When wrong information is printed on labels, labeling can be a pain in the neck. Industry 4.0 connectivity combats that by enabling networked labeling. Don’t get into a frenzy about your labeling problems. Solve them once and for all by connecting your data streams to your labeling systems. Regardless of your industry, get rid of your media gaps and make your labeling tasks foolproof. With an OPC UA-based client data hub networked labeling can become a breeze.
Connected labeling systems ensure uninterrupted data streams – and that’s important for labeling tasks in manufacturing, food and beverage production as well as for labeling systems used in pharma plants and even for correct marking of construction parts. Networked labeling helps get the needed information onto your labels while also ensuring uninterrupted data flow. Networked, seamless, digitized. Parallel as well as simultaneous and in-synch data flow are the main characteristics of modern Industry 4.0 connectivity. If media gaps cause data interruptions, you might well end up with incorrect product codes or wrong information on the labels. And that might cause expensive recalls and possibly even fines. With the right code and meta data on labels and packaging of food items, manufacturing or construction parts, identification is easy and all necessary data can be read out when addressing the respective ID. When you look around in the supermarket, you see a wide variety of food packaging. The information contained on each package needs to be correct. If you get it wrong, you have to throw the whole lot out or repackage it all. That’s expensive.
Consequently, it is much easier to stay well informed and to get full data-control if systems are interconnected and can be managed as a whole and in a partly or fully centralized manner. Networked labeling can be established via the OPC Router (www.opc-router.com) as OPC UA client. The industrial software provided by inray in Germany offers plug-ins for M2M-communication and networked communication between various systems, machines and devices – including printers and labeling systems. Not only big corporations but also small to mid-size companies can benefit from affordable Industry 4.0 solutions made possible with the OPC Router
Connected labeling systems help stay compliant with legal obligations more easily – and that’s important both for national and international trade activities that require correct labeling of all devices, parts and packages. Rules and regulations, as specified e.g. in EU legislations, U.S. Government Regulations or UN regulations, differ in certain details. This is why products need to be labeled differently for different regional markets in order to comply with rules and regulations of the target trade country or region. These labeling differences need to be easily manageable, which is why information has to be processed for quick output of the correct labels for every country and region in the world. Labeling tasks can be very challenging: The layout has to be correct, all obligational data fields need to be on the forms and the print output has to be just right. Object identification systems like RFID devices and RFID transponders, barcode scanners and other Auto ID-ready devices are put to use in order to retrieve that main product ID – and with it all kinds of associated information. The product itself, its packaging, labeling and its documentation need to be consistent. Industry 4.0 connectivity ensures that interconnected systems can update data and information between each other continuously, to keep all information completely in synch, regardless of where the information or data is stored, managed or processed. Consequently, it is much easier to comply with legal obligations in regard to your labeling output if you can trust your own data at all times, and if information flows between business units, production and warehouse management are seamless and up-to-date. With inray’s OPC Router information flows from anywhere to everywhere: Seamless, continuous and fast.
Connected labeling systems help establish best possible digital processes in production – and that’s important in order to put in place the very best and technologically advanced digital process control systems that will also result in better information management for labeling systems and interconnected warehouse management systems. Thus, production information can be exchanged with a wide range of other systems outside the production or manufacturing halls, making data all the more useful to human beings working in various positions along the product value chain with their very specific set of responsibilities and skills. Even small batch size labeling can be carried out much more easily. Companies who would like to interconnect their standard labeling and printing machines as well as multi-format labeling systems and tamper-evident labeling systems with their respective ERP-systems and production management systems, can do so by using the OPC UA protocol via a specified industrial software that functions as OPC UA client. For instance, the German manufacturer Herma has successfully automated its entire production communication by utilizing industrial software developed by inray. Their specific need: Herma needed to connect various programmable logic controllers (PLCs) with its SAP ERP and wanted to improve system connectivity and automation processes of their manufacturing plants. One of the main advantages of switching to networked labeling was the ability to transform production into fully action-controlled production processes. Altogether 14 machines were made Industry 4.0-ready by enabling full PLC-to-SAP communication and by then enabling SAP-to-printing communication.
More information on how Herma implemented networked labeling making use of the OPC UA protocol via the OPC Router, is available here: https://www.opc-router.com/herma-automates-product-communication-with-inray/
As one of the leading specialists for industrial software in Germany and Europe, inray offers a variety of Industry 4.0-ready solutions for a wide range of digital data management requirements pertaining to both operational technologies (OT) as well as enterprise information and digital automation technologies across manufacturing industries. As experts for data communication, especially in the area of digital network automation, the scope of inray’s industrial software solutions is manifold. With the OPC Router inray offers enterprise-wide connectivity to both large enterprises and SMEs. The OPC Router is a powerful data hub that makes centralized data management much easier because it makes it Industry 4.0-ready. As developer of industry-focused and custom-made software solutions for factory applications, MES/SCADA, LIMS and MDE/BDE-systems as well as for PDC/MDC projects, inray servers manufacturers who trade worldwide.
Contact
inray Industriesoftware GmbH
Sören Rose
Holstenstraße 40
25560 Schenefeld
Phone: +49 4892/89008-0
E-Mail: redaktion@inray.de
Url: https://www.kepware-opcserver.de
