Apotheke zum Heiligen Geist

The “Apotheke zum Heiligen Geist” (Holy Spirit Pharmacy) in Gmünd, Carinthia, Austria was established as early as 1850 and has been dedicated to providing healthcare services to the inhabitants of the “artists’ town” of Gmünd and surrounding communities ever since.

In addition to providing medical and pharmaceutical products regulated under the Austrian Healthcare Act, the company’s services also include supplying people with other health-promoting products. Thomas Fuchs, Mag. pharm., and owner of the pharmacy, says: "In addition to the classic medicines, such as injection and infusion solutions, tablets, sugar-coated tablets and capsules, we also offer our customers products such as teas according to our own recipes, which we mix, fill, pack and label ourselves." The labels on the teas include, not only the legally-required elements, such as filling quantity, shelf life etc, but also the preparation, recommendations for use and other things. In addition, for some ingredients, such as certain alcohols, GHS (Globally Harmonised System of classification and labelling of chemicals) labels must be printed that indicate the potential hazards of these chemicals. 

Mr Fuchs further adds: “The label presents the product to the customer so to speak. It must therefore attract attention, be of a high quality and be easily readable. This is the only way prospective customers can obtain all the important information about the product at a glance. The company started producing its labels in-house around three years ago using a ColorWorks C3500. Demand for the high-quality products rose rapidly and at the end of 2020 another, faster label printer was needed – the ColorWorks C6000Ae.

“With the new printer, we were pleasantly surprised by the speed and high print quality. The small, black typeface on the labels can now be read even more easily and that is a benefit to customers." Moreover, during production and normal use of the packaging, it is impossible to prevent the labels coming into contact with things such as water, alcohol or oil. It is important that the print on the labels does not smudge. “All of the information on the labels must remain legible throughout the entire usage life. For us, along with high quality, it is just as important for the labels to have a long shelf life and to stand up well to external influences,” explains Mr Fuchs. 

Today, between 300 and 500 labels are required per month depending on the season. Previously, we used pre-printed labels, especially for larger print runs. The name of the company and the necessary information about the respective product were then added as required. Today, Mr Fuchs prints his own labels fully independently using the new ColorWorks c6000 in-house solution – with top quality and accuracy. "Producing the labels externally had so many different disadvantages – you always had to accept a certain quantity, such that if changes were made to the label the rest of the print run was no longer usable. Today, thanks to the new printer, we produce just as many labels as we need right now. We no longer have to store prints temporarily or even dispose of them in the worst-case scenario, for example, if the content of the label changes. This saves us time and money.”

For the production of its labels, Apotheke zum Heiligen Geist relies on the XPlabel software from Apotronik Datenservice GmbH based in Leopoldsdorf, Austria. Using this software, which is fully integrated in ApotroniKXP materials management, together with the Epson ColorWorks label printers, producing individual, eye-catching labels is easy. Formulations, production and filling parameters are generated in ApotronikXP and sent to the label printing program, Xel, with the correct constituents and production data. This eliminates the need to type which is often laborious and prone to user error.  An intuitive user interface, as well as an online database with all of the key texts and information about the medicinal products, provides support to users, such as Apotheke zum Heiligen Geist, in the design of each label.

The pharmacy uses self-adhesive labels on a roll for its material, but other formats are already in the pipeline. Mr Fuchs adds: "Producing the prints using the Apotronik software and the Epson printer is so simple that we are already working on offering other forms and formats for certain products. That would have been very difficult to manage in the past with an external printer. We are happy to have a high-performance, flexible printing solution for our labels in-house.”

Product features of the Epson ColorWorks C6000 on-demand label printer:

• Suitable for labelling chemicals, food and drinks, for use in medical and event sectors, horticulture and logistics.
• Printing durable, high-quality labels, price tags, tickets and ID cards – in-house, reliable and as and when required
• Broad choice of media: Prints on a variety of materials in widths from 25.4 to 112 mm and in flexible lengths
• ColorWorks C6000Pe: Model with built-in peeler for integration into industrial printing solutions, such as Print & Apply.
• ColorWorks C6000Ae: Model with automatic paper cutter

Apotheke zum Heiligen Geist in Gmünd is supplied by:

Apotronik Datenservice Gesellschaft m.b.H.
Achauerstrasse 2,
2333 Leopoldsdorf, Austria

Tel.: +43 59977 10270
Email: office@apotronik.at

For more information, please visit:
www.epson.eu