To some, a label is a label and so long as it describes the product it is stuck onto and who is marketing that product what more could you need and why would the producers want to spend money on label inspection systems? That they need to inspect their product is a given these days but, surely not the labels?
A Label As A Mandatory Necessity
For products like pharmaceutical drugs there are very strict regulations regarding labelling and these are monitored and enforced by the FDA. Food labelling may not be quite so regulated but there are still pieces of information that must be shown if the product is to be sold to the public. The consequences of applying the wrong label or having misprinted information on your label can be quite daunting. In extreme cases, you might find your entire production plant shut down for non-compliance with labelling rules. To any company involved in such work, investment in label inspection systems has to be a serious consideration.
Not Only Regulatory Considerations
For many commercial products, the label is part of the company’s marketing strategy and it is important that each printed label maintains the quality of the original art work which, in itself, is a reason for installing reliable and efficient label inspection systems. When these labels are to be used with mass produced items, the print runs will have to be large enough to match the production rate. The printing equipment for this runs at very high speeds and, in the event of a problem with the feed of material to be printed on or problems with the inks, a huge amount of wasted labels could be produced before someone notices and stops the press. For this reason, mass production label inspection systems have to cover the whole process and not simply the finished label itself.
Printed Bar Codes
Bar codes serve many purposes but their main function is to provide information that a reader can decipher. It therefore follows that all printed bar codes must be 100% accurate. This even applies to something as simple as the bar code on a low cost can of beans – imagine the confusion at the checkout counter if the reader says you have an expensive can of (say) caviar and puts that dollar amount onto your bill! Therefore, many label inspection systems not only have to check the whole label they must also be able to read its bar code and confirm accuracy.
