Rieder Windows from Zillertal in Tyrol, Austria, has to live up to its promise of being “state of the art”. KBA-Metronic’s alphaJET E inkjet printer is used for individually marking the window profiles.
Founded in 1945 as a joinery and carpentry firm, Rieder KG is now an innovative full service provider to the construction and timber industry with around 400 employees. The company, a renowned supplier, has consolidated its position as the number one in Tyrol and is known far beyond the national borders.
A unique project number is assigned as early as the quotation costing stage, and remains firmly linked to the project through every processing step. Once the quote turns into an order, all the necessary components are summarised, decentralised, in a bill of materials in an ERP system, and then transmitted to the manufacturing plant – together with the project number and any information relevant to the order.
The print head of the alphaJET E inkjet printer is mounted to the delivery conveyor of the CNC machine. At this point, the raw wooden profiles are marked directly with the project number and other production and product data. The network-ready alphaJET E from KBA-Metronic, the German coding and marking specialist. , facilitates communication with the CNC processing machine’s software via an RS 232 interface. From this interface, the printer receives the information needed for the clear marking and labelling of the elements in plain text. Once the unfinished window profile has passed the product sensor, the alphaJET E printer prints up to 4 lines with a 24-dot matrix, in the finest print quality – even at high speed.
By using the unique project number throughout the entire production control system, the clarity of the marking on the profiles is imperative, in spite of the fact that solvent-based varnishes and sealings are used. Conventional ink tends to blur or to fade when it comes into contact with solvents. Yet with well over 50 different inks to chose from, KBA-Metronic’s specialists were quickly able to identify the ideal one: on wood, the Freon-based ink chosen has the special property that it lets the (already excellent) print image appear in even better contrast following the various surface treatments. The durability of the marking permits traceability, even years later, and it simplifies any necessary processing.