Bottled Water Plants - Labeling

LABELING

The label you choose for your bottled water will play a large part in your presentation of your product to your customer! A labeling machine is an integral part of a packaging system. The type and size of bottle that you are filling will help to determine the type of labeler that will best suit your packaging system.

Labeling machines come in several levels of automation. Again, your level of production will play a part in selecting the correct labeler. The simplest labeling machine will present a label for manual placement on your container. The advantage of the manual labeling system is it allows the user to place the label anywhere on the bottle. The disadvantages of a manual system include the inability to consistently and accurately place the label in the same location and the possibility of falling behind at the labeling phase of the packaging system. It will be more than difficult for manual labor to label bottles at a speed that will keep up with an automatic filler or capper.

A semi-automatic labeling system allows the user to lay, or press, the bottle into position, using either an eye or a footswitch to activate the labeler. Once the label is in place, the user can send the bottle to the next packaging phase via conveyor or other method. The semi-automatic labelers eliminate the inconsistent placing of the labels on the bottles. However,they fail to eliminate the need for manual labor, and even the semi-automatic labeling system may not be able to keep up with an automated packaging system.

An automatic labeler will eliminate both the need for manual labor as well as the issue of labeling speed. Automatic labelers can be added to a packaging line to apply any of the following types of labels:

1. Wrap label - as the name implies, this type of labeler wraps the label around the bottle.

2. Front label - this type of labeler will apply a label to the front of the bottle.

3. Front and back label - the front and back labeler will apply two labels to the bottle, one on the front and one on the back. The front and back labeling system will give a similar appearance as that of a wrap labeler, with the exception being two seperate labels on the front/back labeler versus one continuous label on the wrap labeling system.

4. Panel wrap label - This type of label and labeling system is ideal for square type containers. This labeler will "wrap" a label around, for example, three sides of a four sided container. Though probably unusual in the bottled water industry, it is an option for unique water bottles. Custom labeling options, though rarely found in the bottled water industry, are also available, including top and bottom labeling and back labeling.

Special systems are also available for short production runs, such as a print and apply labeling system. The print and apply labeling system allows the user to print labels as needed, then applies them to the container. The print and apply labeling system is ideal for contract packagers who may have several short production runs with several different labels! 

CODING

Along with applying the label to the container, coding your product allows you to pass on important information such as Best By dates, expiration dates, batch numbers and more. Coding can be done in a number of ways and in a number of different locations. The most popular method of coding on a bottle of water is a hot stamp code applied directly to the label. Using hot stamp ribbon, the hot stamp coder will stamp an expiration date, batch number or any other information directly onto your label. Hot stamp coders are available to stamp anywhere from one to three lines of code on the bottled water labels. Ink jet and laser coders offer altrenatives to using a hot stamp on the bottle label. The ink jet coder and laser coder also offers higher speed coding for high production packaging systems. For more information on coding, please feel free to contact our Solution Specialists at:

1-888-393-3693