Coding clarity for Claritin

Schering Plough has installed a Wolke m600 thermal inkjet printer, incorporating Hewlett Packard technology, at its Kenilworth plant in New Jersey, US, for coding cartons for its Claritin allergy medication.

The company expanded its packaging capacity after Claritin was made available over-the-counter. As part of the upgrade, a reliable coding system was required to print the production code and expiry date onto each carton. Key requirements were readability by an automatic vision inspection system, and reliability at the cartoner's maximum output of 320 cartons per minute.

Printed codes are immediately scanned for verification by SEA Vision optical character verification system, where accuracy and authenticity are ensured through the prior downloading of all codes onto the m600's controller using ascii strings. This enables a direct link between camera recognition and compliance with 21 CFR part 11.

The system also offers an HP cartridge that contains both the ink and the print head. This reduces maintenance, while simultaneously guaranteeing a consistent quality of code. The system is also drip-free during operation and changeovers.

Each Wolke cartridge holds 42ml of ink, and the system calculates how many individual codes can be printed before a changeover is required.