Anniversary special

2007 No. 17

P. 2

Welcome to the Imaje 2000 Pallet

Latest news P. 6

Printing operationsmanagement; a software solution

Decoding P. 7

Foster’s Group: Clear coding

Case study

P. 4

The Imaje Group Client Newsletter www.imaje.com

GROUP SOLUTION CERTIFICATIONNOMINATIONS

072004

Since January 2007, Imaje has gradually implemented anintegrated management systemthroughout the company. Byintegrating SAP, Imaje will be cen-tralizing all of the consolidateddata to have a better grip on itsbusiness practices. Above all, thisnew tool will enable the group tobe increasingly reactive to its cus-tomers’ needs and to offer moreon-line services.

The new ERP goes into effect

The BangaloreCenter

Regional news

The Imaje Group software devel-opment center located in Banga-lore, India, has been awardedlevel 3 CMMI (Capability MaturityModel Integration) certification onJanuary 2, 2007. This certifica-tion acknowledges the company’slevel of maturity in software devel-opment. The CMMI certificationhas provided Imaje one moreproduct quality label.

Since January 1, 2007, the Imajenetwork has undergone severalorganizational changes. After man-aging Latin America for severalyears, George Isleib has recentlybeen appointed Director of theAsia-Pacific region. Furthermore,Daniel May, formerly in charge ofArgentina, has taken charge of the entire Latin American region.Two new regional sales directorshave been appointed: Kva Naidu(formerly in charge of the India

WHAT’S NEW?

Welcome to the Imaje 2000 Pallet

Imajescope No. 17_2007

Latest news

AROUND THE WORLD

PALLET MARKING

zone) to the Asia-Pacific region,and Antonio Barris (formerly incharge of France, Switzerland, theBenelux countries and distributors)to the European region.

DISTINCTIVE FEATURESThe system can be easily moved from one station to another thanks to the floor stand and the docking station– eliminating tipping risks while operating.Detection cells for automatic shut-off if the system hits an obstacle (operator, object, etc.)In case of an emergency, the operator can easily see and access the stop button.

ith the launching ofits newly designedImaje 2000 palletsystem, Imaje has

completed its print and applylabeling product line. Imaje’snew system follows the latestGS1 standards including labelplacement and barcode types.The system’s hinged armapplies labels in just twentyseconds; on the sides, front orback, or even on two adjacentsides. A scanner can beinstalled under the applicatorfor verification needs aftereach application. Easy to inte-grate, the Imaje 2000 Palletoffers several advantagesincluding a wide range ofconnectivity (Ethernet) andActiveX components.

W

Going even fastermaje has strength-ened its offer forhigh-speed markingof primary products.

Three new Imaje productscombine speed and compactmarking to meet the specificneeds of the food and beverageindustry, among others. The

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WORKINGWITH IMAJE…

Imaje 9020/9030

• Coca-Cola in China • Heinz in Australia• Nestlé in the US and China• Procter & Gamble

in Great Britain• Unilever in China

Imaje 9040

• Nexans in China • Sara Lee in the US

7000 Series

• Nestlé in China and in the US

• Beiersdorf in Brazil• Unilever in Argentina• PepsiCo in the US

Imaje 4020• Kraft Foods in the US

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first, the Imaje 9040S (4),prints two lines of 7-dot font at up to 2.7 m/s. The smallspace (1 mm) between thetwo lines of print has mademarking on products such ascans (5) or cigarette packseasy. The second, the Imaje7031S scribing laser, has

been specially developed for marking on PET (1). Itprovides outstanding contrastquality print and ensures long-lasting readability at high pro-duction speeds. The third, theImaje 5000 thermal transfercoder (2), has been modified to meet the bakery productsindustry needs (3) where fillingprocesses are high speed andoperate in a continuous mode(40 m/min).

FOR MORE INFORMATION:www.imaje.com

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WHAT’S NEW? PRIMARY PACKAGING

Anniversary special

LONG-STANDING LOYALTY

JORDI ROMA, director of the Europe, Middle East, Africa region

Great internationalopportunities

Imajescope No. 17_2007072004

What major changeshas Imaje experi-enced over the pastfive years?

Between 2002 and 2006, Imajeunderwent great change. To begin,Imaje has succeeded in becoming amulti-technological product providerthrough continuous R&D and strategicacquisitions (Markpoint and Euro-codic). This technological repositioninghas gone hand in hand with the con-solidation and extension of the salesand marketing network. In the UnitedStates for example, there has been a consolidation and a significantincrease of our field activity. In termsof geographical expansion, Imaje hassucceeded in establishing 100% Imajesubsidiaries in Argentina, Austria andRussia. Within five years’ time, Imajehas nearly doubled its revenue from230 million dollars in 2002 to nearly400 million in 2006.Another major change has been theredeployment of the supply chain andthe strategic allocation of R&D

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There are now 16 Imaje sub-sidiaries in thisregion and theopportunities for growth areimmense. Thecountries in theNear and Middle

East are still far from being consolidated.For this reason, Imaje has chosen toreorganize and reinforce its staff to be asefficient as possible in these new mar-kets. Thanks to Imaje’s multi-productoffer and services, these markets are aunique opportunity to continue growthand strengthen its new image as a globalmarking solution provider. Needless tosay, we are confident about the future!

For Imaje’s 25th anniversary,CEO Serge Kral talks withImajescope about recentdevelopments at thecompany and his vision for the future.

Imaje turns 25: Internationally yours!

resources. This has been achieved via four logistics platforms (Shanghai,Atlanta, Gothenburg, and Bourg-lès-Valence). For example, primary pack-aging is handled in France, secondaryand tertiary packaging are managed inSweden, whereas software develop-ment is designed in Bangalore, India.

Where do you see Imaje five years from now?

Our goal is clear: become the worldleader in the marking and codingmarket. Over the past five years, wehave set up all the tools we need to achieve this. Now the time hascome to use and deploy these tools.And to do so, we have two verystrong assets. First of all, a newERP (SAP) is currently beingimplemented throughout all thesubsidiaries in Europe, and shouldbe operational by the end of 2007.That is one of Imaje’s priorities.Secondly, Imaje is committed toenvironmental protection and ismiles ahead of competitors… In fact, Imaje was the first in itsfield to be certified ISO 14001, and will continue to invest in thisarea. As a result, Imaje has suc-cessfully made its entire productline RoHS* compliant and hasrecently developed a series of“green” inks. The fact is Imaje hasevolved over the past few years and is redefining its identity as aglobal solution provider.* Restriction of Hazardous Substances.

What are Imaje’spriorities in terms of research and innovation?

Today, the technologies linked to themarking and coding sector have reachedmaturity. The difference, we think, isclosely linked to product reliability, qual-ity, and ergonomics… all at the bestprice. It seems clear Imaje will continueto allocate resources in this area.

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Imaje’s second priority is a universaluser interface. Engineers are currentlyworking on this matter and aim toincrease operator “ease-of-use”,regardless of the technology. Lastly, Imaje’s priority is standardizingthe components within its productrange. Imaje would like to createcentralized platforms –common to all in terms of electronic developmentand manufacturing.Today it’s clear that Imaje’s goal is to engineer and manufacture prod-ucts anticipating customers’ rapidlyevolving needs.

The coding market is changing. How does this affect Imaje?

The market has changed, more so in aneconomic and financial sense and muchless at the technological level. In thepast, the market was fragmented. Today,it is dominated by two large groups,including Dover (Imaje’s shareholdersince 1995). Within Dover, the creationof the Product Identification group,Imaje, Markem, Datamax and O’Neil,has allowed Imaje to grow in terms of

Éric Panel, planning andmethods manager, goesover the years of workingalongside Imaje, in thestirred yogurt and dairydessert plant in Saint-Just-Chaleyssin, France.“We have just installed 12 Imaje 9040 printers.This will be the fourthgeneration of Imaje print-ers on board at our plant.So you can see to whatextent we can track thechanges at Imaje! Whenwe started working to-gether, Imaje proposed

Jaime 2000 systems. Atthe time, inkjet printingwas a new technology, and the machines werecomplex and had start-upproblems. Despite thesechallenges, a true partner-ship sprang up betweenour two companies. As a result, when we wereready to upgrade ourprinting equipment, weremained loyal to Imaje,investing in the first S3printers. At the time, Imajewas working on developingan ink assortment to go

with its machines. Later,we decided to compareImaje with other suppliers– and concluded thatImaje had the best offer.We therefore opted, fiveyears ago, for a full-servicelease contract for the S8 machines. The resulttotally satisfied our ex-pectations – reliable ma-chines, quality marking,pro-active competent after-sales service. And today,when looking to replacethese printers, we’vegone with Imaje.”

A TIME-HONORED CUSTOMER

Éric Panel, Danone, fifteen years of working with Imaje:“Imaje has changed along with us”

A CHINESE PLATFORM

With the opening of its fourthregional platform in Shang-hai, in late 2004, Imaje con-tinues to grow logistically inevery part of the world. Thisnew logistic platform hasenabled Imaje to strengthencustomer relations in theAsia-Pacific region.In addition to shorter deliverytimes, the made-to-order andrepacking center can cus-tomize certain products tomeet the specific require-ments of the Asian markets.Certified ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 from the time itopened, the platform alsohas a dedicated repair centerfor China.

Logistics in Shanghai:getting closer to the customer

FOR MORE INFORMATION:www.imaje.com

products, services and geographicalcoverage. The result is an increasingly“market-oriented” outlook, which givesImaje the capacity to provide its cus-tomers with dedicated marking and cod-ing solutions (printers, consumables,software, services). All in all, it is safe tosay that over the past five years, Imajehas evolved significantly, and in the rightdirection – the customer’s direction!

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Decoding

072004 Imajescope No. 17_2007

Printing operations management;asoftware solutionThere is nothing better than a software solution that allows the centralized man-agement and control of all printers on the manufacturing floor.

TECHNOLOGY

HOW DOES IT WORK?

WHAT’S IT USED FOR?

The purpose of this softwareis to remotely secure inputdata intended for print (pro-duction batch number forexample) and facilitate mes-sage management. The soft-ware enables you to preparethe message content inadvance through a centralcomputer, which minimizes

the number of users and thus reducing the number ofhuman errors. The softwarealso allows real-time printermonitoring such as printerstatus, current message print-ing and counter value.

Printers, generally installed onthe same line, are connected byEthernet or serial links to a cen-tralized computer. In the mostadvanced configuration, allproduction data (message andformat) resides in a centralizeddatabase. When the operatorscans a barcode, the softwareautomatically downloads theprinting parameters from thedatabase into each printer on the manufacturing line. The

advantage of this system is thatthe printing process is automati-cally launched without operatorintervention.

IMAJE’S SOLUTION

In terms of software solutions,the Imaje Control Center packageis capable of controlling and man-aging all Imaje printers on theproduction floor. This PC-basedsolution is capable of managingprinter operation and capturingproduction data in real-time. The software can report instantlyon printer status and providesWYSIWYG message display andcontrol. In addition, it can also

generate statistical productionreports such as products printedand line up-time in various for-mats including tables and graphs.Compatible with all Imaje print-ers, this Windows compatible (XP,2000 or Vista) system is availablein six languages.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:www.imaje.com

Case study

Foster’s Group, the largest Australian producer ofpremium wine and alcoholic beverages, neededa business partner capable of clearly codingglass wine bottles throughout its entire produc-tion and packaging processes.

Clear codingfrom bottle to pallet

high speeds and able to print ondifferent substrates, across theentire packaging process. Excel-lent after-sales service was alsoof key importance.

2 | The solution Imaje supplied WBPC with three,high powered, Lightjet Vectorlasers that enable the plant toprint permanent, highly legiblecodes directly onto the glass bot-tles, which its former dot matrixlasers were unable to do. Imajealso supplied four, 4040 high-resolution inkjet printers for thesecondary carton packaging tomark directly onto the cardboardbox via two printheads. For thecarton packing process to keepup with demand, each line atthis stage splits into two. Withthis technology, boxes can bepersonalized according to cus-tomer and export demands. Forpallet labeling, eight Imaje 2000series printers do both the labelprinting and application auto-matically. Long-tamp applicators(700 mm) place labels on thetwo opposite sides of the pallet.

3 | The expert’s opinion When Foster’s Group opened the WBPC plant, they wantedto rationalize the coding andlabeling process. According toChristine Domenech, marketingcoordinator of Imaje Australia,WBPC achieved this by work-ing with Imaje. “Our partner-ship is based on efficiency anduptime,” she said. “Imaje offersa single contact for consumableordering, operator training andafter-sales service. Furthermore,because of the large range ofImaje technologies, we wereable to provide Foster’s withcustomized and multi-techno-logical solutions to fit all stagesof production and packaging.”

FOSTER’S GROUP

Cardboard boxes are easilyand clearly identified with theImaje 4040 coder.

DISTINCTIVE FEATURESScribing laser coding on glass – readable and reliable.Cardboard boxes are customized using a high-resolution inkjet (1 controller, 2 printheads) coder.

1 | The demandThe Wolf Blass Packaging Center(WBPC) plant, located in SouthAustralia in the Barossa Valley,has been bottling half of Foster’swine production since 2005.Brands bottled at the state-of-the-art facility include Rose-mount, Yellowglen, Wolf Blass,Lindemens and Penfolds. WBPChas impressive production rates,with three lines running five daysa week, processing 24,000 unitsper hour. Once the bottles arerinsed, filled, capped and la-beled, they are packed into car-tons, then gathered onto palletsbefore being exported. WBPCwas looking for a single partnerthat could meet its coding andlabeling needs with equipmentthat is reliable, easily program-mable, capable of working at

The traceabilityprocess for theFoster’s Group glassbottles has beenimproved thanks tothe Lightjet Vectorlaser coder. Aftershrink-wrapping, thepallets are labeledwith the Imaje 2000Series systems.

The Imaje Group Client Newsletter. 9, rue Gaspard-Monge – BP 110 – 26501 Bourg-lès-Valence cedex, France. Director of publication:Christian Lefort. Editor-in-chief: Sylvain Exartier. Deputy editor-in-chief: Christine Bonnet. Writers: Frédérique Chavanne, Sophie Hoguin.Computer graphics: Véronique Béné. Photos: Agence VU, Jonatan Fernström, Ginko, Philip Martin, X. Translation: Allingua.fr, Catarina Moore.Design and production: Tel.: (33) 1 55 34 46 00 (1IMAIMA017).

In Imaje

TRADE SHOWSTHE AMERICAS

EXPOPACK26 to 29 June 2007Mexico City (Mexico)

ENVASE17 to 21 September 2007Buenos Aires (Argentina)

PACK EXPO15 to 17 October 2007Las Vegas (United States)

Fast-tracked PEZ Every year, 4.2 billion PEZcandies, enough to go oneand a half times around theplanet, are enjoyed by allages. In the 1950’s, PEZdispensers were crownedwith colorful characterssuch as Mickey Mouse andPluto, making the candyeven more fun. Cherry fla-vored, lemon, peppermintand others… 350 packs of PEZ candies per minuteare tracked by a dozensmall-character S8 inkjetprinters using fast-dryingstandard black ink.

AUSTRIA

PEZ

ASIA-PACIFIC

PROPACK CHINA10 to 12 July 2007Shanghai (China)

FOOD PACK27 to 30 July 2007Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

JAPAN PACK16 to 20 October 2007Tokyo (Japan)

EUROPE

ROSUPACK26 to 29 June 2007Moscow (Russia)

FACHPACK25 to 27 September 2007Nuremberg (Germany)

EMPACK10 to 11 October 2007Brussels (Belgique)

EASYFAIRS PACK & EMBALLAGE 17 to 18 October 2007Stockholm (Sweden)

EUROPACK13 to 16 November 2007Lyon (France)

BRAU BEVIALE14 to 16 November 2007Nuremberg (Germany)