Bose Reduces Label Errors with Automated Labeling Systems
Customer
Bose Corporation is a leading provider of quality home cinema, music and loudspeaker systems. Bose supplies speakers to nearly twenty automotive manufacturers such as Ford, GM, Mazda, Cadillac and Porsche. To achieve a superior sound quality, Bose works closely with each automobile manufacturer to ensure that the sound system is engineered together with the vehicle — from the ground up.
Business Needs
Each day thousands of speakers in cases and pallets are shipped into the Bose Distribution Center in San Diego, CA. Here, orders are fulfilled by re-palletizing,
re-labeling and shipping pallets to automotive assembly plants.
To prepare orders for shipment, whole pallets are unloaded from carriers and moved to conveyors for labeling. Pallets are broken down and the cartons are placed on conveyor lines, where bar code labels containing shipping information are printed and applied.
Bose must comply with unique labeling standards of various manufacturers, and position shipping labels according to their specifications. Some manufacturers require placement of duplicate, serialized labels on adjacent sides of cartons, and some require placement of labels on opposite sides of cartons.
Bose stationed four line workers along each conveyor to apply bar code labels by hand to the cartons as they moved along the line. This manual process created a potential for labeling errors such as mismatched labels, incorrectly placed labels, missing labels, and application of the wrong labels.
Solution
Lowry recommended and installed two Paragon PLS-420 automated labeling systems. These sophisticated labelers have the capability of running 24” x 12.5” size labels, and storing recipes that include size, label location and timing sequence for labeling different size Bose cartons.
One single tamp labeling system prints and applies bar code labels to one side of the carton, and a dual tamp system prints and applies a second label to the opposite side of the carton. If adjacent labels are required, the dual tamp labeling system will apply both labels to the carton.
To detect the presence of an approaching box and initiate the automated labeling process, photo eyes with retro sensors — manufactured by Banner Engineering Corps — were installed on the line.
ODL (On-Demand Labeling) software, developed by Nonik Technologies Inc., integrates the Paragon PLS-420 labeling systems into the packaging line. The software creates a database of required sequential serial numbers to correspond with orders, and this data is then transmitted to the Paragon print engines.
Microscan model 880 fixed mount scanners installed on the line verify that the carton is correctly labeled and if two labels are applied…that the labels match.
As cartons come off the conveyor, they are re-palletized into a complete order. After the order is verified, an ASN (Advanced Shipping Notice) is created and the pallet is sent to the shrink-wrapping station. A Zebra bar code printer is used to print a pallet label that is manually applied to the exterior of the shrink-wrap packaging. |
