Friday 5 October 2018

Debunking the biggest myth about lamitube 'eye mark'

An ‘eye mark’ (also known as ‘eye spot’) is a small rectangular printed area located near the edge of the printed flexible packaging material. Common specifications of eye marks are
  • 2 MM x 6 MM
  • 2 MM x 8 MM
  • 3 MM x 8 MM

There are two types of eye mark on lamitubes (if you place the lamitube vertically upward on a flat surface):-
  1. HORIZONTAL
    • This shows the length of the product
    • This has two functions
      • Help the tube making machine to cut tube according to length
      • Align the tube centrally to ensure back panel and front panel are as need
  2. VERTICAL
    • This is primarily for the end product manufacturer machine to fill the product
    • A sensor on the FORM-FILL-SEAL (FFS) MACHINE  reads the eye mark to identify packaging material, control the material’s position, and coordinate the separation and cutting of the flexible packaging material. To package products with flexible packaging, the printed material is supplied on a continuous roll and fed into the FFS machine where the sensor reads the eye mark to indicate when to cut individual units, fold the material, seal the sides (creating the packaging’s shape), fill with the product, and then seal the final side.
    • It’s important to note that the eye mark pathway should be clear of obstructing design or text to ensure the sensor reads it properly.

THE BIGGEST MYTH DEBUNKED!
There's a video circulating on Facebook and Whatsapp that talks about the eye mark color options.
Green means the product is completely naturalBlue indicates a natural composition with some added medicines Red is a mix of natural and chemical Black is an all-chemical make-up.
This is TOTALLY WRONG!
The color of the eye mark should simply 'not' be any solid color that comes in a straight line design of the tube (so that it does not interfere with the machine sensors)
The eye mark color must differ from the tube color in order to make sure the detector can recognize the eye mark i.e dark tube use white eye mark while Light tube use black eye mark.


Position of the eye mark:-

It can at the end of the tube or close to the end. It depends on the location of the sensor on sealing machine. Normally the sensor’s location can be adjusted so there is no problem for this.

SECRET DESIGN TIP!

Try to use one of the color in your artwork as the eye mark color as long as the sensor can tell it from the tube color. And use the same printing method to print them. This can save some production cost and time.