Chocolatier Australia
One of Australia’s finest chocolate makers, Chocolatier Australia, automated their manual best before date and batch code process with insignia’s innovative coding solution to drive greater efficiencies on the production line and improve product traceability.
The Challenge
Faced with rapid business growth in a highly competitive market, one of Australia’s finest chocolate makers realised that productivity and traceability improvements to their production line were essential for the continued success of their family-owned company.
In 1985, David Grisold opened a small chocolate-making operation in an old suburban post office in Australia. He had a humble wish and a bold vision – to manufacture premium chocolates using the world’s finest ingredients and backed by outstanding customer service.
Almost 35 years later and the business has grown exponentially, relocating twice to increasingly larger facilities – the company is now based in Heidelberg West, in a state-of-the-art manufacturing and warehousing facility. Throughout this impressive growth, Chocolatier Australia has remained true to its commitment to quality, a down-to-earth family culture and a love for what they do – making the best Australian-made chocolates.
However, increased growth has meant that their manual production line processes needed to be automated to drive greater efficiencies and support further growth. An example of this is Chocolatier Australia's best before date and batch coding process.
Previously, employees would use date and batch sticker guns to manually put codes onto hundreds of products every day, which was both time consuming and inefficient. The date and batch code stickers also presented a potential counterfeiting risk, while the issue of poor traceability was prevalent given that the stickers had the potential to fall off or be removed.
By automating this process, Chocolatier Australia could save time when coding every product on their production lines; they could improve productivity, efficiency and traceability; reduce the counterfeiting risk and improve the professional appearance of their products. What’s more, the automation would ultimately support further growth of the business if Chocolatier Australia added new product lines or increased production volumes.
The Solution
Chocolatier Australia had considered solutions from different suppliers but decided to pursue the opportunity with insignia after seeing a demonstration of our technology at AUSPACK, a major trade show in the Australian manufacturing industry. One of insignia’s local product experts then worked with Chocolatier Australia on a solution that was designed to integrate into their existing production environment.
The solution presented to Chocolatier Australia comprised of two Domino A120 continuous inkjet coders for coding the best before date and batch codes onto their chocolate boxes. These coders are compact and easy to integrate into existing production environments, provide consistent and high-quality print, plus they are ideally suited for coding onto primary packaging and uneven surfaces.
An industry leader in continuous inkjet technology, Domino’s range of coders offer greater efficiency in consumable usage, and also feature an automatic cleaning process to completely flush out the machine of residual ink when the machine is switched off, improving usability for the next shift and preventing costly ink build up in the machine.
Chocolatier Australia later purchased four Domino G20i thermal inkjet carton coders to code the best before date and batch information onto their outer cartons, as well as integrating the solution into their bagging line. The G20i thermal inkjet carton coder is designed to be self-installed by the user, with no technical skills or tools required for installation.
The Results
When Chocolatier Australia came to insignia, they were looking to replace their manual best before date and batch coding process with a more professional traceability solution that would improve efficiency on the production line, reduce the counterfeit risk and put them on par with their competitors.
In adopting insignia’s highly innovative coding solution, they immediately saw an improvement in productivity and were able to generate a much higher output of codes. Their product presented a more professional appearance ensuring that they kept up with industry competitors, and they were safe in the knowledge that they had a code on their products that couldn’t be removed.
Long term, Chocolatier Australia will be better able to trace their product through the supply chain thanks to incorporating a solution that can grow with their business. Cost savings will be realised due to a more efficient process that enables them to move even greater numbers of product out the door.
