February’s machine of the month is an innovative and low cost sandwich and snack labelling machine recently installed within Deli Central; a small/medium sized sandwich producer located in Shropshire. The solution is based on our proven ALbelt system, adapted to incorporate a bespoke conveyor belt arrangement that enables a variety of bakery products to be labelled off a single machine. To achieve this, the sandwich wedge pack products are fed onto a tailored conveyor belt on one side and standard flow wrapped products are fed onto a more typical conveyor belt on the opposite side; the appropriate conveyor is selected with a simple hand-wheel adjustment of the labelling head.
The system is designed to run at approximately 40 products per minute, for sandwich wedge packs with a tamper seal, (it has the ability to perform at a higher rate with alternate products) and has a unique function to apply a two part label. To achieve this, the machine has an advanced multi-labelling function incorporating a pneumatic system which applies the second label adapted around the back of the sandwich pack forming a tamper seal. As the print engine reads the two part label as a single label, no specialist software is required to set the design. The printer also facilitates real time print and apply so that variable information; such as name, ingredients and barcodes can be selected to suit the products being labelled on demand without the need for a separate print room process.
This system is used by Deli Central to label sandwich packs, baguettes, pasties, sausage rolls and wraps, making it a highly economic and versatile applicator. It is fitted on a compact base to minimise space requirements and fed from a HS40 sandwich pack sealer made by Soken Engineering.