A Sneak Peak on Chamber Seals

The flexographic printing process has already become the most desirable way to print the same pattern repeatedly.  This is perfect for making wrapping paper, candy bar wrappers, labels and for printing barcodes.  This process of printing has become much more than just printing on paper though.  Flexographic printing can be used for printing on cardboard for box material, it can be used to print on cellophane to create the wrappers for the food we eat and it’s made to create the packaging material for many of the items we buy at the store.  If you purchase an item that is produces in large quantities its highly likely the packaging was produced using the flexographic printing process.

What does this have to do with chamber seals?

The chambered doctor blade seals are the quiet hero of the flexographic printing process.  This is a process of printing that moves a material to be printed on called the substrate through the doctor chamber across the anilox roller where the plate is placed that carries the impression to be printed.  Inside the chamber ink is infused and metered by one blade while be extracted by the other but if the chamber seals were not in place the ink would escape the chamber and cause an enormous mess.

What materials is chambered doctor blade seals made from?

There is a variety of materials including polyethylene, felt, crosslink materials and neoprene.  These chamber seals are also made in a variety of shapes and sizes in order to handle the job at hand which is to keep the ink from leaving the doctor chamber to become a problem.  It’s important to keep the entire process of the flexographic printing as clean as possible because the set up time is longer than you might expect it to be.  With the right chamber seals in place the presses can continue to operate efficiently much longer than without them.

To know more information about chamber seals please visit the website.

A Brief on Barcode Verifiers

You actually see barcode scanners in your everyday life.  These tools have been developed over time to read the barcode of an item and instantly be able to calculate inventory, price, discounts and any other information associated with the item.  A barcode verifier is used by the manufacturing company to ensure the barcode that is attached to the product is accurate to ensure inventory accuracy.  Finding an affordable barcode verifier is important to a business that produces products that require barcodes.  There are a few different types of verifiers that can be used to ensure barcodes are accurate.

•    Stationary Wide Read – This allows a large number of barcodes to pass through the scanning field to be read.  Typically this barcode verifier would be placed in the print press room to read the barcodes as they come off the line once they are printed.

•    Stationary Narrow Read- This is an affordable barcode verifier that reads one barcode at a time.  Once the barcodes is affixed to the products being produced they can be read by these verifiers to ensure the barcode matches the product its attached to.

•    USB Portable – A barcode verifier that is portable and easily able to be connected to a laptop computer to allow the quality control team the ability to read and verify the barcode accuracy.  This portability makes a huge difference in that final step of verification.

Why do companies go through so much to verify their barcodes?  It’s important to have products sent to the right destination with a barcode attached that is accurate.  This allows for proper inventory controls and verification processes.  Any discrepancy results in a loss for either the selling company or for the manufacturer and often requires additional work to have the barcodes changed to reflect the product accurately.  Because this is a costly venture companies make a concerted effort to be completely accurate.

To know more information about barcode verification please visit the website.