AutoCoding Systems: the innovative solution eliminating packaging errors

Since becoming part of the JBT family in 2021, AutoCoding Systems has brought its innovative, automated software solutions for label inspection and verification to an ever-greater number of customers on the international stage. AutoCoding System’s Janet Harrison here explains why sustainable, labor-saving solutions are a key part of the company’s offer, enabling customers to save time, money and avoid costly labelling errors.

A software company needs to continually evolve and develop to keep ahead of the curve and AutoCoding Systems is no different. The AutoCoding software controls and manages all brands and types of printing equipment; the AutoCoding driver library must, therefore, constantly be extended to cover any type of equipment already used at a new customer site or any existing printer upgrades.

This, of course, also applies to inspection equipment, outercase coders and pallet labellers.  As part of JBT, and a sister company to Proseal, the natural progression of the software was to expand integration to Proseal tray sealers and the new CP3 case packing system.  AutoCoding and Proseal have been working together to identify the touchpoints where AutoCoding’s solutions can add value.

Inspection depth AutoCoding’s automatic print inspection solution, 4Sight, was launched at the end of 2019 and earlier this year the UK Patent Office recognized the merits of the innovative inspection method used and granted AutoCoding Systems a UK patent for Systems & Methods for Printed Code Inspection.

This was a major achievement for Technical Director, Robin Eatch, who invented 4Sight, recognizing that conventional vision technologies which relied on font matching were not always appropriate for some print inspection applications. Using his extensive knowledge of printers and printer characteristics, Eatch developed a new innovative methodology known as Inspection Depth. The 4Sight software has continued to be developed to offer enhanced functionality and additional types of inspection.

Global availability Over the last 12 months, AutoCoding has continued to win some major orders in the UK, the US and Australia. A major manufacturer of fresh prepared food in the UK has been a key customer for AutoCoding for many years. This relationship has now extended to the US with the manufacturer entrusting AutoCoding Systems with all their coding management and packaging verification requirements across their US sites. In Australia, existing customers have recognized the benefits offered by AutoCoding and have extended their software solutions to the remaining lines in their factories, including value add modules to automate quality processes, inspection reporting and print inspection.

Since joining the JBT family, we have been able to build relationships with other team members throughout the world. Our relationship with Proseal has developed over the last year with AutoCoding Systems joining the Proseal team at Fruit Logistica and Anuga. Following JBT’s lead on sustainability, all cars in AutoCoding Systems fleet are being changed to hybrid or electric models moving away from petrol and diesel versions.

Sustainable focus As well as coding management and packaging verification which reduces, if not eliminates, coding and packaging errors, AutoCoding Systems offers value added modules to help customers become more sustainable. The Paperless Quality module automates the quality processes on the packaging line, prompting actions to be taken at job start, at timed intervals during the production run and at job end. The application is configurable to customer requirements and all actions and results are recorded in an audit log for reporting purposes. This ensures all quality checks are undertaken at the correct time and dramatically reduces the amount of paper records meaning less storage capacity needed.

The Line Performance Reporting module monitors the health and performance of individual pieces of equipment ensuring they are operating at maximum efficiency.  The real-time application allows proactive steps to be taken to improve efficiency of individual devices and the packaging line as a whole.

Further, AutoCoding Systems offers solutions for automating processes on the packaging line.  Automatic set-up of equipment and automation of processes saves time both in terms of labour and downtime on the packaging line ensuring improved efficiency. By automating what are normally time consuming, repetitive and often mundane tasks, errors are reduced resulting in less scrappage and packaging waste. Labor is also released to be used more usefully elsewhere in the factory.

AutoCoding Systems will be continuing its close partnership with JBT Proseal by joining them on Stand 514 at Fruit Focus 2022, which takes place on 13 July 2022 at NIAB EMR, East Malling, UK. AutoCoding Systems and Proseal also plan to hold a joint Customer Open Day in August 2022.