The good wine code

From its origins in Veneto, the Zonin family has established itself in the other major wine-growing regions of Italy, with ambitious targets for growth in all product areas. Today it closes the first balance for its hi-tech bottling plant installed a year ago for the prestigious wines of its Sicilian vineyard, a plant fitted with laser and resin jet coding systems from Markem.

Bottle, label (front, back and neck), cork - natural cork or synthetic? - and capsule, plus cork wire if a sparkling wine. Then the box, perhaps coming in different sizes to suit the size of the bottles, and the pallet. And, again, what type of label? Paper or plastic? And what and how many types and varieties of surface treatment and decoration?… And that's not all. There are other fundamental choices to be made when one considers that the packaging is a vehicle for the image of the product, its promotion and,last but not least, product information, where traceability is an increasingly important and regulated factor. Finally, there's the question of disposal - preferably split by material, at the end of the product's lifecycle. All this multiplied by the number of different products, each proportional to the distribution channels.

This is the general picture for packing wine. A modern winery must know how to manage all these aspects effectively and rationally: starting from the pre-printed, decorated stock of labels with the risk of this expiring before stocks run out and even causing mix-ups. Even more reason, therefore, why such problems are especially felt at Zonin (wine-growers since 1821, a classic brand and one of the most important wine companies in Italy and Europe) where, in addition to the great number of proposals and commercial outlets, there's also much awareness of just how important it is to get the product to stick out on the shelf, by renewing its image to suit current fashions and consumer opportunities and thus generating a truly impressive turnover in terms of materials,complements and technologies.

The complexity of the variables in question is such that this Venetian company has set up a workgroup (with representatives from its purchasing, marketing and production departments) to study the various problems involved with the goal of simplifying matters. Also because Zonin today is a variegated, complex concern, with even the more prestigious winesproduced and bottled in other vineyards also being sent to the “HQ” in Gambellara (Vicenza) to be marketed. Everything's managed in accordance with a single principle - do things well - which leads to a series of coherent marketing directives.

A CONSTELLATION OF LABELS

The production of labels for daily consumption of quality wines for all. Close attention to consumer tastes and demands. A guarantee that each wine has constant characteristics, is suitably priced and can be found throughout the country". This is how the Marketing and Advertising Director at Zonin, Franco Zuffellato, sums up the basic objectives that dictate the organisational and product decisions of this Venetian winegrower and the other wineries belonging to the Zonin family. Objectives that are farsighted in their pursuit, integrating over time the wide range of proposals for broadscale distribution with different prestige labels to cater for the more refined, selective consumer.

"Right now - explains Zuffellato - the Zonin family has direct control of 11 vineyards with a total of 1,800 hectares, in Veneto, Piedmont, Lombardy, Tuscany (with a new one due to be added next year in the Maremma area), Puglia and Sicily, as well as in the United States. These vineyards produce numerous classic wines, from Champenois to Chianti, Pinot, Soave and so on, with a crescendo of quality, topped with fifteen labels obtained from very select grapes and produced in limited amounts". These select labels include the red and white wines of Sicily, the last frontier of good Italian wine and the result of important investments in research, technology, human resources and the enhancement of traditional autochthonous Sicilian vines, which have received unanimous appreciation from critics and consumers alike.

The Feudo Principi di Butera vineyard, with its 320 hectares (150 already producing) in the province of Caltanissetta was purchased by Zonin in 1997 and now produces Nero d'Avola, Merlot, Cabernet, Sauvignon, Syrah, Chardonnay and Inzolia grapes. Output includes three top wines: Calat using Merlot grapes, Sanrocco, based on Cabernet Sauvignon, and Deliella, a pure Nero d'Avola, the maximum expression of this land. It's quite natural, therefore, that much care is taken over the presentation of these wines, meaning packaging that's been studied in the minimum details. And here the company's recent choices in terms of marking are the last detail and an emblematic example.

CODING WITH DISCRETION

"After producing top quality products - says Zonin's Director of Production, Omero Gobbo - we needed to suit the packaging in terms of aesthetics, without neglecting the important aspects of complete traceability, from the vineyard to the warehouse and the various distributors. Thus, even when it came to the coding of the variable data on the primary packaging, we've tried to surmount the typical limits of ink jet marking until now, both in terms of performance (horizontal printing only) and the disposal of difficult substances. For these reasons, therefore, and bearing in mind the needs expressed by the marketing office in terms of visual impact and coherence in style of the image, we've decided to go for laser coding".

It should be noted that the coding of the bottle with the lot number is not aimed at providing information for the consumer, but is to allow for the product to be retraced if problems arise; Zonin's goal here, therefore, was not to make the code more visible, but, quite the contrary, to make it as discreet as possible. Moreover, the code that needs to be added to the pack had to be written in harmony with the combination of signs that make up the visual elements of the packaging.

"The laser supplied by Markem - continues Gobbo - is much appreciated because it avoids the risk of smudges and problems deriving from special surface treatments on the label; what's more, thanks to almost surgical abrasion of the paper medium, the laser produces low impact signs that, in some cases, can even appear as a form decoration. We've also decided not to mark the capsule, as this is less elegant, or the glass itself, which, we believe, is best left as it is. Finally, we've also taken costs into account, as the initial investment is quickly recouped and running costs are not particularly high".

Here the manager wishes to make a special point: the plant has only been running one year, i.e. too short a time to assess the maintenance costs properly - among other things, the actual life of the laser source will be crucial - and continues with a note on safety. "Here too we have compete peace of mind, not having met with any resistance in our staff who've been fully trained before installing the machine. In fact, we're using a 10 Watt laser (lasers used for cutting consume 500 Watts) that, if properly installed, has a risk belonging to Class 1 (i.e. the same as a CD reader). In other words, the maximum damage that could occur is a slight burn if someone puts his hand in front of the beam".

Coding with Markem

Coding on the bottle - typically with the production lot - can be on the capsule, directly on the glass or on the label. Markem proposes its SmartLase for all these mediums: a digital laser coder using CO2 technology that lets one choose the power (10 or 30 Watts) to suit the material one's working with. The latest versions - the SmartLase 110 and the SmartLase 130 - guarantee superior performance and are easier to use, thanks to portable operator interface and a QWERTY keyboard. Moreover, the SmartLase coders have no need for a computer in the production site and, thanks to their compact size, can be easily placed in a wide range of contexts without needing modification. Cost effective both in terms of the initial capital outlay and the running costs, Markem lasers offer a further interesting feature: they use an aircooled carbon dioxide laser that - once installed and controlled appropriately - makes this one of the safest systems currently on the market.

When it comes to end-line pack identification, Markem proposes its neutral box coding system based on coders from the 5000 series. Designed with the explicit goal of getting rid of pre-printed boxes and thus the relevant storage and management costs, they reproduce text and barcodes, logos and slogans directly on the box, with constantly high print quality and easy, clean operation. The latest versions - 5200 and 5400 - also operate with several print heads (up to 4) with just one control panel. Both models can print on two sides of a box at the same time and are conceived to work in industrial environments. The resulting coding are always precise and legible regardless of the characteristics of the surfaces to be printed, with superior quality guaranteed thanks to the 256 addressable jets and the use of a special instant drying, solvent-less thermoplastic resin (Markem Touch Dry®), available in a wide choice of colors.

The devices mentioned are just part of a huge range of technologies - including resin jet, laser, heat transfer, label print&apply systems, SW,consumables and services - proposed and managed by the Italian branch (Assago, Milan) of the Markem Corporation. Set up in the USA in 1911, this American concern is today a world leader in the development and supply of printing systems, materials and services for the identification, marking and coding of products for industry. It forms a multinational group with more than 1,300 employees, two production sites in the USA and one in the UK, branches in 17 states, plus agents and representatives in another 40.

END LINE RESIN

Full satisfaction, therefore, with their technological choices (and for the supplier, whose customer service is highly appreciated) completed at the end of the line with the adoption of a series 5000 coder (once again Markem) using a thermoplastic resin jet.

In this case, the choice meets the need to code the box directly with the information needed for internal organisation rather than the trade, with all the necessary flexibility and also here the required aesthetic effect above all else. "If the label printed and applied in line - says Gobbo - guarantees max legibility of the codes thanks to perfect contrast between the writing and the white background, it really stands out on the shelf, overshadowing all the other visual elements. Moreover, it's not always applied with the necessary precision and so risks covering the text and graphics that add to the value of the packaging.

Here too, the need for discretion has oriented our choice, made even more urgent by the fact that we've adopted only one size of box in our Sicilian line, printed with coloured images and strongly coloured backgrounds, which can be personalised at will with macrocharacter coding". In deed, they've had to face certain limits of direct coding to satisfy the need for personalisation. "Printing on cardboard limits our choice of graphics and colour, in order to guarantee the contrast needed for legibility of the codes. In fact, after a few initial experiences, we concentrated on this problem and, thanks to Markem's help, we've managed to identify the best "printing" resin for our purposes. The result is a satisfactory compromise between these different needs, also taking into account the ease and speed of operating the machine".