be applied on the top pallet is a minimum of 1,800mm from the floor. If the base pallet is 1,700mm high then the label to be applied on the top pallet has to be a minimum of 2,100mm from the floor.

With 4 (8 machines) of this type of system having been installed in one account in 2002, Logopak have a wealth of experience in this type of labelling.

Further units have been installed since that time giving one site 8 (16) labellers.

All systems are fitted with heated enclosures, integrated scanning and utilise Ethernet data connection and a robust PLC handshake between the conveyor line controls to ensure the labelling systems are fully integrated into the line management systems for the downloading of data files for printing and the uploading of pallets produced.

Airline type access steps were supplied by Logopak to allow safe and easy access to the top labeller for replenishment of consumables and for cleaning and service.

This allows a "back-flush" to the companies host to allow production costs to be calculated in real-time.