In your line of work, time equals money. The more product you can package in a certain time frame, the better. Increasing your line speeds, for that reason alone, is a great thing. But how do you do it? There are a few different ways, and once you know these helpful tips, you’ll be surprised you didn’t look into it earlier.

First Things First: Training

The first thing you can do to increase your line speeds is to ensure that all of your employees are adequately trained on the machinery you’re using. If they have any hesitancy when it comes to doing their work, this can snowball and waste a lot of time over the course of a day, a week, or a month. Another thing to consider is to train employees on more than just the machine they primarily use—that way, if someone is out sick, another employee can easily take their place, resulting in no downtime.

Identify Slow Spots – Monitor the Line

Next, you’ll want to monitor your line closely to identify any slow spots. This can be done either manually or with cameras to reveal places where the line slows down. This could be a scale that isn’t accurate enough to move packages along quickly, a capping machine that has trouble fitting the caps to the container, or any number of other sections that don’t work as efficiently as they could. Once you identify the problem areas, you’ll know what you need to do next.

Automate Time-Costing Sections

Once you’ve located problem areas, you’ll be able to make decisions regarding what to do to remedy the issue. For instance, if it’s an issue of a part being worn down, you can replace the part. If the entire machine is working improperly, you can talk to a technician about repairs or replacement, if that’s necessary. If you’re noticing a bigger problem—for instance, your team has to manually add caps to containers instead of letting a machine do it, you can decide to automate that part of the line.

Boost Employee Morale

Finally, another step you can take to help speed up the work process in your plant is to boost employee morale. This is a bit more involved, but happy employees who feel like their job is important and necessary will feel more inclined to do their work better and more quickly. Look into ways to improve your staff’s attitude and morale, and you might be pleasantly surprised at how much productivity can increase.

When you work in an industry that requires machinery and packaging materials to get your product onto shelves or into the hands of your customers, you know that there are sometimes unique challenges that you’ll have to face. One of those challenges may someday be not being able to get the proper packaging materials from your regular supplier, being sent the wrong material, or material for your machine being on backorder. This can create a serious snag in your production schedule, since if you can’t get a hold of the packaging, you can’t package or send out your products. This can cost you a lot of money, not to mention it can cause you to miss deadlines, which can leave you with unhappy customers. If this has already happened to you, or you’re afraid of when it might, you’re not helpless—you can start getting your packing materials from the vendor that sold you your machines! That way, the materials will always be compatible with your machines, and you’ll always be able to get it on time.

Saving Time and Money

Aside from saving you the hassle of having to deal with having to find an alternate source of materials, buying directly from your machine vendor can be helpful because you can rest easy knowing they’ll always have the ideal packaging materials for your particular machine. Because machinery vendors know what their clients are packaging (or at least can find out very easily), they’ll be able to keep stock of what materials might be sought after, which can save you time since you won’t have to wait for a third-party supplier to find out what it is you need before ordering it themselves.

A Range of Different materials Available

If you’re interested in finding a newer, perhaps more efficient material for your needs, a third party supplier might not know where to point you—particularly if they are just used to offering up what they’ve got in stock. A machine vendor might have a better idea of what will work best for your particular application, especially if you’ve got a unique product or tricky package to work with. In this instance, a machine vendor will be able to suggest the best type of material, leaving the guesswork out, which can save you the headache of trial and error.

If you’re looking for a way to simplify your packaging line and materials supply chain, purchasing directly from the vendor you bought machines from is a great way to do just that. Contact High Performance Packaging for more information.

When you are in the business of packaging food, it’s your responsibility to ensure that the product you sell is not spoiled or unsafe by the time it reaches distributors and customers. For that reason, printing a use-by or sell-by date on food products is common, standard practice to ensure safety.  Code date printers are one commonly used machine for printing these dates, but that doesn’t mean you’re stuck paying top dollar if you need them for your products. Instead, consider purchasing used equipment.

Top Brands and Reliable Machines

Many people think that buying used packaging machinery and accessories is a sort of “get what you pay for” situation, by which saving money means you’re getting an inferior, unreliable or damaged machine. That’s not the case when you purchase from High Performance Packaging, however. Our stock of inkjet and thermal transfer code date printers includes top brands that you can trust, such as Videojet, Markem, Norwood and more. These printers can be easily integrated into your packaging line, and work to promote safety. Having clearly printed dates alerts consumers when the products they are purchasing will expire and when it will no longer be considered safe or advisable to consume. Dates are printed on myriad products, from pharmaceuticals to foods and more, so it’s important to have a reliable machine for printing the dates legibly.

Printing directly on the product or product’s packaging has its own set of challenges, and these machines meet those requirements—for instance, some products like eggs need to be code-date printed with food-grade inks. Some other products and packages that code-date printers are compatible with include:

• Packaged, prepared food
• Pet food
• Canned fruits and vegetables
• Dairy products
• Cosmetics and personal care items

Aside from consumable products, code date printers are also used on industrial packaging, for instance on cables and pipes, chemicals and electrical/electronic components. Regardless of your specific application, when you need a reliable code date printer, purchasing used is a great way to get that quality without overspending.

Why Purchase Used?

Used machinery, when purchased from a reputable seller, can give you the option to get a machine that was previously out of your reach due to budget concerns. Used machinery that’s being resold is often in great condition, lightly used with a lot of years left in it. A common misconception is that purchasing used machines just means inheriting someone else’s problems, but a lot of the time, used machinery is just from a user who needed something else to suit their needs a bit better. Purchasing used machines such as code date printers from High Performance Packaging is a great way to get the machines you’ve been looking at and considering purchasing at a lower cost than you’d spend if you were buying new. An additional benefit is that HP Packaging offers training and technical support, perfect for getting your new machine up and running efficiently. We also offer troubleshooting services, preventative maintenance and performance improvement programs to help enhance your packaging line’s overall efficiency.