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.