Labeling Innovation – NJM Pegasus 328

Labeling innovation, 1990’s style!

Quite recently, I found an article in packaging world magazine covering a new NJM Labeling System.

The article was from 2005, but this machine had been developed some years earlier.

Way back in 1990, I moved to the United States and was a product manager at New Jersey Machine (Now ProMach’s NJM Packaging).

The company was putting the finishing touches to a new labeling concept they had developed that had some amazing innovation.

The exciting new machine was the 328 Pegasus and here are just some of the amazing features:

Continuous motion label web feed.
Most labeling systems were (and still are) intermittent motion.

Continuous motion allowed for higher speeds and less chance of web breakage.

Vacuum applicator drum for accurate and gentle label control.

Laser imprinting for date/lot codes.
The hot stamp printers in common use needed the web to be stationary for printing. The 328 pushed the limits of high-speed laser coding.

If a label failed the machine vision inspection, rather than apply it to the product and reject it afterward, the label was removed from the web and the unlabeled bottle rejected.

Dual labeling heads and laser systems for a compact zero downtime system.

See the Packaging World article for a good example of this.

Despite all the innovation, only a relatively small number of the 328 machines were built – as servo motor drives for conventional labelers improved, the need for continuous motion diminished.

A lot was learned from this project though and some of the same concepts can be seen in our WLS high-speed pressure-sensitive labelers and other roll feed machines such as those from our colleagues at P. E. Labelers.

Do you wish you could get a modern version of the 328 labeling system?

As it happens, the WLS-VR inline labeling system incorporates many of the 328 innovations:

• Vacuum label applicator drum
• High speed vial labeling (800/minute or so)
• Removal of labels that fail inspection, rather than stick them on the product.

See more on this great labeler here: WLS-VR

NJM has been innovating for over 100 years and ProMach has the most complete line-up of labeling equipment in the business.

Whatever your labeling job, there is bound to be a ProMach solution that is ideal for you – contact me at David.Holliday@ProMachBuilt.com and I’ll get you in touch with the right person!