Greenvale AP, the UK’s largest fresh potato company, has dramatically improved the efficiency of its product coding process, thanks to close collaboration with MARKEM.

The forward thinking manufacturer called upon the leading coding and marking specialists to replace its existing hot foil machines. Their limited capacity for variable printing – requiring operators to manually change the text – meant that Greenvale couldn’t add product and traceability details to the date codes displayed on their bags of potatoes.

Greenvale contacted MARKEM to see if the team could suggest new coding equipment which could increase the information printed on to the bags, as well as simplifying the operation and improving print quality and flexibility.

Consequently, a number of SmartDate thermal transfer coders were installed. These print not only the best before date, but also the variety of the potatoes, the grower’s code, the origin of the produce and also vital traceability information. The SmartDate coders are versatile enough to cope with a variety of different packaging machinery, including multi-lane thermoformers, intermittent and continuous bagging machinery as well as labelling systems.

To further improve the productivity of the factory, MARKEM and Greenvale also introduced a hand held scanning system to each of the production lines and networked the entire coding operation. When a shift begins, operators simply scan a barcode menu attached to each individual production line. Using MARKEM’s CoLOS networking software (formerly CimControl) information is fed live to the SmartDate coders from Greenvale’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System, Navision. Navision manages the daily production runs and, via CoLOS, communicates instantly to the SmartDate printers the latest product information for that particular production line. The operator then checks the information is correct and signals their acceptance by pressing a line reset button that allows the information to update and start the packaging operation.

This has benefited Greenvale in a number of ways. The leading potato supplier can meet statutory requirements for traceability, satisfy retail customer’s coding and labelling demands and provide all the traceability information required by an increasingly enquiring public.

The system suggested by MARKEM has not only greatly improved the efficiency of the factory by reducing coding errors and offering increased flexibility regarding the amount of information the manufacturer can now print on its produce. Print quality has also dramatically improved, with SmartDate coders providing much clearer and consistent code quality to the old hot foil machines.

The system has been so successful at Greenvale’s Doddington site that it has been replicated at the manufacturer’s factory in Duns, Scotland.

Rob Philips, Operations Manager of the Cambridgeshire factory, said: “MARKEM has provided a far more sophisticated coding solution than we originally envisaged and we are delighted with the results.

“As a leading supplier to the UK’s largest retailer, it is imperative that our coding is accurate and efficient and MARKEM has helped us to achieve just that.”

If you would like more press information or photography, please contact:
Siobhan Sheils
Rattle PR
Tel: 0161 968 3450
Fax: 0161 968 3451
Email: siobhan@rattlepr.co.uk

If you would like more sales or technical information please contact:
Lucy Holden
MARKEM Systems
Tel: 0161 333 8400
www.markem.co.uk

Greenvale Case Study