DURING a 30-year partnership with the Bushmills whiskey brand, Videojet Technologies has supported the heritage spirit maker with ‘cutting-edge’ coding and marking machines.
The firm’s technology, including six VJ3340 CO2 laser printers and six Large Character
Marking (LCM) machines, is said to have played a ‘pivotal’ role in maintaining Bushmills’ production efficiency.
Videojet’s machinery operates over seven levels in the distillery’s protected buildings, where space is limited and modifications to the structure aren’t possible.
The VJ3340 CO2 lasers are ‘instrumental’ in marking glass bottles with unique identifiers and production details. Videojet explained that the CLARiSOFT message creation software ensures ‘precise and customisable’ information on the bottles and cases, making it ‘ideal’ for larger-scale production lines.
The Large Character Markers (LCM) have improved secondary packaging. These printers replace the labour-intensive task of hand-rolling ink templates on boxes. The LCM printers can apply large characters of 3mm to 70mm in height, making them suitable for various product information needs.
Bushmills’ bottling hall manager, James Dysart, said, “Many brands don’t pay attention to their secondary packaging, but we know that when our whiskey is sat on a runway waiting to be loaded, or in a shipping container in a port, it’s a marketing opportunity. We give the same attention to the print quality on our shipping boxes as we do to the labels on the bottles. Bushmills stands for quality and this needs to come through at every point.”
Videojet Remote Support (VRS) offers online fault diagnosis and repair, often resolving issues without on-site visits. When an engineer is needed, Bushmills benefits from local support for each printer with three Videojet technicians based within 40 minutes of the site.
John Tierney, country manager at Videojet, added, “We’re a committed partner in the Bushmills relationship. Protecting the integrity of the whiskey brand has always been our main focus and we’ve worked together over the years to ensure that product quality is never compromised.
“Understanding Bushmills’ business and providing the products and services that allow the brand to grow and evolve is key. Using our expertise, we’ve designed solutions that have saved the customer time, improved production flow and contributed to lower running costs. We take a true partnership approach to create an environment for open dialogue. This means we can resolve any issues and plan for the next developments.”
