“The switch from beer labels, printed using a laser printer, to inkjet beer labels, produced with a colour inkjet label printer and then applied semi-automatically not only saves us an enormous amount of time, but also looks so much better and increases the sales of our brewed products.” (Roland Rudolf)
Following text is a shortened version. Read the complete case study (PDF file) here.
Octopus-Bräu is a small brewery with a capacity of currently 100 to 200 hectolitres of beer per year. Hereby quality and taste are way more valuable than quantity. Important is the rediscovery of old, traditional beers, such as Wiener Lager, as well as the sampling of new beer flavours.
Initial Situation
Up until now the brewery Octopus-Bräu labelled their beer bottles with A4-sized laser labels. The process of printing and applying those sheet labels onto beer bottles is very time consuming as the labels need to be cut straight and then manually applied to the bottle angled correctly and centred – a rather tedious job. Even though laser printers produce good print results nowadays, you can still see the difference between laser and inkjet printed labels. Among other things, the opacity of the inks, which is important for a good impression, is weaker compared to that of suitable inkjet label materials. Furthermore, laser paper and the adhesive are less water resistant. Cold beer bottles “sweat” quickly resulting in labels to tear, wrinkle and then fall off altogether.
From idea to implementation
In a personal dialogue between the owner-operated label printing company Selfix AG and the owner of the brewery, Mr Rudolf, the requirements were first defined and then different solutions were proposed. Considering the large number of different products and the need for high and impressive printing quality Selfix AG recommended the LX2000e Color Label Printer from Primera Technology, Inc. The LX2000e enables Octopus-Bräu to produce labels for the 45 types of beer quickly, individually, in high quality and in small to medium quantities. The ease of operation and, above all, the print quality convinced Mr Rudolf and after a brief consideration the decision was made. The LX2000e is easy to use and operate. It offers both LAN connectivity for easy connection to an existing network and USB connectivity for direct connection to a laptop. With the included labelling software BarTender UltraLite for Windows labels can be designed and printed. All of those features were very convincing. In addition, large rolls with a core diameter of 76 mm and a maximum outer diameter of 152 mm can be used. Printed labels are rewound by a compact and efficient label rewinder with automatic speed control that is connected to the LX2000e. The last piece of the printing and labelling solution is the AP362e Label Applicator, also manufactured by Primera. This semi-automatic labelling machine allows individual labels to be applied to bottles and other cylindrical containers. “We can also apply front and back labels precisely and continuously in a single operation and without any effort, which saves us a lot of time,” says Mr. Rudolf. “The beer labels from Selfix meet our high expectations in terms of quality, functionality, deadline and consultation. Without the extensive know-how of Selfix, we would not have been able to implement this project.”