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Laser coders efficiently hit their targets

A trio of laser coders give contract packager Reed-Lane Inc. the flexibility it needs to print on multiple substrates for its pharmaceutical customers.

Laser coder. A laser coder marks a carton containing a solid-dose pharmaceutical product.
Laser coder. A laser coder marks a carton containing a solid-dose pharmaceutical product.

Contract packager Reed-Lane Inc.’s Web site says its “mission for the past 46 years has been to provide the pharmaceutical industry with high-quality packaging. Attention to detail, creativity, and flexibility have been our hallmarks in supplying the industry with innovative solutions to their packaging needs in both primary and secondary packaging.”

The Wayne, NJ-based company’s attention to detail helped it notice limitations in some of its ink-jet codes. “The ink did not always set up well on the substrate,” says Richard Wrocklage, manager of technical services. “We had smudging problems with some of the labels and the plastic bottles that we were running. We also had a glass bottle that wouldn’t allow good ink adherence. We couldn’t have just changed substrates without changing our processes, so we looked to a new coding method.”

Reed-Lane’s search, Wrocklage says, involved “discussing it with some industry contacts who provided very positive feedback on the” Markem (www.markem.com) SmartLase® 100 Series “laser coders in terms of their reliability and ease of programming. The first one was installed and running about three years ago; the next two in the following 12 to 18 months.”

Wrocklage explains that the three SmartLase coders are established on three different product lines. One is on a dedicated product line that codes primarily onto chipboard cartons, while the other two are used to handle whatever job is running. Although the majority of its customer applications are solid-dose pharmaceutical packages for retail sale, Reed-Lane does provide prescription trade and physician samples and hospital unit doses.

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