Improving efficiency and sustainability using Industry 4.0 enabled coding and printing technologies

Sandeep Vadakattu, Sr GM-Sectors, Domino Printech started his presentation by telling the audience that those who work in the pharma industry, must be using some technology or the other to ensure their products are identified in the market. So, they print batch codes, date codes, machine-readable codes, etc. “One may use different technologies while doing this particular activity. So, what can be done as a process of continuous improvement is to utilise the latest technologies, to make products more affordable; at the same time, make your product identification so much reliable that it is trackable and traceable throughout the supply chain till it gets consumed by the patient,” he said.

He mentioned that Domino is a multinational company with its operations in over 120 countries. “Its purpose is to apply industrial printing expertise and reliable solutions to help the world’s manufacturers be sustainable and cut waste while attracting, informing and protecting consumers. Domino provides all kinds of printing equipment which are required right from primary packing till palletisation and the required software to control these printers, especially when a large set of printers is installed across factories,” Vadakattu said.

Talking about the future of pharma packaging, he said, “With the strong experience we have, we strongly believe that the age of thermal inkjets for label printing is over, and it’s now more or less thermal transfer printers which are doing this job and tomorrow is of laser printers. By using laser printers, rejections will substantially come down,” he stressed.

In addition to it, he also highlighted the role of laser coding. “Inedible codes, instant and clean coding, along with flexibility, are some of the benefits of laser coding. It is highly efficient and requires minimum maintenance, inventory management and is sustainable,” he said.