Incorporated into the banding equipment at Primark is a direct thermal printing system, which means that each band applied also serves as the package’s label.
The banding can be applied to single packs, like a mix of berries in a thermoformed plastic bowl with snap-on lid. Or it can be used to bundle two or three primary packages together. Either way, the key benefit is that with direct thermal printing, users of the equipment don’t have to inventory pre-printed banding materials or labels. This would be especially appealing to, for example, a company selling six varieties of salads. Rather than inventorying preprinted banding material for each variety and having to change that material for each one, just run the same unprinted OPP material for all six varieties and simply change data at the HMI when you go from Salad #1 to Salad #2.
The banding material used in this application is currently OPP, though a recycled polyester is being looked at now. Two models are available. The CTW-B50 is semi-automatic in nature. The operator manually positions the container or containers being banded and hits a foot pedal to activate the bander. The more automated CTW-BC50 (shown here) includes a conveyor infeed and no foot pedal. -PW
