Both the PC-Topp Label Designer and the PC-Topp Label Printer have been reengineered to support Windows Vista and higher. Besides, both applications now offer several functional enhancements but maintain full compatibility with their predecessor version.

PC-Topp Label Designer

PC-Topp Label Printer

The PC-Topp Label Printer lets administrators view and modify pallet labels from production history in case a pallet label has been damaged or a label’s data needs to be modified.

The application has been refined to no longer block the print server during startup and loads much faster than before.

The Label Printer’s new search function makes it easy to locate all pallet labels printed for any order. Likewise, in the detailed label view (opened by clicking any label in the overview) the pallet label data can be searched by field name and content in an Excel-like interface.

Besides, the Label Printer allows displaying the different label designs to be printed for the selected print job (e.g. additional labels to be printed at first for each pallet or after the printout for all pallets). And what’s more, you can now create pallet label designs including sample data from any existing label.

A new column has been added to the Waste Terminal interface that optionally displays either the number of sheets or cuts per order.

Moreover there is a new marker for orders whose pallet labels are already printed.

The palletisation functionality available in the PC-Topp Machine Terminal is now also available as an independent new PC Topp Terminal.

The PC-Topp Palletisation Terminal is designed for the following purposes:

• Re-printing a label that has been damaged or lost
• To correct palletisation information and print new labels when palettisation was changed.
• To print labels at a central location, for machines with no terminal or where the label printer has failed.

The Palettisation Terminal is available as a stand-alone station, or can be reached from the PC-Topp Supervisor Terminal.

Operation is straightforward: You type in the order number, and identify whether you want shipping labels (by selecting the last operation) or internal labels (by selecting the corresponding operation). The terminal then shows the palettisation in the screen known from the Machine Terminal, offering all functionality like changing pallet information, or printing selected labels, or all labels for the order at a time.

The PC-Topp Machine Terminal has been enhanced to meet customer needs for printing pallet labels with the correct quantity of products per pallet right at the machine and for assigning a unique identification number to pallets for use with a warehouse system.

The Palletisation tab in the Machine Terminal (to be found under the Order tab) can handle internal pallets as well as pallets intended for the customer and serves the following purposes.

Flexible Pallet Label Printing at the Machine

The Palletisation tab lets you print out pallet labels at the machine. Labels can be printed in the following ways:

• Label by label – the label is sent to the printer when the pallet is half full so that it is always ready when the crew needs it
• All labels at once at the start of each order,
• Individually when required (e.g. when a label is damaged or wrong)

The label for the last pallet is only printed when the order is finished and the quantity on the last pallet is clear. The system also makes it easy to e.g. move a small quantity on the last pallet onto the last full pallet (or the last two full pallets), and to reprint the labels for those pallets with the corrected quantity.

Assigning Unique IDs to All Pallets

Whereas in the past PC-Topp.NET only printed pallet labels without retaining the information on the pallets, the system now creates a data base entry for every pallet it processes. PC-Topp.NET assigns a unique identifier to each pallet by generating an SSCC number, an ID capable of identifying any single unit (pallet) produced by any company worldwide.

The pallets information is kept in PC-Topp’s database ‘forever’ and may be useful e.g. in tracing where the problem on a pallet sent back by the customer comes from, a particular operator or a bad paper reel.

The main use of that database is, however, to inform an external warehouse system of the pallets it will be receiving, and to give it the exact quantities and other pallet data. The system ensures that the warehouse system (or ERP) receives a record for each pallet that will enter the warehouse, and that no pallet will be published that eventually does not arrive there.

Manage Every Pallet Individually

Not only the quantity for the last pallet can be different from the rest of the pallets, there may be other differences as well: There may be several ‘small’ pallets, or a part of the order is put on pallets of a different size or type (because the order is palletized alternatingly on tall and low pallets, or because there were not enough pallets of the right type in stock).

In short, any detail of each single pallet will reflect reality exactly, and the label will contain the right quantity and other information for each and every pallet.

The graphical user interface shows the pallets in an easy to understand and intuitive way, making it easy for any machine operator to make the required entries or to re-print a label.

If you outsource certain production steps to a subcontractor company you can now offer a convenient new service to your subcontractor. Those companies can now create pallet labels for orders partially processed by them with the new Label Printing Terminal.

After having located an order with the handy "Find Order" feature they can view all relevant order details and, if necessary, change the number of pallets they want to print labels for. (They don't get access to the full PC-Topp.NET system but are restricted to the Label Printing Terminal page.)

When the "Create Labels" button is pushed the Terminal generates as many pallet labels for the order as specified in the "No. of Pallets" field, numbered consecutively. The labels are output as PDF files that can be printed on any local printer.

The PC-Topp Label Designer and Label Print Server can now work with JPG and GIF images files in addition to BMP files. The use of JPGs and GIFs makes label printing faster because these file formats are smaller in comparison to BMPs.

The new version of the Windows Pallet Labeling System is fully compatible to previous Label Design files (*.pld).

The terminal has two main functions:

• The operator can enter the number of waste sheets for each run of an order, so that the number of sheets arriving in conversion (or, in the case of sheet orders, in shipping) is correct.
• Pallet labels can be printed for each order displayed on the screen. All labels required for the order can be printed with just one click, or the operator can request just one label.