Generic label printing at Blaser Swisslube AG

To meet the worldwide GHS requirements for hazardous-substance labelling, Blaser Swisslube AG implemented a system for generic label printing together with OPAL – including traceability at container level.

THE CUSTOMER

Blaser Swisslube: a specialist in a niche market

Blaser Swisslube AG is an independent Swiss company in the lubricants industry. Founded in 1936 and owner-managed in the third generation, the family business employs around 600 people – about half of them at its headquarters in Hasle-Rüegsau – and stays close to its customers with subsidiaries and representatives in around 60 countries.

For customers worldwide, Blaser Swisslube produces around 1,000 different types and variants of lubricants as well as 850 trade products, distributed in 150 types of container. Besides oil, emulsifiers, corrosion protection and lubricating additives, a cooling lubricant consists of 10 to 20 further components – some of which can become a danger to people and the environment in the event of accidents.

THE CORE PROBLEM

CLP regulation: a deadline with no leeway

In the EU, the labelling of chemicals has been strictly governed by the CLP regulation since 1 June 2015. It is based on the United Nations’ Globally Harmonised System (GHS) but allows many country-specific exceptions and special rules. Every label must contain defined pictograms, signal words, hazard, precautionary and supplementary statements – in the respective national language.

The previous labelling system worked largely manually and relied on around 3,500 static templates. With GHS, the number of necessary templates would have grown to around 20,000 – with extreme consequences for effort and cost. As early as 2014, Blaser Swisslube therefore looked for an intelligent IT solution for generic label printing that does entirely without static templates.

THE SOLUTION

Generic label printing with OPAL Labelmanagement™

After a preselection, the choice fell on the Labelmanagement from OPAL Associates – a labelling solution for SAP® that generates all the necessary product and container data “on the fly” during the printing process.

• →Dynamic instead of static: pictograms, signal words and statements are integrated during printing depending on the chemical substances and the recipient country – based on SAP® transaction data, product master data and hazardous-substance data from a central data source.
• →Worldwide access: the second production site in Goshen (NY, USA) is also connected to the SAP printing solution ETS via VPN.
• →Corporate design included: the preferred layout software BarTender by Seagull Scientific was fully integrated – Blaser Swisslube designs label layouts independently.
• →High-quality hardware: two-colour thermal-transfer printers from CAB and durable carrier material made of multi-layer polyethylene ensure print quality.

THE ADDED VALUE

Traceability at container level

In parallel with the two-colour product labels, the project introduced single-colour logistics labels that are output on a second CAB printer. Using the barcode, every drum can be uniquely identified by a scan – this creates traceability at container level and helps with later relabelling.

And that is no rarity: Blaser Swisslube partly produces “anonymously”, because the recipients of individual containers are not yet known at the time of manufacture. In around 20 percent of cases, product labels have to be changed afterwards – for example when selling to a foreign-language export country. To protect its own staff, drums in interim storage are also labelled without exception.

THE CONCLUSION

Pragmatic, well-thought-out, quickly at the goal

After almost a year of experience with OPAL Labelmanagement™, Blaser Swisslube is satisfied with the solution – and with the collaboration.

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