Factory floor efficiency experts Marco have installed two additional bespoke filling stations for leading ink manufacturer Fujifilm Sericol UK Ltd at their plant in Broadstairs, Kent. Marco have built-up a long-standing business relationship with Fujifilm Sericol and this latest installation follows on from the success of the four station system installed in 2005 for filling special digital inks.

Fujifilm Sericol has created a dedicated factory within the main manufacturing plant for this crucial and rapidly expanding part of their business. The batch size and diversity of orders dictate that they need a manual filling system but these can be very labour intensive and rely too much on individual operator efficiency. The Marco filling systems, which provide integrated fill control, product labelling, stock control and lot traceability, have significantly improved fill accuracy and dramatically reduced giveaway.

The DataMaster work stations are designed for filling 1 litre to 5 litre containers in relatively short runs to fulfil customer specific orders. The system calculates the fill cut-off point, taking into account the product in-flight after the feed valve to the filling head has been closed. As fills are completed, the system checks the target weights against the actual fill and automatically re-adjusts the cut-off point to fine tune the next fill using Marco's innovative Automatic Optimisation (AO) process.

Each filling booth is of a bespoke design and equipped with a stainless steel weigh platform, cantilevered out at the optimum operator working height. This gives clear all-round access for cleaning in the event of any product spillages. The QWERTY key pad is readily available if any batch notes need to be added. This slides neatly away below the station and the DataMaster screen is situated within easy reach. The twin label printers associated with each station provide label information relating to the unique product, customer and batch code.

The existing system has brought important savings and efficiency improvements. Fujifilm Sericol's Digital Manufacturing Manager Steve Jones is delighted with the system and as he concludes: "The two new additional stations will help us keep pace with the growing demand for our digital inks. The Marco System gives us much more than just a filling system and we can easily see the efficiency of the entire filling process. Errors in filling and labelling have been eliminated and we have also eradicated time consuming paperwork systems."