JH Bertrand

JHB uses Rotoflex slitter-rewinder with AVT vision technology

 
JH Bertrand uses a specially configured Rotoflex slitter-rewinder for thick booklet labels in medium and large runs. They have combined it with an AVT vision camera-software program designed for booklet labels. "I can't imagine how we lived without this vision camera in the past. It's a lot more accurate than strobes or watching the web particularly when you have multiple ups" says Dennis Nitecki, head pressman. "It reduces labor costs and increases our ability to produce a quality product at faster speeds" maintains Nitecki. Jeff Bertrand, CEO, commented "The future is all about more sophisticated computer inspection. The more 'computer vision' we have on our webs and booklets, the better." JH Bertrand maintains a strong quality program based on cGMP as defined by the FDA. 

Making progress on a 5/8" onsert

Dennis, our head pressman, doing some R&D on a 5/8" onsert. We tested it this morning with some success, but still have to make a few modifications to make it work. It's a lot of fun discovering new things that we can do. Stay tuned!

Coming soon to a website nearest you-- "our epress" animation

Here's a little teaser for something exciting at JH Bertrand. Very soon, we're going to have a spectacular animation showing in great detail the makings of a booklet label. I'm sure that everyone is going to love it. I can't tell you much more because it's a surprise. Stay tuned!

Successful onsert at 7/8"!!!

I love it when we do something new on our equipment. Recently, we received an onsert from a printer that measured 7/8" along the web. We had specified the job to be 1", but it just didn't work out that way. We did everything we could to make it run, but we couldn't get it to feed into our equipment. We tried the "traditional" tricks with paper clips, cardboard, pennies and masking tape, but nothing worked. Our ship date was approaching fast so the pressure was immense to get the job done right. We called in our best machinist who came up with a modification (we can't give the secret away) that did the trick. The job ran beautifully. The change in the press was so successful that we are 95% sure we'll be able to run an onsert as small as 5/8" now. We are scheduled to conduct some trials. We'll let you know the results.

JH Bertrand installs new AVT vision inspection system

We are excited to announce the installation of an AVT Helios vision inspection system. (AVT is in the back) We are using it on a Rotoflex slitter-rewinder to inspect booklet labels for pharmaceutical and high end consumer products. Slitter-rewinders have traditionally been used with strobes to see defects which only give a basic level of defect detection. If the operator looks away from the web, the defect is missed. This doesn't happen with computer inspection systems.

JH Bertrand is careful of booklet label patents

The booklet label industry is a very creative niche with many patents. JH Bertrand respects intellectual property and is very careful not to infringe. We have studied the most important patents. We have reviewed those patents with our attorneys to make sure that our constructions don't infringe. We also have very friendly relations with many of the patent holders and actively distribute their products.

As the booket label industry grows, many companies aren't as careful of patents as we are. Here's an article written by Label and Narrow Web entitled "Swedish converter sued over folding label patent."

The world of leaflet/labels, extended text labels and the like has always been highly litigious, and Denny Bros. Ltd. the quickest to reach for the lawyers. This time the UK holder of Fix-a-Form folding labels patents is suing the Swedish label manufacturer AB WH Nordvall & Co. for infringing its patents. At the District Court of Stockholm, Denny Bros. demanded an immediate stop to the infringement, as well as substantial damages.

The Swedish printer is supposed to have copied the Fix-a-Form design and used the product in sales to pharmaceutical manufacturers in Sweden. Denny says this caused substantial losses, both for the Fix-a-Form organization in Sweden and CCL Label A/S in Denmark, the licensee. Denny Bros. has demanded 6 million Swedish krona ($845,000) in damages for the claimed losses. It is also demanding that Nordvall cease production of the infringing product and destroy existing stocks of it. It is demanding a penalty of 500,000 krona ($70,000) if this is not complied with.

Andrew Denny, managing director of Fix-a-Form International Ltd, says: "We will not tolerate infringement of our patents. That's why we've taken legal action. We want to protect our patents, because we and our partners have invested considerable resources in developing the folding label concept." CCL Label in Denmark holds the Fix-a-Form license for Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states.

Here's a PDF of the actual article in Label and Narrow Web Converter. patents.pdf

Onserting is more "art" than science

It always amazes me how "touchy" our onserters are. The onserter is the device that times the booklet with the printed web. You are seeing the back of the onserter where the booklets are placed. When it runs smoothly, the booklets time with the web for a very accurate booklet label which means everything is in registration and the wings are even. When things don't go well, the booklets jam in the feeder creating huge gaps in the printed web that have to be removed during inspection. If there are too many misfeeds, the roll is scrapped.

Here are the problems we encounter:

1. Uneven cut booklets: When the booklet is uneven, it can get caught on the edges of the onserter. Here' s an analogy. Think of the booklets like cars passing through a toll booth. If one of the cars is much wider, it's going to get stuck backing everything up. The onserter is fixed and doesn't have a flexible running adjustment.

2. Stack height and weight: If the booklets are stacked too high, we can have problems. If stacked too low, we can have problems. We have to experiment with every pamphlet to find it's optimum stack height. This one really drives us nuts.

3. Stack angle: The angle going into the onserter is critical. If the booklets aren't angled right, they won't feed properly. We have all kinds of "wedges" that we use for various pamphlets.

4. Humidity: Low humidity can dry out the paper and change the way it runs through the feeders. We have humidity control in all our manufacturing areas to combat this.

5. Straightness of the path: If anything along the way isn't straight, the pamphlets will get caught.

6. Nip roller pressure: If the pressure on the roller that applies the laminate to the booklet isn't right, the booklets will jam.

7. Booklets that aren't packaged in the box properly. If the incoming booklets aren't packaged right in the box, bending can occur. This is a surefire way to have jams.

8. The unknown issue: This seems to happen on each job. Often, the solution is a piece of cardboard and a few pennies. We often "Rube Goldberg" the press. The picture below shows a piece of cardboard and a penny. This helped make this light pamphlet run much more smoothly through the conveyor because it added a little drag to the pamphlet. The Red roller is the nip roller. I love hearing from our press people that the solution was a few pennies and a piece of cardboard after we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on new equipment. It never fails!

As you can see, making a booklet label isn't the easiest thing to do. This is the reason why many label and packaging companies put their onserters to the side and elect to order from JH Bertrand rather than learn a whole new "art".

Clean=control

JHB's cage room. Job materials are inspected and stored here awaiting further processing.

We spend a lot of time working on organization and cleanliness. Keeping our facility clean gives us more control, makes work easier to handle, impresses our clients and makes the facility look great. We routinely "walk" our facility looking for "out of place" stuff. It's normal for manufacturing facilities to have things build up. We fight that tendancy aggressively.

Thoughtful manufacturing

Jeff and Dennis (our head pressman) working on a hot pharmaceutical project.

Each job is precious to us. We spend a lot of time at press side checking quality and looking to see if the job matches our understanding of our client's expectations. We follow strict SOP’s and have an extensive “setup” sheet where we record all the press settings to help us match quality on reorders. If we are unsure about something, we stop the press and send a sample to our client for approval. We want our clients to be ecstatic with their booklet labels.

Creativity in our assembly suites

JH Bertrand's manufacturing suite with assembly line in foreground

Our very clean assembly suites are used to create “exotic” booklet label constructions. We use semi-automatic equipment, assembly lines and “jigs” to help our speed and accuracy. Once a project is completed here, we move it to our presses for finishing.

Everyone wears scrubs during manufacturing whether it’s a medical project or not. If you looked in on a job, you might think there was a surgical team working. By looking professional, our staff acts and works professional. The quality is better. As you can see, the room is kept immaculate.

I believe that our assembly suites give us a significant creative advantage in the market place. This is precisely why we rarely turn down projects that “can’t be made on press”. By adding a dash of labor to the process, we can usually make whatever our customer’s dream up.