Print defects
Smears, spots, streaks, splashes and missing print, compared pixel by pixel with the approved master.
Capabilities · Quality & inspection
Every label, checked.
A camera inspects every label on the roll against your approved artwork. Print defects, wrong versions and unreadable codes are caught and flagged before a roll leaves us, with a report to show for it.
Our inspection line is being specified alongside our press, with installation planned for 2027.
Setting up the studio…
Spot the defect
Can you beat the camera?
Some labels on this run are faulty. Tap a label you think is wrong before it reaches the camera. The camera flags every fault it finds in red; yours are flagged in green.
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Faulty labels0
You caught0
Camera caught0
False alarmsCamera viewWaiting for a label
What we inspect
Version
The right label
Text and artwork checked against your approved file, so an old version or a foreign label in the roll can’t slip through.
Codes
Every code read and graded
Barcodes, QR codes and DataMatrix read on every label, with serials checked for gaps and duplicates.
Position
Registration
Print position and colour-to-colour registration, so artwork sits where it should on every label.
Colour
Colour consistency
Colour monitored across the run, so the last label matches the first.
Roll
Missing labels and splices
Missing labels, matrix left on the liner and splices detected and counted, roll by roll.
What our customers need
Inspection that stands up to an audit.
Roll inspection reportExample
- Job
- Daily Multivitamin, front label
- Artwork
- Version 3, approved
- Roll
- 0042 of 0060
- Labels on roll
- 5,000
- Inspected
- 100%
- Faults found
- 3, removed and replaced
- Lowest code grade
- A
- Released by
- Quality, signed and dated
Fault map along the roll
An example only. Report contents are agreed with each customer.
Pharmaceutical and health products
- 100% inspection. US drug makers that use cut labels must examine every label by machine or use one of a few set alternatives, so many expect their label supplier to inspect every label too.
- No mix-ups. A label from the wrong product or an old version in the roll is a critical defect. Every label is compared with the approved artwork and its code is read.
- Graded codes. DataMatrix and barcodes graded to the ISO/IEC 15415 and 15416 methods, so they scan on the packaging line and at the pharmacy.
- Records. An inspection report with each roll, part of the documentation that GMP standards for packaging suppliers, such as ISO 15378, expect.
Food and beverage
- The right label, every time. Undeclared allergens have been the leading cause of US FDA food recalls almost every quarter since 2017, and a wrong or outdated label is a common way it happens.
- Codes that read. Lot and date codes legible for traceability, and barcodes that scan at the checkout.
From fault to finished roll
01
Caught on the line.
The camera checks every label at line speed against the approved master. Good labels run on; faults are marked.
02
Flagged and removed.
Faulty labels are flagged at the edge of the web, then removed and replaced before the roll is finished.
03
Reported.
Each roll ships with a record of what was inspected, what was found and what was removed.
Need inspected labels?
Tell us what you’re labelling and what your quality team needs to see with each roll.