News Releases in 2006
August 9, 2006
 Current Mannual Handling |
 Auto Labeling Machine for Burlap Bag |
 The Label Attached to the Side of the Bag |
Monohakobi Technology Institute (MTI; Head office: Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo; President: Yoshihiro Uesu), one of the Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha's (NYK) subsidiaries, together with Kuramoto Sangyo Co. (Head office: Toshima-ku, Tokyo; President: Asaharu Kuramoto), has succeeded in developing an auto labeling machine and labels with a special adhesive agent, for burlap bag use.
The new labeling machine and labels were developed for reducing labor tasks for warehouse control relating to merchandise in burlap bags, such as coffee beans. The labels can be easily applied to burlap bags due to the special adhesive agent. The auto labeling machine prints the necessary information, such as weight, on the label using the QR code*1 and then attaches the label to the side of the bag.
Shipping and handling of merchandise in burlap bags used to be carried out manually because of a lack of a proper adhesive agent that could attach labels to the bags. Warehouse staff had to record the weight of each bag by hand once the merchandise arrived at the warehouse dock. For shipping, they had to calculate the total weight of the bag manually again. This was a time consuming and strenuous task, especially before shipping, when each bag had to be unloaded from the pallet, recorded weight calculated, and then reloaded onto the pallet again. The new labeling machine and labels can not only automate the weight recording task, but also calculate merchandise weight. This labeling system will help reduce the time and labor of warehouse management tasks.
Currently, the number of burlap bags used for the transportation of merchandise such as coffee beans, grains, and feed imported into Japan by container carriers in one year is over tens of millions. It is highly expected that this new label and labeling machine will contribute to labor efficiency at the logistics sites. MTI and Kuramoto Sangyo Co. have applied for a patent in June 2006, and the label machine and labels became available for commercial use in August.
*1 QR Code (Quick Response Code)
The QR Code is one of the 2-D (two-dimensional) code systems developed by Denso Wave Inc. in 1994. It is the most popular 2-D code system in Japan, and used extensively in automobile production plants. The code system has an address reading function that is mobile phone ready.
