Marking of plastic pallets and food boxes
The task of labeling plastic pallets and food boxes for automatic identification is becoming increasingly important for many enterprises. These types of containers are used in almost all enterprises from agriculture to the automotive and space industries. Labeling of food boxes is necessary for automatic identification, accounting of products moved in them, accounting of piecework wages, traceability of raw materials and semi-finished products.
In-mold label for food boxes and pallets
The most reliable and long-term method of labeling plastic boxes is In-mould label. When manufacturing a box or pallet, a label made of a special material is fused into its body. The label is fused with the box body and becomes its integral part. Such a label is called In-Mould and is produced individually and exclusively for the needs of a specific customer. The use of an in-mould label is economically feasible for large batches. Such boxes are ordered by large retail chains, distribution centers and plastic container rental operators. As plastic container manufacturers master the technology of in-mold labels, ordering boxes and pallets is also possible for small wholesale buyers if they order from the standard options of the plastic container manufacturer.
The next option for marking a plastic box is a self-adhesive label. A label with an appropriate adhesive layer is selected for each box material. The selection and testing stage is very important. Incorrectly selected glue or a dirty surface will not ensure reliable label adhesion. The photo below shows label tests. The label was applied to a cleaned and uncleaned surface of a plastic box. On a clean surface, the adhesion coefficient is 25, and on a dirty surface - 3.
It is important to apply the self-adhesive label to a clean and degreased surface of the box. This is the main factor that affects the adhesion coefficient. Photo after the test with a high-pressure washer on an uncleaned surface.
One of the largest manufacturers of in-mold labels is Inotec (Germany). Inotec labels are developed and manufactured both as in-mold labels and as self-adhesive labels. RFID chips can be embedded in the labels, which will provide identification in several versions, as well as encoding additional information (batch, box weight). The above-mentioned marking options are long-term, designed for almost the entire service life of the box.
A cheap option for marking food plastic boxes
For temporary marking of plastic containers, you can use regular polypropylene labels and for single use — paper labels. Application can be either manual or automatic using an applicator. The main identifier when labeling plastic containers is a bar code. Two options are usually used - linear and QR code.
Experts at the Vostok company, based on the experience of implemented accounting automation projects, recommend using two types of encoding at once. This guarantees successful identification. An example of product accounting at a fish processing plant. Reports for the accounting system are downloaded as a file or web page.
The product box and employee are identified. Accounting points allow tracking product quality, quantity in micro-batches, and automatically generate piecework pay statements. Payroll Accounting Cards are used to identify employees, most often this is a card with an RFID tag, linear and QR code.
