Accurate to the touch

6 February 2006



Koehler Etiketten chooses Stork's RSI unit for cost efficient Braille printing


Pharmaceutical label converter Koehler Etiketten, of Leverkusen, Germany, has installed Stork Prints' rotary screen technology, in order to start up a dedicated, high speed Braille label printing service. The investment will help its customers meet the new EU ruling that requires all pharmaceutical packaging to carry the product name and drug concentration in a way that is readable by the visually impaired.

Koehler will be printing Braille dots with UV varnish on a Stork Rotary Screen Integration (RSI) unit. The company says that it chose the Stork screen system because the dots, which need to be 250 micron in height and 1.6mm in diameter, can be printed at a fast speed and accurately, in a single step. It is reporting 60m/min speeds.

In addition, the pure nickel, electroformed RotaMesh screen cylinders are strong enough to be re-engraved up to 15 times, so keeping consumable costs low. This ability to re-use the screen for several different jobs is of critical importance to Koehler, due to the extremely high number of Braille label orders it expects; already one customer alone is looking for Braille identification on 1,400 of its products in 2006.

In order to standardize the label printing operation, Koehler will limit the number of screen sizes used, so that makeready times – cylinder changes – take just a few minutes.

Berno Mattern, Koehler Etiketten's managing director, says: "The Stork rotary screen printing system means we can offer a highly flexible supply of Braille labels very quickly, while keeping costs firmly in check. It thus perfectly matches the needs of our business situation, and helps us gain a fast payback on investment."

Given that most of the company's pharmaceutical clientele are suppliers of parallel imported goods, order sizes are short, ranging from 1,000-50,000 label runs; it is often faced with scheduling emergency 'top-up' deliveries. Stork's RotaMesh RM75, with 40 per cent open area, is being used to print the dots. Stork Prints will carry out the screen re-engraving service at its Boxmeer headquarters.

Most of the company's customers want Braille on a separate label, so they have the flexibility to apply it anywhere on the pack. As a result, the dots are being printed on ultra clear 60 micron polypropylene self adhesive labels, without affecting the visibility of any graphics on the package or label underneath.

As well as the rotary screen printing unit, the new Braille line will feature a flexo station from AB Graphic. The purpose of this is visibly to mark the underside of the release liner, underneath each Braille label, with the equivalent of the Braille information. As a result, all who handle the label roll up to the point of container application can see exactly what the Braille label says, minimizing the chance of mix-ups. A turn bar inverts the web, to allow the dots to be printed on the facestock.

Braille is a system where characters are represented as dots in a basic block, two dots wide and three dots high, called a cell. All characters are combinations of dots within this framework. There is no 'redundancy' in the system – so accuracy concerning the placing of the dots is essential, otherwise misinformation is possible. Distance between dots is ideally about 2.5mm; spacing between cells is about six millimetres and spacing between lines 10.1mm. Typically, the Stork RSI rotary screen unit is said to offer a high registration accuracy of 0.1mm. Unless the label is for a very small container, uncontracted Braille – where each character is printed individually - has to be used.

Until the installation, Koehler specialized in letterpress printing. Now the company has employed a new member of staff with flexo experience. Stork has been on hand to give training sessions to help Koehler Etiketten master the rotary screen printing process quickly.

Council Directive 2004/27/EC, Article 56(a) reads: "The name of the product, as referred to in Article 54, point (a), must also be expressed in Braille format on the packaging. The MA holder shall ensure that the packaging information leaflet is made available on request from patients' organizations in formats for the blind and partially sighted." Every EU State has to implement the directive into its own law. As a result, the timescales for implementation vary from one EU member state to the next.

In Germany the law states that all products must have Braille identification by September 1, this year. In the UK all products granted marketing authorization from October 30, 2005, must comply with the regulation; it is proposed that products already on the market have five years to comply.

Stork Prints offers application know-how to those wishing to apply Braille to labels, flexible packaging and solid board substrates. Its modular RSI units, from 10-36in, can be built into a new press or retrofitted into existing presses. It has many screen cylinders in its re-usable RotaMesh range, but recommends the RM75 (40 per cent open area) for Braille applications.

Berno Mattern adds: "Thanks to the support and know-how from Stork we're on target for printing Braille on all labels by March, 2006. This should ensure that all products will be accessible to the visually impaired well before the regulations come into force."



Contact

Stork Prints Tel: +31 (0) 485 599296




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Berno Mattern: “The Stork rotary screen printing system means we ... Berno Mattern: “The Stork rotary screen printing system means we ...


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