Challenge

Lund Food Holdings, Inc., parent company to 11 Lunds and 11 Byerly’s supermarkets in the Twin Cities, needed a way to automate their automatic labeling system. The previous application process was very key intensive. The operators had to enter a large amount of data and be knowledgeable about the set-up and configuration of the system for the set-up of each print job. Because their products need both a top and bottom label, they had to change the top and bottom label format each time a new product was ran. Another issue that occurred was the operator needed to cancel the current job prior to sending the new print job which required the operator to physically go to the printer and cancel. If this step was missed, it was possible for the product to be mislabeled. Accuracy is very important to Lunds and Byerly’s because the FDA can fine companies for mislabeled products. And because of the constant production stops, downtimes also became a major issue.

Solution

With Coridian’s guidance and development assistance, Lunds and Byerly’s were able to simplify their label formats by creating a program that puts all calculations into the front-end application. The operator selects the production line, and scans the product barcode. The system loads the data for the product along with the required label format. The operator prints a sample label, checks for accuracy, pushes a print label button and enters a quantity. The labels then print and are applied onto the specified products.

Results

This new process makes the creation and support of new labels much simpler. “With a system as complex as this, I would have thought it would have been a more difficult transition, but after the first few days it has been virtually flawless and much, much faster than the old system,” said Dave Hjulberg, QA Document Control Specialist. “Our operators appreciate the system’s three easy steps: type number, enter and scan barcode to print.” Previously, only certain operators could run the software and print labels because of the system’s limitations. Now any operator can do it which makes training and staffing easier. Because the FDA monitors to make sure companies have the correct labels on the correct products, accuracy and control is very important. The new process decreases labeling errors, and the new automation increases speed and accuracy.

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