With the help of RFID tags, products can be tracked along the entire supply chain from their manufacture to the end consumer. Ruder Verpackungen GmbH from Schwäbisch Gmünd offers its customers specialised packaging with RFID labels. Alpha Compact label dispensers from Bluhm Systeme apply the tags to the folding boxes.
Ruder Verpackungen GmbH is an innovative and efficient supplier of packaging solutions for Packaging solutions made from cardboard and corrugated cardboard. The company was founded by Hans Ruder in Schwäbisch Gmünd in 1926. At that time, the company was still purely a printing company. Due to increasing customer demand, the company developed into a producer of high-quality folding cartons in the 1970s. Today, the company is successfully managed by Otto Davis, the grandson of the company founder and third generation, and specialises in the production and finishing of high-quality and elaborate packaging.
RFID technology optimises logistics and retail
The range of products now also includes the option of customising special packaging at the factory with a RFID label to be labelled. RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification. This is a radio technology with which data can be recognised and read without contact, without visual contact and at a greater distance. An RFID tag consists of a small chip that carries the information and an antenna. Together they form the so-called transponder. The information can be read within a very short time using mobile or permanently installed receiver antennas. RFID can be used to optimise processes in logistics and retail, detect missing items earlier and close stock gaps. Susanne Witzany, Product Developer at Ruder Verpackungen, explains: „Our customers want RFID tags on the packaging. Special packaging, to offer their products either protect against theft or along the entire supply chain trace to be able to.“
In the case of Ruder packaging, the labels inside the labels are RFID chips still undescribed and can be labelled with any desired information by the customer. To apply the labels to the boxes automatically and precisely, the packaging specialist uses a label dispenser from the portfolio of labelling provider Bluhm Systeme GmbH from Rheinbreitbach. Susanne Witzany remembers that she was looking for the best possible Versatile system „In addition to the precise application of RFID labels, the label dispenser also needed to be able to seal folding boxes with Velcro fasteners, for example. And as we wanted to integrate it directly into the folder gluer, it also had to be small.“
Applying RFID and other labels
The experts from Bluhm Systeme therefore recommended the Alpha Compact label dispenser. It achieves values of +/- 0.8 millimetres with regard to the desired positioning accuracy. The system can not only apply RFID labels, but also hook and loop fasteners, larger security labels for anti-theft protection and many other label variants. At Ruder Verpackungen, the Alpha Compact „wipes“ the RFID labels in the so-called Wipe-on process onto the product surface. An alternative applicator unit can be fitted if the folding cartons must not be touched. The device can even label the front and back of the same packaging all by itself, provided a 90-degree rotary applicator has been fitted beforehand.
The compact Alpha Compact sits in the rudder packaging directly in the folder gluer, Thanks to its large display, however, it is still particularly easy to operate. Up to nine label configurations can be saved directly on the display and selected at the touch of a button. Alternatively, a panel can be connected on which a specific configuration can be „fixed“ and thus protected against unintentional adjustment. All control and regulation elements are integrated directly into the die-cast housing.
Breathtaking labelling speeds
Alpha Compact appliances have been in development since the 1980s. They are characterised by Robustness and Longevity Some of them have already been in use for 30 years. Depending on the version, the dispensers are capable of dispensing a breathtaking 18 labels per second (up to 1,100 labels per minute). The conveyor belt can move at a speed of up to 100 metres per minute (1.6 metres per second). At Ruder Verpackungen, the folder gluer sets the labelling speed. Susanne Witzany is delighted: „Our conveyor belt here moves at less than one metre per second. So there is still plenty of room for improvement for the Alpha Compact.“
