After six years of planning, Takaka Springs Water Company set up their production centre in Golden Bay early 2005 to produce and package high quality drinking water. One popular range is little (100 ml) pottles of water produced under contract to airlines: throughput is now almost 200,000 units a week.
Company director Jensen Skulander says the company checked out different machine suppliers to print the date code on each pottle. The preferred choice was Tronics and their Videojet 43s small character industrial ink jet printer rated for affordability and requiring minimal attention by operators and maintenance staff.
Says Skulander, “The 43s was more cost effective and it was recommended by the firm who made the water filling machine. Also it came as a stand alone unit that needed no special mounting. We chose to rent rather than purchase because we were a first-time operator needing installation assistance and on-going technical support, plus there were tax advantages”.
Tronics technical sales staff were very helpful and their technicians made several trips to the remote factory, sorting out teething problems. The 43s has since worked perfectly, printing up to 40,000 pottles each day through a five-day week.
Skulander says they will continue with the rental option. “We’ve been trialling a Videojet laser coding system and at some time in the future we are likely to install it”, he says.
Tronics point out that the 43s has a rugged stainless steel cabinet rated to IP53, a printhead that self-cleans on start up and shut down, and an internal pump that needs no factory air.
