Produce Traceability Initiative - PTI
What is PTI? If you're in the produce business, you need to know. Quoting from the Produce Traceability Initiative website, it is “sponsored by the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), Produce Marketing Association (PMA) and United Fresh Produce Association, and is designed to help the industry maximize the effectiveness of current trace-back procedures, while developing a standardized industry approach to enhance the speed and efficiency of traceability systems for the future." To learn more, including timelines and requirements, visit the PTI site here.
What is PTI? If you're in the produce business, you need to know. Quoting from the Produce Traceability Initiative website, it is “sponsored by the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), Produce Marketing Association (PMA) and United Fresh Produce Association, and is designed to help the industry maximize the effectiveness of current trace-back procedures, while developing a standardized industry approach to enhance the speed and efficiency of traceability systems for the future." To learn more, including timelines and requirements, visit the PTI site here.
Pro Pack's Approach
The Pro Print™ line of equipment, designed and manufactured in our Salinas, CA facility, has been designed specifically to enable you to comply with the most stringent barcode and product identification requirements for your shipping cases. Having solved ink jet and labeling application challenges for dozens of customers across multiple industries for nearly 20 years now, and with a concentrated involvement in the produce industry, we have developed what we feel is the most complete line of complete solutions for PTI compliance that anyone has to offer. We go well beyond just the ink jet or the labeler component sale, insofar as we deliver a complete, integrated product handling and coding solution, and make sure it’s our best solution for your production scenario. Each of our systems has been production-proven over many years of use in the toughest of environments, so you can have confidence that the quality of print (i.e., scan-able barcodes) will be sustainable over long production runs, and that the equipment is designed for a minimum of maintenance and a maximum of life. Please use our simple guide to explore our systems and help find which of the solutions offered therein might best suit your needs. Please contact us for any help you need, or questions you may have.
The Pro Print™ line of equipment, designed and manufactured in our Salinas, CA facility, has been designed specifically to enable you to comply with the most stringent barcode and product identification requirements for your shipping cases. Having solved ink jet and labeling application challenges for dozens of customers across multiple industries for nearly 20 years now, and with a concentrated involvement in the produce industry, we have developed what we feel is the most complete line of complete solutions for PTI compliance that anyone has to offer. We go well beyond just the ink jet or the labeler component sale, insofar as we deliver a complete, integrated product handling and coding solution, and make sure it’s our best solution for your production scenario. Each of our systems has been production-proven over many years of use in the toughest of environments, so you can have confidence that the quality of print (i.e., scan-able barcodes) will be sustainable over long production runs, and that the equipment is designed for a minimum of maintenance and a maximum of life. Please use our simple guide to explore our systems and help find which of the solutions offered therein might best suit your needs. Please contact us for any help you need, or questions you may have.
Solutions Guide
This guide is designed to help you find a solution that might fit your needs best. Click the link for a given category that best describes your application.
This guide is designed to help you find a solution that might fit your needs best. Click the link for a given category that best describes your application.
• Print Flat Cases or Packed Cases?
Printing the flat case, before it is erected, offers distinct control advantages for optimum print quality, versus printing packed cases. It can also reduce the floor space required for a production line. However, a variety of reasons could indicate that printing the case after it has been packed may better suit your needs. Either way, choosing the right Pro Print™ system will deliver the best achievable print quality. Would you prefer to print your cases before they are erected or after they have been packed? Flat or Packed • Print While Flat
Would you prefer to print your cases offline, to be erected later or in a different location of the plant? Or would you prefer they are printed online, either feeding directly into an existing case erector or printing within the actual case erector itself? Offline or Online • Print While Flat, Offline
You have specified that you would prefer to print your cases before they are erected, to be erected later, or in a different location of the plant. What is your line throughput? Are your speeds less than 15 cases per minute or do you have higher speeds of 15-35 cases per minute? <15 cpm or 15-35 cpm • Print While Flat, Offline, Less than 15 cases per minute
You recognize the advantage of printing the case while it's flat. You know you want your system to be separate from the rest of your production line, and your throughput is less than 15 cases per minute. Given these choices we would suggest the Pro Print™ 1511. It is an economic offline printing system intended optimal print quality on lines where throughput is lower but printing standards are not.
Start over from top • Print While Flat, Offline, 15-35 cases per minute
You recognize the advantage of printing the case while it's flat. You know you want your system to be separate from the rest of your production line, and your throughput is somewhere in the 15-35 cases per minute range. Given these choices we would suggest either the Pro Print™ KD or the Pro Print™ KDS. Both systems are up to the task, offering ease of use and optimal print performance. The Pro Print™ KD is a simple, automatic system where the operator need only to add case bundles to the hopper and remove the printed cases when the catch bin is full. The Pro Print™ KDS automatically restacks the printed cases and discharges them on an indexing exit conveyor for fewer interruptions in the printing process.
Start over from top • Print While Flat, Online
You have specified that you would prefer to print your cases before they are erected and online. Do you have an existing case erector you would like to automatically feed with the pre-printed cases? If so, we would suggest our Pro Print™ KDS. A modular design allows it to be integrated with many popular case erectors. Our premier solution, however, is the Pro Print™ EBS/HS. Minimizing floor space requirements and capital investment, this system automatically prints, erects, and bottom-seals flat cases in a single machine, at speeds up to 35 cases per minute. Please read about all of the advantages of the Pro Print™ EBS/HS.
Start over from top • Print after being packed
If the best solution for your line is to print your cases after they have been packed, then our ink jet conveyors are designed just for that. Printing on packed cases is far more challenging than printing flat, knock-down (KD) cases, in that controlling the all-important gap of the printhead(s) to the case is so important for consistently achieving scan-able barcodes. Our designs offer smooth running, welded-frame, slider-bed conveyors that are optimized for high print quality thanks to their unique case-guiding designs. They can be built to print from one to all four sides of your shipping cases. If you need to print one side or parallel sides, your best choice would be our standard Pro Print™ IJC. But if you need to print adjacent sides, three, or even four sides, our Pro Print™ IJC/ATA will provide your best solution.
Start over from top
Printing the flat case, before it is erected, offers distinct control advantages for optimum print quality, versus printing packed cases. It can also reduce the floor space required for a production line. However, a variety of reasons could indicate that printing the case after it has been packed may better suit your needs. Either way, choosing the right Pro Print™ system will deliver the best achievable print quality. Would you prefer to print your cases before they are erected or after they have been packed? Flat or Packed • Print While Flat
Would you prefer to print your cases offline, to be erected later or in a different location of the plant? Or would you prefer they are printed online, either feeding directly into an existing case erector or printing within the actual case erector itself? Offline or Online • Print While Flat, Offline
You have specified that you would prefer to print your cases before they are erected, to be erected later, or in a different location of the plant. What is your line throughput? Are your speeds less than 15 cases per minute or do you have higher speeds of 15-35 cases per minute? <15 cpm or 15-35 cpm • Print While Flat, Offline, Less than 15 cases per minute
You recognize the advantage of printing the case while it's flat. You know you want your system to be separate from the rest of your production line, and your throughput is less than 15 cases per minute. Given these choices we would suggest the Pro Print™ 1511. It is an economic offline printing system intended optimal print quality on lines where throughput is lower but printing standards are not.
Start over from top • Print While Flat, Offline, 15-35 cases per minute
You recognize the advantage of printing the case while it's flat. You know you want your system to be separate from the rest of your production line, and your throughput is somewhere in the 15-35 cases per minute range. Given these choices we would suggest either the Pro Print™ KD or the Pro Print™ KDS. Both systems are up to the task, offering ease of use and optimal print performance. The Pro Print™ KD is a simple, automatic system where the operator need only to add case bundles to the hopper and remove the printed cases when the catch bin is full. The Pro Print™ KDS automatically restacks the printed cases and discharges them on an indexing exit conveyor for fewer interruptions in the printing process.
Start over from top • Print While Flat, Online
You have specified that you would prefer to print your cases before they are erected and online. Do you have an existing case erector you would like to automatically feed with the pre-printed cases? If so, we would suggest our Pro Print™ KDS. A modular design allows it to be integrated with many popular case erectors. Our premier solution, however, is the Pro Print™ EBS/HS. Minimizing floor space requirements and capital investment, this system automatically prints, erects, and bottom-seals flat cases in a single machine, at speeds up to 35 cases per minute. Please read about all of the advantages of the Pro Print™ EBS/HS.
Start over from top • Print after being packed
If the best solution for your line is to print your cases after they have been packed, then our ink jet conveyors are designed just for that. Printing on packed cases is far more challenging than printing flat, knock-down (KD) cases, in that controlling the all-important gap of the printhead(s) to the case is so important for consistently achieving scan-able barcodes. Our designs offer smooth running, welded-frame, slider-bed conveyors that are optimized for high print quality thanks to their unique case-guiding designs. They can be built to print from one to all four sides of your shipping cases. If you need to print one side or parallel sides, your best choice would be our standard Pro Print™ IJC. But if you need to print adjacent sides, three, or even four sides, our Pro Print™ IJC/ATA will provide your best solution.
Start over from top
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