Online Coding Rejuvenates Coffee Pouching

Output of 2 oz. coffee pouches on a refurbished poucher at Gaviña Coffee is saved by two in-line thermal transfer coders that print bar codes along with product variety in script copy.

Without new on-line coders, production of a rebuilt form/fill/seal machine installed at Gaviña's coffee packaging operation, Vernon, Calif., to run 2 oz. pouches, would have ground to a halt.

F. Gaviña and Sons Co., a specialty coffee roaster that's been in business for 125 years, installed two MARKEM SmartDate 2c thermal transfer printers in series on a rebuilt coffee poucher to print product descriptions in prominent script copy and UPC codes on 1.5, 1.75 and 2 oz. net weight pouches of various ground coffees.

The SmartDate coders replace an intermittent-motion hot-stamp printer that could not keep pace with needed web speeds. As the f/f/s packaging machine accelerated or slowed, Gaviña found that their existing printer could not adjust smoothly to changes in velocity and would often misregister its mark. The result: inconsistent coding quality and downtime, forcing Gaviña to outsource its coding while the printer sat idle.

Installed on the f/f/s machine's web unwind section in Spring '97, the new thermal transfer printers provide the consistency, speeds and print quality needed, says plant manager Leo Fandiño, Jr.: "We can better meet the needs of customers ranging from fine restaurants to supermarkets instead of having to deal with a backlog due to package printing problems. We've also been able to leapfrog ahead of our work schedule. We operate 10 hour shifts and the print quality has been outstanding."

Operational at Gaviña in August '96, the Goglio Luigi Model GL-20 f/f/s coffee poucher machine was rebuilt by fres-co System USA, Inc., which also supplies the 3-ply pouch webstock. The vacuum poucher was refurbished with new electronics and adapted to run 2-oz packs instead of the 6-oz packs it was built to handle. Gaviña fills that same pouch size with 1.5 or 1.75 netweight ounces of ground coffee. Altogether, Gaviña operates eight f/f/s machines from fres-co.

A One-Two Coding Punch

The SmartDate coders are mounted in series: the first coder prints a UPC bar code on the web; the second prints the familiar Juan Valdez Colombian coffee logo along with two lines of text and a large script rendition of the coffee variety. The web is subsequently folded so that the UPC code appears on the back of the pouch. The coder is capable of printing at speeds of up to 23 inches per second on an area of just more than two inches wide by nearly 4 inches long with a resolution of 300 dots-per-inch. MARKEM claims SmartDate printers can reliably print on both intermittent and continuous motion production equipment, thanks to a proprietary ribbon handling system inside the printhead.

Unlike mechanical contact coding methods, the coder's digital-to-print technology allows Gaviña to quickly update and change codes. In fact, Fandiño tells PD that the coders can be changed over in two to five minutes. Operators can integrate text and graphics easily in the same legend, Fandiño notes. The coders employ an easy-to-understand graphical user interface, and can be networked to other coders, printers, or a central PC through the use of Markem CimControl- for Microsoft®Windows®.

How crucial are the coders? "Without them, (due to the web speeds) we couldn't bar code or label any of the products we run on this machine," says Fandiño. "The coders have meant the difference between keeping this machine or sending it back".

Fandiño reports that the f/f/s machine is "a slick operating machine, with very few hours downtime. It handily outperforms another more compact vacuum packer we have".

Fandiño describes the packer as three machines in one. A pouch-forming section, that includes the MARKEM coders, operates at 80 bags per minute to fold and heat-seal the web into a tube that is then cut into individual pouches.

Supplied by fres-co, the web comprises 48-ga polyester/28 ga-foil/3-mil linear low-density polyethylene, with the polyester reverse-printed rotogravure in four colors. In the second station, individual pouches are picked up by a turret in pairs and filled 2-up. The top part is tack-sealed prior to 16-up vacuum evacuation and final top sealing in the third machine section. The machine also squares up the pouch bottoms and trims the top flap.

After sealing, the pouches are cased from 24 to 192 per corrugated shipper, Fandiño says the average is 32 pouches per case, which are then palletized as 120 cases per pallet.

Like a cup on a saucer, Gaviña's business rests on a changing variety of specialty products; Fandiño estimates that they run about 40 different items on the machine, from "Maple Walnut" to "Valentine's Cookie."

"We're continually searching the world for new coffees, seasonal blends, and interesting flavors that will please discriminating coffee-drinkers," Fandiño says. "We need coding equipment that can respond to these tastes as quickly as our coffee buyers do."

Reprinted with permission from Packaging Digest, December 1997