Medical Device Link.

SPECIALTY LABELING

John Henry Packaging Group (Lansing, MI) is testing a new software solution from Hewlett Packard Co. that prints labels with multiple security features linked to a publishing software database record. The software runs on HP’s Indigo digital printers.

Henry Sang, department manager, Hewlett-Packard, explains that, “HP Indigo technology now enables alphanumeric codes, 1- and 2-D bar codes, microtext, lenticular watermark, and invisible-ink security features that can be varied and linked for uniquely marking each label or a control group of products.”

“With more than five years of experience operating a state-of-the-art digital print center based on HP Indigo WS 2000, WS 4000, and 4050 digital printing technology, we are now incorporating multiple variable-data printed security features within labels,” says Dan Welty, marketing director, John Henry Packaging.
“This solution makes authentication more definitive and counterfeiting extremely challenging. It is much easier for a counterfeiter to copy a static feature, even a sophisticated one. Each label can feature a unique set of multiple covert and overt authentication elements, connected to the database record that generated the elements,” says Welty.

Labels can be authenticated throughout the supply chain with or without the aid of instrumentation. End-users or others could call a phone number to obtain instant verification of overt label codes, Welty says.

Welty says digital printing economically prints micro-text with high precision. The microtext shows up as a thin, faint, black line that can be read under a magnifying glass.

He notes that print elements can be altered to introduce additional levels of variability. Two numbers in an eight-number sequence, for example, could be printed in a larger font size and in different colors, with those varying elements linked to other serialized label features. The highlighted numbers would promote easy field identification.

Nosco is another company using HP Indigo printers to support faster label changes, reduced delivery cycles, and reduced inventory costs. John Henry has similarly used Indigo printers for prototyping and small runs, says Welty.

With the database software solution, security features are provided more economically. Expensive materials such as foil holograms and security paper are avoided. The Indigo system prints security features and other label content simultaneously, reducing production steps, Welty says.

“Digital printing security solutions involve only two parties—the printer and the client. This print-only solution shortens implementation time by months, significantly reduces costs, and provides the flexibility to make quick changes,” says Sang.

Welty says that the security feature printing with database management makes digital printing more attractive for higher-volume production. “Our goal is to expand the digital business to trials, new launches, and runs of 50,000 to 100,000 per order. If a company is losing $100 million in counterfeit products, and you are charging them 2 cents more a label, or a couple of hundred thousand more in label costs, then you are adding a lot of value,” he says.