Traceability Weekly™ | The systems making production more visible | 7 October 2026

Across production, logistics and packaging, manufacturers are investing in better visibility: clearer insight into how equipment is performing, where products and assets are moving, and how reliably each stage of a process is operating. This week’s developments span production intelligence, machine vision, industrial labelling, real-time location and packaging automation. Together, they show how identification and automation technologies are becoming more connected to day-to-day operational decisions.

Production data becomes operational intelligence

Krones and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Deutschland have been working together at CCEP’s Halle plant to identify practical value in the site’s existing production data. Krones says the jointly developed use cases are helping the operation avoid unscheduled downtime, plan maintenance more selectively and improve production continuously. Halle is one of CCEP’s 13 production facilities in Germany.

The significance is not simply that a factory is collecting more data. It is that the data can help teams understand the relationships between equipment condition, maintenance activity and production performance. Many filling and packaging operations already generate substantial machine and process information, yet maintenance can still be driven by fixed routines, downtime investigated after it occurs, and individual machines optimised without a complete view of the line.

This has a direct connection to traceability. Product identification tells a manufacturer what an item is, where it came from and what has happened to it. Connected production data can add context about what was happening on the line at the time. When a quality issue is linked to a batch, understanding the relevant machine conditions, interventions or process deviations can make the record far more useful. Traceability then supports operational insight as well as record keeping.

Machine vision expands into logistics

VISION 2026 opened in Stuttgart on 6 October, with Zebra Technologies presenting new applications across its AI and 3D machine-vision portfolio for logistics. The use cases include detecting conveyor blockages, inspecting parcels for anomalies and defects, measuring space utilisation, checking label compliance and guiding robotic picking and sortation.

These applications show machine vision moving into environments that are less controlled than a conventional inspection station. Parcels vary in size and orientation, labels can appear in different positions, and products may overlap or move unpredictably. Automated picking also requires a system to understand an object’s shape and position, rather than simply assess a flat image. Combining 2D, 3D and AI capabilities helps address those conditions.

Zebra’s NS42 smart vision sensor, for example, is being demonstrated with deep-learning classification, segmentation, anomaly detection and optical character recognition. Pretrained models can read date codes, lot codes, part numbers and serial numbers. This extends vision from checking appearance to helping automation identify an object, locate it and determine what should happen next. It brings machine vision further into end-of-line and intralogistics operations.

Zebra has appeared in Traceability Weekly before through the fixed scanners used in MSM Solutions’ Print IQ platform. This week’s story concerns Zebra’s own AI and 3D vision development, making it a distinct market development.

Industrial labelling adds predictive maintenance

SATO Europe has launched the CL4-SXR and CL6-SXR, its new flagship industrial label printers for the European market. The printers offer faster, more accurate printing, advanced sensing and a redesigned interface. A notable feature is AI-based condition monitoring, designed to predict potential failures before they interrupt production. SATO also says around 34% of the printers’ resin components are recycled, while a no-label-waste function is intended to produce accurate output from the first label.

Industrial labelling can appear to be a small part of a production or logistics system, but it is often a critical dependency. If a label carries a barcode, regulatory information, logistics identity or shipping data needed for the next process, printer downtime can affect the wider operation.

Condition monitoring is part of a broader move away from purely reactive support. Instead of waiting for a failure and then arranging a repair, equipment can provide earlier information about its own condition. At scale, this can make uptime less dependent on someone spotting a developing issue and more dependent on the system making that issue visible in time to act.

Higher-resolution inspection keeps pace with production

Teledyne DALSA’s new Linea ML 32K line-scan camera is designed to capture more detail while operating at production speed. Released at the end of September, it is aimed particularly at semiconductor wafer and electronics inspection. The camera offers 32K resolution, 2.5-micron pixels and a maximum line rate of 150 kHz. Its multiline CMOS architecture can be configured for monochrome, dual-line, trilinear colour or quadlinear multispectral imaging, depending on the application.

Industrial inspection must balance two demands: detecting smaller defects and maintaining throughput. More visual information is useful only if the inspection process can keep pace with production, while speed alone has little value if the image lacks enough detail to support a reliable decision. This balance is especially important in semiconductor manufacturing, where products are valuable, features are small and late detection can be costly.

AI attracts considerable attention in machine vision, but its output depends on the information it receives. Sensor resolution, illumination, optics, interfaces and processing remain fundamental. The Linea ML 32K illustrates how progress relies both on better interpretation of images and on capturing better images in the first place.

Real-time location fills the gaps between scans

HID’s next-generation Sewio Zevon industrial real-time location system (RTLS), launched on 22 September, operates in the 8 GHz band and is designed to support reliability, interoperability and simpler deployment. HID says the infrastructure can reduce cabling requirements compared with conventional RTLS installations.

Conventional identification systems create events: a barcode is scanned, an RFID tag passes a reader or a pallet enters a warehouse zone. The system records that checkpoint and waits for the next one. For many applications, this is sufficient. For high-value assets, work in progress, tools, containers and material movement, however, manufacturers may also need to understand what happens between checkpoints.

RTLS makes location a continuing source of information. It complements rather than replaces barcodes, Data Matrix codes or RFID. A permanent mark can identify an object; a barcode or RFID tag can create transactional events; RTLS can add ongoing location information; and machine vision can provide visual evidence. The right combination depends on the value of the asset and the operational cost of losing visibility.

Flexible packaging equipment adapts to changing formats

KHS, Carlsberg and DS Smith have developed the Round Wrap secondary pack, which replaces conventional square-edged wrap-around packaging with curved corners. The packaging design is noteworthy, but its implementation also offers a useful lesson for manufacturers. Carlsberg’s Polish operation was able to produce the format on an existing KHS Innopack Kisters WP Advanced, with relatively minor changes in the folding area. KHS says the system can maintain production stability without a notable performance penalty.

The optimised blank can use up to 20% less material. The partners report reductions of up to around 24% in CO₂e, depending on the basis of comparison, and Carlsberg Poland estimates annual savings of approximately 224 tonnes.

Packaging formats, materials, recyclability requirements and waste expectations will continue to evolve. At the same time, manufacturers have significant capital invested in installed packaging equipment. Replacing a productive line every time a format changes is rarely an attractive option. Equipment that can accommodate new packaging designs without major modification offers a more flexible route and may become an increasingly important factor in equipment selection.

A more observable and adaptable production environment

The six developments address different parts of the manufacturing process. Krones is helping turn production data into operational insight; Zebra is extending visual understanding into logistics; SATO is making industrial printers more aware of their condition; Teledyne DALSA is increasing the detail available to inspection systems; HID is adding location between identification events; and KHS is adapting installed packaging automation to changing formats.

Their common thread is improved visibility. The familiar physical sequence remains essential: mark, label, verify, inspect and package. Around it, a richer information flow is taking shape: identify, monitor, record, move and improve.

For manufacturers, the next generation of automation is not simply about adding machines. It is about making the complete process more observable, adaptable and actionable. For OEMs and integrators, that places greater value on software, connectivity, sensing and integration alongside the hardware. It also increases demand for people who understand the connections between disciplines, including Auto-ID and software, vision and robotics, production data and engineering, and packaging formats and machine capability.

Those interfaces are becoming an important source of complexity—and value—across the market.

Traceability Weekly™ is produced by RoboEdge Talent, covering the companies, technologies, regulation, standards and specialist talent shaping global Product Identification, Traceability & End-of-Line Automation.