AutoCoding Systems continues their success with Gerber Juice Company
AutoCoding Systems and Gerber Juice Company have enjoyed a longstanding business partnership spanning many years. As one of the UK’s largest juice manufacturers, the Gerber Juice Company is a perfect example of a highly integrated factory.
Not only have AutoCoding Systems installed autocoding software on most of the lines in the 17 acre production facility in Bridgwater, but they have worked with Gerber to develop other bespoke solutions to help ensure quality packs are produced. Gerber provide quality assurance at every stage of their packaging processes. It’s no surprise, therefore, that if a potential problem can be resolved by automating the process, Gerber Juice Company and AutoCoding Systems will work together to develop customised solutions, often building on AutoCoding Systems’ extensive library of software modules.
To avoid the risk of coding and packaging errors, and to reduce downtime during product changeover, most of the lines in the Bridgwater factory are controlled by an AutoCoding dedicated line terminal which is responsible for setting up the coding, verifying and line control equipment. As Gerber has invested heavily in ERP and WMS systems, the business wanted to make the best use of existing product data. AutoCoding Systems developed interfaces between the ERP, WMS and AutoCoding systems allowing direct access and import of all product data from the ERP system and integration with the WMS system for pallet labelling. A daily download of products, customers and orders is performed automatically with a manual override that can be initiated from the line terminal should new orders be required immediately.
As well as the implementation of the coding and packaging verification system and an inspection system, the filling lines are serviced by six pallet labelling islands controlled by AutoCoding Pallet Labelling Controllers.
Mark Gravatt, Finance and IT Director, stated, “When a new product line is launched, it invariably creates its own individual challenges. AutoCoding Systems continues to work with Gerber Juice to develop new functionality in its standard products based on our specific requirements. We know that as soon as we identify a potential problem in manufacturing a new product line, AutoCoding will rise to the challenge and develop a bespoke solution designed to meet our entire criteria.”
