Automating tiny label application with style

The finest quality presupposes meticulous manual involvement. At the East Windsor, NJ, operation of Shiseido America, a symbol of that quality is a gold pressure-sensitive label. This label spans its container's closure and measures just 3^1/2 or 5^1/2 mm across and 106, 121 or 129 mm long; at each end, it widens into an inverted exclamation point.

The pioneering premium toiletries and cosmetics marketer calls them "purity seal labels." They're the extra touch that sends a subtle, but upscale message to consumers.

Wrapped meticulously and laboriously by hand up until last June, the labels are now applied with equal delicacy and accuracy and with greater speed by what is believed to be the world's first machine to do this job effectively. Its successful trials and then adoption come as a happy event to Shiseido, which in early July, welcomed executives from its home office in Japan to usher the machine in with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Unsurprised but no less pleased with the circumstances leading to the ceremony is Bernard Hvozdovic, Shiseido America's director of engineering services and warehousing. He tells PD during a visit two weeks later, "We're already making plans to bring the label applicator into a specific packaging line, and are discussing having two more of the machines built to apply the purity seal labels. One of them will also have bottom labeling and other capabilities, and the ability to wrap a standup tube; the other will be used mostly for cosmetic packages at Davlyn Corp. [Shiseido's wholly owned private-label subsidiary in Monroe Township, NJ]."

Unique system
Standing alongside the packaging line that will absorb it, the alpha digital applicator with encoder feedback is LogoTech's TD-700M, a two-phase machine contained within an 84-in. powered conveyor space. With a level of control the military might envy, the machine orients the containers in the selected direction, applies the labels from rollstock and then wraps them at a unique station that can elevate them where necessary.

Its functions guided by LogoTech's own ST-300MD programmable logic controller, the label applicator has several features that address the specific challenges of Shiseido's packages. With the main conveyor driven by a servo motor, Leeson's 098121.00, its linear actuator is triggered by a package sensor, Sick's WL150-N122.

The same sensor is used for the head, which has a stepper-driven applicator with an air-assisted peel plate to remove the label from its 20-mm-wide backing. As the container conveys under the applicator head, it is gently but firmly gripped by the first of the machine's two sets of clamps to assure perfect orientation. A pivoting cover at the end of the applicator head secures the label to the top of the closure.

The clamp sets are the only changeparts needed for the machine. During PD's stay in the plant, a 40-mL oblong glass jar for Shiseido Benefiance® revitalizing cream was being processed by the applicator, the 5^1/2x 129-mm label applied around its undecorated sides.

Still oriented in the side direction, the jars convey downstream a short distance to the second clamp set for wiping down of the label ends. Activated by the same type of Sick sensor used upstream, the wiping unit is made with Festo vertical and wipe cylinders and a valve, and is programmed to automatically elevate and lower the containers for those that require it for a complete, firm wrap.

There are several. Also sold under the Shiseido Benefiance tradename are a 15-mL oblong glass jar for revitalizing eye cream and a similar, 50-mL jar for a firming massage mask. All three jars are made and silk-screened by Koa Glass Co. They are topped by two-piece threaded polypropylene closures with decorative overcaps supplied by Yoshida Sangyo Co.

Added work
The labels also are applied to a 75-mL glass bottle of daytime protective emulsion and a 150-mL bottle of enriched balancing softener, both parts of the Shiseido Benefiance product collection.

Fortunately, the labels themselves, even in the thinnest version, are as tough as they are decorative. They are made of 25-micron silver polyester, DuPont's Mylar, getting their golden gleam from two letterpress passes, and are given a clear 16-micron polyester film lamination, before they are embossed and die-cut. They're supplied by Cultech on a backing made with a lamination of 93-micron glassine and 20-micron PP film. Cultech also provides the jar-base p-s labels, letterpress-printed on a 25-micron matte polyester lamination, identifying the products and carrying production codes.

The very same gold wraparound labels, though supplied on a flat sheet, date to the time when application was manual, recalls Thomas J. Halligan, director of production operations at the Shiseido plant. "Our packaging line people are very capable with manual application, and we teach them a lot of the different functions needed so we can focus our efforts efficiently," he tells PD. "With the labels, we would often see up to 9,000 applied in a seven-and-a-half-hour shift."

Because of the very recent installation at the time of PD's visit, Halligan and Hvozdovic concur that they're still on an upward arc, running the label applicator between 30 and 34/min consistently. Hvozdovic notes, "Right away, we saw output of 10,000 per shift, and now we're approaching 13,000. The applicator is rated to forty a minute, but we don't believe in running equipment flat out. There's no need. We're already way ahead."

Biggest gains
One of the biggest initial gains is on staffing the packaging line into which the label applicator will fit. Hvozdovic says, "We can have up to twenty-nine people on that line, depending on the package components to be handled. Now, we're using their skills better by eliminating the need for the five people applying the labels. We estimate that with this gain alone, the payback on the applicator will be around six months. I've never seen anything like that before."

Still, both of the plant leaders look forward to incorporating the applicator into the packaging line. This line, installed five years ago at the opening of the East Windsor plant, consists of a Japanese-made two-head volumetric filler working off of a 10-puck rotary feed that then moves containers to a single-head capper with a special gripper to delicately handle the highly decorated closures.

To these are added two customizing elements. The first is a Sch?fer Etiketten Combina label applicator for the bases of the containers; the second is the production jet coder, a Videojet Excel 178i. "It's just beyond this point that we'll mount the new label applicator," Halligan says. Downstream functions that remain manual, continuing to require teams of people, are placement of product applicators, literature and inserts in the unit folding cartons for the jars; but shortly at higher levels of output.

In the development period, one of the biggest challenges came with the smallest container, the 15-mL jar. "When we saw that, we knew that the label length wouldn't allow for full wiping on the sides," says LogoTech labeling systems sales manager Gary Wiesner. "So our design team engineered the second clamping system to lift the jar from the conveyor so the wipers could reach the bottom without hitting the conveyor. This became very significant, because one of the requirements of this program is that the applicator had to be able to handle the full range of labels with no changes to their specifications."

Visiting the East Windsor plant to discuss specifics of the additional applicators is Haim Hershman, president of LogoTech parent Tadbik Labeling and Marking Systems in Petach Tikva, Israel. He informs PD: "The TD-700M is built on principles that are well understood throughout the industry. The key to determining where these can lead is a combination of control, timing and consistent quality in manufacture. There are no secrets. There is only discovery."

More information is available:

Label applicator/PLC: LogoTech, 877/888-1888. www.logotech-inc.com. Circle No. 201.

Servo motor: Leeson Electric Corp., 262/377-8810. www.leeson.com. Circle No. 202.

Sensors:Sick, 800/325-7425. www.sickoptic.com. Circle No. 203.

Cylinders, valve: Festo Corp., 800/993-3786. www.festo-usa.com. Circle No. 204.

Jars: Koa Glass Co., +81-3-3684-1211. Circle No. 205.

Closures: Yoshida Sangyo Co., +81-3-3613-0101. Circle No. 206.

Label stock: DuPont Polyester, 888/738-2002. www.dupont.com/packaging. Circle No. 207.

Label supplier: Cultech, 732/225-2722. www.cultech.com. Circle No. 208.

Label applicator: Sch?fer Etiketten, +070 22 950/0. www.schaefer-etiketten.de. Circle No. 209.

Coder: Videojet Technologies, 800/654-4663. www.videojet.com. Circle No. 210.