A fruit shed is not a general packaging plant, and equipment specified as if it were is why so many produce lines have a labeling machine somebody stopped using.
We install labeling, coding and print and apply systems on the cherry packing line, the berry line, apple, pear and fresh-cut lines, from a field base in the Pacific Northwest. This page is about what is different on those lines, because that is where the specification decisions actually get made.
Want the line looked at before the next pack window opens? Book an equipment audit and we will walk it with you before the fruit arrives.
What does produce do to labeling equipment?
Produce attacks labeling equipment in six ways: water and condensation on the case face, fine organic dust in sensors and print engines, surfaces that are not flat corrugate, clear film and clear labels, cases that arrive out of position, and a season that leaves no time to fix anything. Each has to be designed around before the install, not after.
Water
Fruit comes off a hydrocooler or out of a cold room wet. A case that has been in a 34 °F (about 1 °C) room and then moves into a 70 °F (about 21 °C) packing area grows condensation on the outside within seconds. Pressure sensitive adhesive on a wet or fogged corrugate face is a coin flip.
The fixes are mechanical and they have to be designed in, not added later: applicator choice that tolerates a variable surface, label stock and adhesive specified for cold and wet application, application point moved to a drier part of the line, and in some cases an air knife ahead of the applicator. The wrong answer, and the common one, is to increase tamp pressure until the case dents.
Dust and debris
A packing shed generates fine organic dust continuously. It gets into label sensors, onto peel plates, into the print engine, and onto the platen. On a line running twelve hours a day in season, a sensor that was taught perfectly in April will drift by July. It is a common cause of the mid season call, and the first thing our labeling machine troubleshooting steps tell your own team to check.
Surfaces that are not flat corrugate
Produce runs on RPCs with molded ribs, waxed corrugate that resists adhesive, transparent clamshells, vented trays, plastic totes and wooden bins. Each one changes the applicator answer. A tamp that is correct on a flat carton face will bridge on a ribbed RPC. Air blow application exists for exactly that.
Clear film and clear labels
A clear label on a clear clamshell defeats an ordinary gap sensor. It is not a settings problem. It needs a label tracing sensor built to detect transparent product, which is a specific part rather than a calibration.
Cases that are not where you expected them
Produce lines run at variable rates. Fruit arrives in surges, gaps between cases open and close, and cases are rarely square to the belt. Placement accuracy is therefore usually a product handling problem before it is an applicator problem: spacers, gapping units, timing screws, side belts, stabilizing belts over light cases, and rotary accumulation tables at infeed and outfeed to absorb surges.
The season
This is the constraint that governs everything else. A cherry line has a working window measured in weeks, starting around June. Berries run mid to late summer. There is no such thing as fixing it next month. Equipment either runs during the window or the window is gone.
Which is why our service calendar is built backwards from the season rather than forwards from the install date.
How does labeling differ from the cherry packing line to the pallet?
Labeling differs by line because the pack differs. A cherry packing line needs fast, wet-tolerant heads and a variable lot code on the case; berry lines label clamshell, case and pallet in one room; tree fruit lines handle larger cases and bins; RPCs push the decision onto the label stock; and the pallet needs its own SSCC label.
Cherry lines
High speed, wet, and intolerant of downtime. Cherries come off the optical sorter into clamshells, bags or bulk boxes, and the case label has to carry the PTI barcode with a lot code that changes through the day. The equipment side of that, from print engine to applicator, is on our produce traceability labeling hub.
Whole fresh cherries are not on the FDA Food Traceability List, so on a cherry line the PTI case label is usually a buyer requirement rather than a federal one. Our PTI and FSMA 204 guide sets out where that line falls.
What we typically install on cherry lines of this shape: multiple 200 mm labeling heads along the pack line, with a thermal transfer print engine where a variable lot code is required, on ALbelt conveyor sections sized to the case.
The detail that matters on cherry: format changeover. A packer running several varieties into several pack sizes will change label format multiple times a day, and doing that by editing settings is how you get a wrong label on a pallet. In the Altech ALritma range, the ALritma S stores 40 label formats and switches between them from its color touchscreen, which turns a changeover into an operator task rather than a supervisor task.
Berry lines
Berries are packed into clamshells and trays, then into cases, then onto pallets, which means three labels at three different levels, often in the same room.
A two section ALbelt conveyor carrying the case through a 200 mm head is a common shape on berry lines.
The detail that matters on berry: the backing web. High cycle rates on small labels generate a lot of waste liner, fast. A head with an integrated rewinder, such as the ALritma X S with its 250 mm rewinder, means the liner is managed for a whole shift instead of a whole hour.
Apple, pear and tree fruit
Larger cases, bins and totes, slower rates, and a lot more variation in case size across the season. This is where the large format tamp applicators, at 500, 750 and 1000 mm, earn their place on bin faces and oversized cases.
Tree fruit packers also tend to have the most mixed equipment floors, because the lines have been extended in stages over decades. We service Altech, Label-Aire 3100 applicators and 5100 systems, PackLeader, CTM and Tach-It machines, which is usually what a mixed floor actually needs.
Clamshell, tray and consumer pack
Top and bottom application on a clamshell, wrap application on a punnet, front and back on a tub. Two heads on a shared conveyor with the pack held square between them. The sensing is the hard part, because the pack is usually transparent and the label often is too.
RPC, bin and tote
Reusable containers are a different labeling problem because the container is not yours and the label has to come off cleanly. That pushes the decision toward the label stock and adhesive as much as toward the machine, and it is worth specifying both together rather than choosing a machine and finding a label that fits it later.
Pallet
Once the load is built it needs its own SSCC pallet label, on two adjacent sides of the load under the PTI hybrid pallet label rules. For a fixed line, a pallet labeling system. Where the pallet is presented in a fixed position and more than one face is needed, a four axis articulated arm working within a 1100 mm radius (about 43 inches), driven from a 7 inch touchscreen.
Food processing lines next door
The same equipment runs on food processing lines outside produce. The engineering questions are identical: wet environment, variable case presentation, a lot code that changes.
Which labeling applications do we build on produce lines?
On produce lines we quote print and apply for variable lot codes and PTI barcodes, merge (wipe-on) application, front and back, top and bottom, clamshell top and bottom with transparent-product sensing, bottle and jar wrap, and zero downtime dual heads. Date and lot codes printed straight onto a pack are a coding job rather than a labeling one.
- Print and apply with a thermal transfer print engine for variable lot codes and PTI barcodes
- Merge, where the label is applied wipe-on with the web speed matched to the moving product, the fastest method when product presentation is consistent
- Front and back on a tub, tray or bag
- Top and bottom on a clamshell or a flat pack
- Clamshell top and bottom specifically, with sensing for transparent product
- Bottle and jar wrap for beverage and value added lines
- Zero downtime dual head, where a second head takes over during a web change so the line does not stop for it
- Date and lot coding printed directly onto a tray, a lid or a case with industrial inkjet coding where a label is not needed
The dual head exists because of the season. On a line where an hour lost in July cannot be recovered, a second head is cheaper than the hour.
What should a packer expect from a labeling equipment supplier?
Expect the supplier to walk the line before quoting, commission on your own product at your own speed, schedule maintenance against your pack window, stock parts keyed to your machine serial numbers, and coordinate label stock with your converter. On a produce line those five habits decide whether a labeling system survives its first season.
We walk the line first. Case dimensions, case surface, actual measured line speed at peak rather than nameplate speed, the gap between cases, where an operator can physically reach the machine, where the label roll gets changed, air supply, power, and where the pallet gets built. That walk determines the applicator, and the applicator determines whether the system works.
We commission on your product. Not on a test carton. On the case you are actually running, at the speed you actually run, with your operators doing the changeover while we are still standing there.
We service before the season, not after the failure. Our scheduled maintenance plans are set against your pack window: sensors cleaned and retaught, peel plates and peeler bars checked, drive belts and sprockets inspected, and print engines serviced, with refurbishment arranged where an engine needs it.
We stock parts and arrange refurbishment. Peeler bars including spring loaded types, label sensors, drive belts, drive sprockets, proximity sensors, bearings, rewinders and unwinders, peel plates, axis mounting plates, motor drivers. Spare parts quotes go against your machine serial number, so you get the part for the machine you own.
We work with your label supplier. Stock, adhesive, core size and roll diameter all have to match the machine. Getting the core or the outer diameter wrong is a surprisingly common reason a new system underperforms, and it is a five minute conversation before the order rather than a two week problem after it.
Frequently asked questions
Can you work on our line during the season? We would rather not, and neither would you. The right time is the shoulder before your pack window. If something breaks mid season we will get to it, but the whole point of a maintenance schedule is that the July call does not happen.
Our labels stop sticking when the fruit comes out of the cooler. Is that the machine? Usually not. It is normally the combination of adhesive, surface temperature and moisture at the point of application. The fix is sometimes a different label stock, sometimes moving the application point, and sometimes a different application method. It is worth diagnosing before buying anything.
We run six varieties in four pack sizes. How much of a problem is changeover? It should not be one. Stored label formats on the head mean an operator selects a format rather than editing settings. If your current machine makes changeover a supervisor job, that is a specification problem worth fixing.
Do we need print and apply, or will a labeling head do? If the label content changes during a run, you need print and apply. If it is a preprinted label that only changes at changeover, a labeling head running a preprinted roll is simpler, cheaper and more reliable. Plenty of produce lines correctly use both, in different places.
Can you label RPCs? Yes, and the label choice matters as much as the machine because the RPC is a returnable asset. Specify the stock and the machine together.
How much does labeling a cherry packing line cost? It depends on how many label points the line has (case, clamshell, pallet), whether each one needs print and apply or a labeling head, and what conveyor and handling has to change around them. We quote after walking the line, because a figure given before the pack formats and the case rate are known is a figure for a different line.
Do you cover our area? Our field service base is the Pacific Northwest. Ask about anywhere else, because we would rather route you to somebody good than leave you without an answer.
Book a pre-season line walk
The cheapest hour you will spend before your window opens is the one where somebody walks the line with you and writes down what is going to fail.
We will look at the labeling and coding equipment you already have, tell you what needs service, what needs parts, what needs replacing and what is fine, and give you a written spec for anything that needs to change. Including telling you when nothing does. Request a pre-season packing line assessment, or call 253-709-5566.