Established in Melbourne in 1977 and now servicing Australia and New Zealand, Unimark provides marking and coding solutions to industry, offering an extensive range of equipment and a skilled team of professionals.
“Our mission at Unimark is to provide the best possible solution for marking and coding applications,” says managing director Gary Pritchard.
“We recognise that coding is an essential part of the production line but adds little value."
"Therefore, the process has to out-perform all the other components of the production line to avoid being a weak link.”
To achieve this, Pritchard says it’s essential to start with the right coding machine for the job.
“The coding equipment has to be installed correctly, it has to integrate seamlessly with the host machine and other equipment, and it has to fulfill performance expectations,” he says.
“These points are often overlooked, but are actually the key to a successful application. At Unimark we pride ourselves on the success we can achieve in this area.”
According to Gary Pritchard , the role of marking and coding in the manufacturing process has changed dramatically over the last 10 years.
“Originally, the addition of a ‘use by date’ added no value to the product and even limited the production,” he recalls.
“With the development of technology, marking and coding has become an integral part of the production line."
"While the original purpose was legislated to provide information to the consumer, coding now provides real benefits to the producer.”
Pritchard points to the use of generic packaging, traceability, quality control through real time coding and improvements to logistics using barcodes as a few developments that have brought about such savings.
“Marking and coding will also provide solutions to future challenges as well,” he says.
“Sustainability and environmental issues are looming as the next big challenge.”
In terms of current innovative projects, Pritchard says Unimark is installing 24 Print & Apply label machines for major soft drink manufacturer throughout Australia.
“Our customer’s requirements were challenging and specific,” he explains.
“A SSCC label must be fitted to opposite sides of a pallet using two separate units. Barcode verification, re-apply and line interruption have to be managed for both machines on opposite sides of the line."
"The customer also required product selection through a hand held scanner via Ethernet to the warehouse management, plus feedback for inventory.”
“Unimark achieved this by developing an interface module that uses a micro-controller to manage the tasks at hand,” Pritchard says.
“The controller utilises a touch screen LCD panel to display current count data as well as an operator interface for the initial setup of the SSCC range and manual input of the pallet count.”
Laser coding on to bread tags is an innovation developed by Unimark that demonstrates the benefits of exploring new technologies,” Pritchard asserts proudly.
“This improvement dramatically cuts operational costs and results in virtually zero down time."
"It provided the customer with all their coding requirements, including real time, with the absolute minimum of input or attention."
"The lasers use no consumables; they’re serviced and maintained by Unimark so the customer can concentrate fully on production.”
“It’s common for such innovations to be developed locally then spread to other parts of the world,” Pritchard says.
“Australia is in a unique position where we are a sophisticated market, but on a smaller scale to the US or Europe."
"Our isolation also contributes to our resourcefulness as a matter of necessity.”
“For example, I believe Canada is about to implement laser coding on to bread tags, followed by the US,” Pritchard says.
“The concept is likely to be adopted by all large bakeries using the tag system all over the world, as it’s the simplest and most cost effective method of coding.”
Gary Pritchard says the future challenges for marking and coding within the Packaging industry will undoubtedly be environment related.
“Sustainability, recycling and package minimisation are developing into issues that will become a priority,” he asserts.
“The faster, bigger better, mentality will continue, but as public concerns over the cost to the environment gathers momentum, the consumer will dictate what is acceptable."
"Fortunately the technology exists to cater for most environmental concerns, it’s just waiting for public acceptance.”
“The environmental impact of laser coding is much less than other forms of coding,” Pritchard says.
“There are no inks, solvents, inked ribbons or foil; even the fumes from the laser are collected using an extraction system.”
“Unimark offers a range of products that allow the customer to make a choice between environmental impact and cost,” Pritchard adds.
“More and more, to their credit, customers are choosing the sustainable option.”
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