24/7 manufacturing applications pose special challenges for the printing of mission-critical labels. These environments require flawless, on-demand print execution to ensure the continuous flow of production lines, and it is in these extreme, high-volume environments that Zebra’s Xi4 printers excel. When it comes to extreme, 24/7 applications, I can think of none more challenging than those faced by Latin-American steel producer, SIDOR.
SIDOR, a consortium of Mexican, Brazilian and Venezuelan steel companies, operates bauxite and iron-ore mines in an Eastern-Venezuela region that boasts an estimated 1.7-billion tons of established iron-ore reserves with total reserve potential of up to 13-billion tons.
Because transportation of finished steel products is far less costly than transportation of the raw ore from which those products are refined, SIDOR integrated a 5430-acre steel-mill complex amid its mines, a location that also offered the advantage of ample, inexpensive hydroelectric power. Prior to modernization of its identification and tracking processes, these functions were performed manually by SIDOR personnel, which too often resulted in illegible hand-written data and, worse, mismatched labeling.
The challenges were those inherent to identification and tracking of any manufacturing process from production of raw material to delivery of finished products, complicated by the immense scale of SIDOR’s operations and the fact that every stage of these processes was conducted in some of the harshest environments imaginable. The solution chosen by SIDOR deployed Zebra Technologies’ mobile and tabletop RFID-encoding printers, including its rugged Xi4 printers.
So, what made the Xi4 printers perfect for SIDOR’s applications?
- High-Volume: With print speeds of up to 14 inches per second and a roll-diameter capacity of 8 inches, Xi4 printers are capable of keeping pace with high-speed, high-volume manufacturing processes.
- 24/7 Continuous Operation: Every Xi4 printer is purpose-designed with nonstop, day-in/day-out performance in mind. Their high-capacity print rolls and ribbons (ribbon standard lengths are up to 1476 feet and roll- to-ribbon ratios of up to 3-to-1) facilitate long-running, uninterrupted duty cycles between media reloads.
- Extreme Specifications: With its location near the equator and two wet seasons, the Guyana Region’s climate is predominantly hot and humid with an average high temperature near 90°F and average humidity of 70 percent. Raw materials are mined and transported from this hot, wet, dusty environment, then moved through the intense ambient temperatures common to steel mills, and then finished products are moved to storage in hot, humid, gritty lots. Fortunately, Xi4 printers are designed to thrive under harsh manufacturing conditions, and its label solutions can withstand temperatures as high as 500°F.
- RFID Capability: The numerous advantages of RFID and wireless networking proved critical to automation of SIDOR’s identification, labeling and tracking systems. Zebra’s Xi4-series printers integrate RFID encoding seamlessly. Setup time for RFID inlays is minimized by Zebra’s exclusive automatic inlay-detection and configuration feature, plus Zebra’s proprietary Adaptive Encoding Technology delivers the industry’s highest encoding accuracy.