Healthcare companies around the world will be expected to meet imminent
drug and medical legislations, including the European Union Falsified
Medicines Directive (EU FMD) and the US Drugs Quality and Security Act
(DQSA). Such legislation is creating a clear necessity for global
traceability solutions to better trace manufactured product, help stamp
out counterfeit pharmaceuticals and protect global consumer health.

Although
the pharmaceutical and medical sectors are most immediately affected,
other industries including tobacco, chemicals and food and beverage are
close behind with the need for more sophisticated supply chain track and
trace. In response, Wolke by Videojet has developed a new printing
technology specifically for track and trace applications, supporting the
packaging line OEMs and integrators that supply turnkey hardware and
software for these mandated serialization projects.

Since 2000,
Wolke has become a trusted leader in thermal inkjet (TIJ) coding
technology, with its legendary ‘m600 advanced’ serving as the global
benchmark for serialisation capabilities. Wolke engineers based in
Germany have created an all-new TIJ printing solution, combining the
strengths of the m600 advanced with innovative new capabilities that set
a benchmark for the future of global track and trace applications. The
result is the Wolke m600 oem. Practical in build and intelligent in
design, the m600 oem delivers absolute integration versatility combined
with the industry’s most powerful data handling and serialisation
capabilities, enabling manufacturers to meet global track and trace
requirements of today and of tomorrow.

The m600 oem features new,
smaller physical dimensions, delivering a footprint up to 60 per cent
smaller than comparable TIJ control systems for secure integration of
the controller directly inside the serialisation electrical cabinet.
With 18 possible mounting orientations and a choice of four distinct
printhead designs optimised for integration into constrained track &
trace packaging spaces, the m600 oem becomes a natural part of the
overall serialisation solution. The option to connect up to six
printheads, with any four running simultaneously, unlocks new
possibilities for switching seamlessly between various marking locations
without mechanical adjustments.

Drew Weightman, global business
unit manager of TIJ at Wolke and Videojet explains, “The m600 advanced
is a renowned machine that has become the trusted standard for track and
trace applications around the world. However, we saw an opportunity to
build from that solid foundation, introducing even more cutting edge
technology, processing power and security capabilities in a new form
factor. The resulting m600 oem is optimised in all of these ways for
global track and trace projects of the future, from Brazil to Italy,
Germany to Korea.”

The Wolke m600 oem offers complete backwards
compatibility with the industry recognised Wolke m600 advanced machine
to allow use of the same communication protocols, printheads,
accessories and existing label layouts, while offering sophisticated new
communication, logging and data handling capabilities. The m600 oem
also offers an enhanced data buffer capable of intelligently queuing and
managing vast numbers of pharmaceutical records and Unicode font
capabilities for seamless support of international projects. With
multi-level password protection of remote connections, comprehensive
activity logging and no possibility for data or settings changes via the
one-way controller display, the m600 oem sets a new standard for
process security and support of 21CFR Part 11 compliance.

Roland
Nickel, Wolke TIJ marketing development expert at Videojet, adds,
“Developing a practical design for sophisticated pharmaceutical OEMs was
critical, but we also wanted to deliver advanced performance for the
end user with new innovative features that drive productivity. A new
feature we call Perpetuo Print Mode provides users with the choice to
either double the production run time between cartridge changes or
manage their ink replenishment without needing to stop the line. In
addition, we have introduced Dynamic Print Intensity, an innovative
capability that allows configuration of different DPI resolutions for
bar codes and text within a single printhead, intelligently boosting ink
efficiency and run-time between cartridge changes particularly for
complex pharmaceutical code formats. ”

Compatible with the latest
Wolke cartridge technology, the m600 oem enables manufacturers to reach
previously unattainable print speeds and throughput, supported with
ultra-fast handling of serialized data that exceeds 20 variable records
per second, even of complex 2D DataMatrix formats.

Weightman
concludes, “Wolke has a long legacy of working directly with respected
vision inspection and packaging line equipment manufacturers to develop
highly capable coding solutions specialized for track and trace
applications. With the m600 oem, we have done that again. We would
encourage pharmaceutical, medical and other manufacturers to contact
Wolke, Videojet or their serialisation partner to find out how they can
benefit from this new global standard in integrated serialised coding.”

Wolke
by Videojet has been the trusted market leader in Thermal Inkjet
innovation for more than 15 years. Since launching the first high
resolution, low maintenance printing system, the Wolke product line has
become synonymous with quality, precision and security.

Videojet
Technologies is a world-leader in the product identification market,
providing in-line printing, coding, and marking products, application
specific fluids, and product life cycle services.