Shrink sleeve labeling is one of the most popular methods of decorating your products today, making them super attractive at the point of purchase, and likely increasing your market share. Installing shrink sleeve labeling machinery requires managing a number of issues. To ensure you are able to get your new shrink packaging system installed and running in time to meet all of your deadlines, we recommend the following tips:

Allow Time for Resolving Technical Issues

Technical issues are often unavoidable, and they can really throw a wrench in your timeline. Has the machinery manufacturer confirmed the label specifications? Have tests been run at full speed on your products, simulating production? Is the tunnel sized properly for the packages being run? When installing a new shrink packaging system, you will want to make sure and build in time to resolve technical issues such as these that might arise without encroaching on your deadlines. While it is impossible to foresee which issues might arise, it is prudent to give yourself a cushion in case you do run into problems.

Assign Someone to Track Required Samples

Approving the results of the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) is a crucial step in purchasing a shrink sleeve applicator. Yet without proper organization, the samples needed for the FAT could easily be lost in the shuffle, putting your installation behind schedule. To keep up with the samples needed for testing we recommend assigning someone to track them and to work closely with the machinery manufacturer.

Create a Gantt Chart to Keep the Installation on Schedule

Gantt charts are invaluable in keeping large projects on schedule, and creating one (or having your machinery supplier create one) is a great way to ensure you are hitting all your milestones throughout the timeline of your shrink packaging system's installation. If you are purchasing a shrink sleeving labeling machine from PDC International, we will happily provide you with a Gantt chart at your request. In this way, every phase of the project, as well as the progress of each phase, can be closely tracked.

Hold Conference Calls with Your Machinery Supplier to Stay Informed on the Project's Status

While not all machinery suppliers will be willing to hold frequent conference calls to keep you updated on the status of your shrink sleeve machine, we at PDC International are willing to communicate with you as often as you’d like. In fact, we recommend that we hold bi-weekly conference calls with us to stay up-to-date on the status of your shrink packaging system (the Gantt chart will help with this too!) and ensure that everyone is on the same page concerning the project's technical issues, milestones and timeline. As in many things, the better the communication, the better the outcome!

Create an Open Channel of Communications Between All Parties

In following with the previous tip, it is important that you create open lines of communication between all parties involved with your shrink packaging system's installation. This includes maintaining communication between any third-party suppliers or contractors that may be working on the project, any departments within your company that are involved with the installation and the machine supplier, from package design to plant operations. This way you can not only keep on the scheduled timeline for completion, but remain aware of any issues that come up in the interim. The better the communication is between everyone involved, the easier it will be to keep your project on schedule.

Respond Quickly to All Emails and Inquiries

Many inquiries and emails will be critical to your shrink sleeve machinery’s installation and further progress may be halted pending your response. Responding to all inquiries as soon as possible limits the delays in your project and goes a long way in ensuring that you meet your installation deadlines. Make sure you clearly know exactly what is required on your part, and when.

Installing a new shrink packaging system is an important project, but if done right there is every reason to be confident that you will meet all of your deadlines. If you would like to learn more about any of our shrink sleeve labeling or tamper evident banding machinery or the installation process, feel free to contact PDC today.