The carpenter’s mantra is to measure twice and cut once. It’s a simple idea, really. Before doing something irreversible and costing yourself time and materials, take a few extra minutes and make sure that you’ve planned appropriately.
This isn’t a new concept, it’s first written publication traces back to Italian goldsmith, sculptor, draftsman, soldier and musician, Benvenuto Cellini back in the 1560s. Odds are it was around well before that. Its simplicity is what makes it so perfect, and is why it is still applicable here today.
On June 30, 2017 the FDA announced a delay of enforcement in the penalties associated with DSCSA. The November 27, 2017 date of enforcement becoming November 27, 2018 was viewed by many as a reprieve. It gave breathing room and hope to some of those companies who were behind their targets.
It should also be a call for companies to be like Cellini, and measure again.
At Domino we have witnessed the same narrative on numerous occasions when a company goes towards serialization. The thought is to pull a non-serialization capable printer out, and drop a new printer capable of serialization right in its place. After all, a printer is just a printer, right? Wrong.
Today’s serialized code contains more data and text than have ever been printed before. It contains a datamatrix code that needs to be read by a camera and verified as C or better – most often B or better. With Datamatrix codes everything needs to be evaluated, the color of the carton or the label, the location and vibration of the host equipment, the axis of that vibration, the friendliness of the material. A printer is NOT just a printer, it’s now part of a whole system – and in many respects, is the CRITICAL component of that system.
No matter how many hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent upgrading a line and installing serialization software – one mistake on the printing side can relegate all of that money wasted. If the printer, printing environment, and printed material aren’t viewed holistically, then vision systems reject good product, product holds and rework can occur, and money is wasted. All because we assumed a printer is a printer.
The June 30 delay has given you some time. It’s given you the ability to evaluate your system, and that’s what Domino is there to help with. We aren’t there to sell a printer, we are there to help make the correct decision. Sometimes that decision is to move a perfectly good printer away from a vibration. Sometimes it’s the opportunity to educate your label convertor or carton manufacturer about how to create a laser friendly substrate. Sometimes the call is to simply say, “You know what – you’ve made all the right decisions.”
In any event, if you have any lingering questions about your production line, and how serialization ready you are, call Domino. Have us come in and give you that second measurement, because now you have until November 27, 2018 to make that cut.
Paul Hammond
Sector Development Manager – Life Sciences
Domino North America
(224) 545-2165