Printing & Packaging

Artwork, rolls and sheets, from the press to the pallet.

Packaging converters live and die by waste and changeovers. VECHR MES records every loss with a reason and keeps the artwork version on every roll and lot.

In short

Wrong reels and expired inks are refused at issue. The approved artwork is acknowledged at the press. Waste is booked by cause. Any roll or carton lot traces back to its film, board, ink and adhesive lots.

Two worked examples: a flexible packaging job and a folding carton job.

28 customer rolls slit from 7 master rolls
407,992 good cartons from 52,800 sheets
100 % of waste recorded with a reason, in both jobs

Flexible job: PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) printed in 8 colours to artwork V3, laminated to PE (Polyethylene), 67 g/m²
Ordered: 4,400 kg, accepted between 3,960 and 4,840 kg
Made: 7 master rolls slit into 28 customer rolls: 66,144 m² = 4,431.6 kg on 4 pallets
Carton job: Paracetamol 500 mg carton, 8 to a sheet on GC1 board
Ordered: 400,000 cartons, up to 5 % over, nothing under
Made: 52,800 sheets in 6 lots became 407,992 cartons on 18 pallets

Why square metres for film: it is the only quantity conserved through print, lamination and slitting. Kilograms stay an alternative unit, so the order, the receipt and the customer all see kilograms.

Two lines, walked stage by stage.

Pick a line, then scroll to follow the job.

01 version

Artwork VECHR MES records Approved proof acknowledged at the press
02 m²

Printing and lamination VECHR MES records Artwork version and cylinder set per roll
03 master roll

Curing VECHR MES records Curing time in the schedule before slitting
One master, four rolls
04 customer rolls

Slitting VECHR MES records Split into named rolls, linked to the master
05 kg · pallet

Palletising VECHR MES records Roll weight from the scale, SSCC per pallet

SAP owns stock. VECHR MES owns what happened on the line.

Record	Owned by	What the other side does
Released order, BOM (Bill of Materials), materials and units	SAP	Copied at release, gross of expected waste
Approved artwork version and proof	Prepress	Shown and acknowledged at the press, stored per roll or lot
Execution, waste by cause, genealogy	VECHR MES	Confirmations and scrap by reason go to SAP
Roll and lot numbers	VECHR MES or SAP, decided in the workshop	Carried on every posting
Stock	SAP	VECHR MES posts a receipt per closed pallet
Machine values	Edge Agent	Metres, sheets, states, register and defects to VECHR MES

Every loss gets a reason, and a wrong reel is refused at the press.

Today Waste is one number at the end of the job.

With VECHR MES Every loss is booked by cause: makeready, splice, edge trim, rejects.

Today The wrong reel reaches the press.

With VECHR MES Each reel and ink lot is scanned. Wrong or expired material is refused.

Today The artwork version lives in someone's head.

With VECHR MES The approved version is acknowledged and stored per roll or lot.

Today A complaint means searching job tickets.

With VECHR MES A roll traces back to its film, ink and adhesive lots.

How to read the status: Ready runs on the standard product. Configured is assembled in your project from existing building blocks, without new code. Built on request is developed once discovery confirms the need.

Stage	How VECHR MES handles it	Status
Material check	Each reel and ink lot scanned at issue. Wrong, expired or blocked material is refused, FIFO (First In, First Out) or FEFO (First Expired, First Out) with a reason.	Ready
Artwork at the press	The revisioned work instruction carries the proof, acknowledged at start. Scanned version and cylinder set stored per roll. Refusing a mismatch is a flow.	Ready Configured in your project
Setup to first good	Changeover minutes and crew, trial metres as makeready scrap, first-off approval. No running before it passes is a flow.	Ready Configured in your project
In-process checks	An inspection plan per operation on a revisioned specification, PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) values read automatically, out of limit raises a non-conformance	Ready Configured in your project
Waste	Scrap with reason groups per operation: makeready, splice, edge trim, defect removal	Ready
Curing	24 hours in the room, in the schedule, released to the slitter after a lab pass	Ready Configured in your project
Slitting	Lab results on the master, split into four named customer rolls, linked to the master	Ready
WIP between steps	Each roll or lot queued, in process or on hold at one step. A part roll keeps its balance.	Ready
Line clearance (carton)	Acknowledgement plus a pass or fail check with two names. A failed item refuses the start.	Ready Configured in your project
Pallets	Each pallet gets an SSCC and is closed in VECHR MES	Ready
Tools	Cylinders, plates and dies are not tool records yet. The set is stored as a value and plates are consumed as material.	Built on request

One job, the same seven moments of truth.

Ready, setup, first good, run, handover, reconcile, release. Every job runs the same way.

Ready for brand owners who audit their suppliers.

Line clearance with two names before a job starts
In-process checks per operation, on a revisioned specification
Pharmacode and Braille checks recorded at the folder-gluer
Out of limits raises a non-conformance
Lots held and released by QA (Quality Assurance)
Pallets labelled with a GS1 SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code)

Presses, folder-gluers and cameras report straight into the job.

Values read from the machine land on the roll or lot that is on it.

Machine signal	What happens in VECHR MES	Status
Register error, viscosity, roll weight	Data collection value, non-conformance if out of limit	Ready
Press run, stop, makeready	Resource state with reason, such as cylinder change or web break	Configured in your project
Web-inspection defects	Value recorded, removed sections booked as defect scrap	Configured in your project
Press waste-sheet and camera reject counts	Scrap with a reason on the lot on the machine	Configured in your project
Camera code mismatch (pharmacode)	Critical non-conformance, lot held automatically	Configured in your project
Spectrophotometer ΔE, lab testers	Data collection value, by file or MQTT	Configured in your project

OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) per machine from output, scrap and standard rate. Quantities are stored in one unit, so sheets and cartons compare. Makeready, plate change and die change are reasons of their own.

A complaint about one roll traces to its film, ink and adhesive lots.

A customer roll's report includes its master roll's records: one report, from the pallet back to the raw lots.

A recall, step by step.

1 Start from the complaint Scan the pallet SSCC or the roll label.
2 Roll to master The split link leads to the master roll.
3 Master to raw lots Film, ink and adhesive lots, with press and lab values.
4 Raw lot to other rolls A recall search finds every master and customer roll it touched.
5 Hold and block A held roll cannot move, be slit, packed or received.

For cartons, a mix-up traces from the pallet to the lot, the folder-gluer and the previous job's clearance record, with names and times.

The press or the folder-gluer sets the pace.

Changeovers are what you sell capacity with, so they are first-class in the plan.

Drum The bottleneck that limits the whole plant. VECHR MES detects it automatically from the load.
Buffer How many minutes earlier the steps before the drum start, so it never waits.
Rope The release rule: upstream work starts at drum free minus buffer. Steps after the drum run forward.

Illustrative timing: the operations before the bottleneck take 45 minutes, and the bottleneck is free at 10:00.

Need	How it is handled
Finite schedule	All machines, calendars, shifts and breakdowns
Changeover	A matrix per machine, from material to material, netted with cleaning time
Drum	DBR (Drum-Buffer-Rope) paced to the press, or to the folder-gluer for small pharma cartons
Curing	Curing capacity and time in the schedule
Labour and maintenance	Crew size, certification, labour tracking, maintenance on running hours
Sequence	The planner sequences. The scheduler does not reorder, and gang runs are not modelled.

Press changeover minutes per job are measured automatically, so the changeover matrix can be tuned from real data.

Orders come down gross. Good quantity and waste go back up.

The order is released with room for expected waste. What you made, and why the rest was lost, flows back.

Film and board go out. Pallets come in.

SAP movement	Posted when	Status
Production order in	SAP pushes through the API, or a timed pull	Configured in your project
Goods issue (261) for film, board, ink, glue	Material is consumed, in kilograms or sheets	Configured in your project
Pallet goods receipt (101) and reversal (102)	A pallet is closed or voided, with SSCC and lot	Configured in your project
Scrap and confirmation	Scrap by reason, output and order status	Configured in your project
Release, block, reject (321, 344, 350)	Hold released, hold or non-conformance	Configured in your project
Posting log with nightly reconciliation	Every pallet and movement posted exactly once	Built on request

Interface rules

Decide whether the order is gross or net, and in kilograms or square metres
Decide whether a receipt uses nominal or weighed kilograms
New artwork: a new material or a new revision
Today an event is retried while VECHR MES runs, so a posting log is the recommended design

Execution, waste, genealogy and scheduling run today.

Ready

Order, routing, operator terminal, split, scrap by reason
Genealogy from customer roll or lot to raw lots
Data collection, non-conformance, hold, release signature
Material check at issue, changeover and first-off record
Roll and lot WIP (Work in Progress), part rolls, roll balance
Advanced Scheduling: changeover matrix, curing, DBR
Pallets with SSCC
OEE, downtime, maintenance, labour tracking

Configured in your project

SAP postings
Counter flows from press and camera
Automatic hold on critical readings
Recall search from raw lot
First-good and clearance vetoes
Curing release, inspection frequency, close-out

Built on request

Customer and tolerance on the job
Cylinders, plates and dies as tools
Machine recipes, defect maps
Labels, one lot per pallet
AQL, gang runs, sequencing optimiser

Proof of Concept: one press line, measured against your own tallies.

Your jobs, your materials, against an SAP sandbox.

Area	Acceptance criterion
Waste	Waste per job by cause within 2 % of the operators' tally
Trace	Customer roll to film, ink and adhesive lots in under 5 minutes
Changeover	Press changeover minutes per job measured automatically
First good	No production run after a changeover until the first-off has passed
Camera (carton)	A pharmacode mismatch holds the lot within one minute
SAP	Every pallet receipt posted exactly once, with zero reconciliation differences

Decisions we make together in the first workshop.

Gross or net order, in kilograms or square metres
Who numbers rolls and lots: VECHR MES or SAP
Nominal or weighed kilograms on the receipt
Which readings or camera events hold a roll or lot
One lot per pallet, per case, or mixed
New artwork: new material or new revision

What changes, job by job.

Illustrative inputs from the worked example. Your own figures replace them in the Workshop Assessment.

What changes	Today	With VECHR MES
Makeready and splice waste, flexible job	1,100 m²	825 m²
Cylinder change on the press	120 min	110 min
Sheet waste, carton job	3.4 %	2.4 %
Folder-gluer format change	45 min	35 min

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we sell by the kilogram and plan by the square metre?

Yes. Square metres, kilograms, rolls and pallets are alternative units on the same material, and every posting carries each one.

Do you track cylinders, plates and dies?

Not as tools yet. The cylinder set is stored on each roll, and plates are consumed as a job-specific material, so they appear in the genealogy.

Can a wrong artwork version stop the press?

Yes, with a blocking flow configured in your project. The scanned version is stored per roll either way.

How do we see where we land against the customer's tolerance?

The order is released gross to cover expected waste. Good quantity and waste by reason are recorded live, so the result is visible before the job closes.

Keep reading

Terms on this page(22)

APIApplication Programming Interface: The way one system calls another, such as SAP sending orders to VECHR MES.
AQLAcceptable Quality Limit: The highest defect rate a sampling inspection still accepts for a lot.
BOMBill of Materials: The list of materials, and how much of each, needed to make one product.
DBRDrum-Buffer-Rope: A scheduling method that paces the whole line to its bottleneck (the drum).
FEFOFirst Expired, First Out: Use the material that expires soonest first.
FIFOFirst In, First Out: Use the material that arrived first, first.
GS1GS1 standards: The global body behind product barcodes and identifiers such as GTIN and SSCC.
HMIHuman-Machine Interface: The screen on a machine that the operator uses to run it.
MESManufacturing Execution System: The system that runs and records production on the floor: orders, materials, steps, quality and machines.
MMMaterials Management: SAP's module for materials, stock and purchasing.
MQTTMessage Queuing Telemetry Transport: A lightweight publish/subscribe protocol for sending machine data.
OEEOverall Equipment Effectiveness: Availability × performance × quality: how much of the planned time turned into good product.
PEPolyethylene: A plastic film, often the sealing layer in flexible packaging.
PETPolyethylene Terephthalate: A clear, strong plastic film, often the printed layer in flexible packaging.
PLCProgrammable Logic Controller: The industrial computer that controls a machine and holds its live values.
PPProduction Planning: SAP's module for production orders and planning. PP-PI is the process-industry variant.
QAQuality Assurance: The team that releases product and owns the quality system.
QMQuality Management: SAP's quality module: inspection lots, results and usage decisions.
SAPSAP ERP: The ERP most large Indonesian manufacturers run. S/4HANA is its current generation.
SDSales and Distribution: SAP's module for sales orders and deliveries.
SSCCSerial Shipping Container Code: The 18-digit GS1 number that identifies one pallet or shipping unit.
WIPWork in Progress: Material that has started production but is not finished yet.

See the full glossary →

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