United biscuits thinking outside the box

UPDATE: See a video of the system in action

While the use of laser coding on primary snacks packs might be some way off, laser coders will soon be in commercial use for outer cases at United Biscuits' KP Foods factory.

Historically, UB has always bought pre-printed outer cases for its snacks. This meant a large number of different boxes were needed to cater for all the company's different products and for promotional offers. The problem was that if UB bought, say, 50,000 boxes for a promotion and they weren't all used, the rest would have to be disposed of as they would no longer be of any use.

At the beginning of 2008, UB launched ‘Achieving Sustainability ', including the target of achieving zero food waste to landfill by 2010 and zero non-food waste to landfill by 2015.

To eliminate waste from unused cardboard cartons, UB has now started buying in standard generic boxes to which a laser receptive material is applied. This reacts on contact with the beam from Videojet's 3320 laser markers, to ‘write' the required data onto the boxes.

In this way, UB has the ability to put any information it wants on its boxes, including barcodes, graphics and special offers. The new system has enabled UB to not only substantially reduce the level of waste produced, but also save £128,000 in the space of nine months.

For more information about the Videojet lasers or outer case solutions, call 0870 240 5542

www.unitedbiscuits.com