In 1985, David Grisold opened a small chocolate-making operation in an old suburban post office in Melbourne, Australia. He had a humble wish and a bold vision – to manufacture premium chocolates using the world’s finest ingredients.
Almost 35 years later and the business has grown exponentially, relocating twice to increasingly larger facilities – now based in Heidelberg West, in a state-of-the-art manufacturing and warehousing facility. Throughout this impressive growth, Chocolatier Australia has remained true to its commitment to quality, a down-to-earth family culture and a love for what they do – making the best Australian-made chocolates.
Faced with rapid business growth in a highly competitive market, Chocolatier Australia realised that productivity and traceability improvements to their production line were essential for the continued success of their family-owned company. These improvements started with their date and batch coding process.
Previously, employees would use date and batch sticker guns to manually put codes onto hundreds of products, which was both inefficient and time consuming. The date and batch code stickers also presented a potential counterfeiting risk and lack of traceability given they had the potential to fall off or be removed.
Chocolatier Australia recognised they could improve efficiency and counteract these risks by automating this process. It would also give their products a more professional appearance and support further business growth.
The solution
Chocolatier Australia had considered solutions from different suppliers but decided to pursue the opportunity with insignia after seeing a demonstration of our technology at AUSPACK, a major trade show in the Australian manufacturing industry.
The solution presented comprised of two Domino A120 continuous inkjet coders for coding the best before date and batch codes onto their chocolate boxes. These coders are compact and easy to integrate into existing production environments, provide consistent and high-quality print, plus they are ideally suited for coding onto primary packaging and uneven surfaces.
An industry leader in continuous inkjet technology, Domino’s range of coders offer greater efficiency in consumable usage, and also feature an automatic cleaning process to completely flush out the machine of residual ink when the machine is switched off, improving usability for the next shift and preventing costly ink build up in the machine.
Chocolatier Australia later purchased four Domino G20i thermal inkjet carton coders to code the best before date and batch information onto their outer cartons, as well as integrating the solution into their bagging line. The G20i thermal inkjet carton coder is designed to be self-installed by the user, with no technical skills or tools required for installation.
Most recently, insignia has provided Chocolatier Australia with a new generation of continuous inkjet coder (the Domino Ax150i, which has upgraded technology when compared to the A120) to code onto their chocolate boxes. As they add more production lines, Chocolatier Australia will look to acquire more equipment from insignia.
“insignia’s equipment easily integrated into our production line and was simple to install. insignia provided us with excellent training to operate the equipment after installation and the team were extremely helpful through the sales and post-sales process.” – Factory Manager, Chocolatier Australia
In adopting insignia’s solution, Chocolatier Australia immediately saw an improvement in productivity and were able to generate a much higher output. Their product presented a more professional appearance, and they were safe in the knowledge that the traceability code on their products couldn’t be removed.
Long term, Chocolatier Australia will see cost savings due to a more efficient process that enables them to move greater numbers of product out the door – giving them room to grow their business.
Click here to learn more about insignia’s traceability solutions