Drinks producers rely heavily on coding and marking solutions to provide quality codes for purposes of traceability and brand accentuation. These codes are printed or laser marked onto primary, secondary and tertiary packaging Technologies which are particularly relevant to the beverage sector include continuous inkjet printing (CIJ), thermal inkjet printing (TIJ), drop-on-demand for Outer Case Coding, print and apply labelling, and Laser marking.
Printing best-by dates, lot codes and other information onto the package is an essential task for every beverage manufacturer; retailers look at this information to assist them with stock rotation and consumers look for this information to check for product freshness. However, printing the required information is not as straightforward as it sounds – there are many pieces that must be considered when selecting the right type of coding printer for your specific beverage production line
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Continuous inkjet (CIJ) CIJ is non contact coding , the inks will adhere to almost any substrate with on going consumables of inks and solvent (make-up) combined with regular maintenance, to maintain the optimum print performance a service one or more times per year is required. |
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Laser Marking Systems Laser also non contact coding has minimum maintenance requirements, the laser tube has a finite life and the tube will need replacing, the life of the tube depend on your print rate and the power (laser energy) needed to code the substrate, typically an extractor is needed to remove toxic fumes and particulates given off when the substrate is coded, the filters in the extractor will need replacing regularly to maintain the fume extraction. cleaning |
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Thermal inkjet (TIJ) TIJ again a none contact form of coding typically printing using HP ink cartridges, is a very simple high resolution coder which requires no service and minimal maintenance, the cost of the cartridges can be high if printing large and long messages, but for simple date coding applications provides a very cost effective coding and marking solution. |
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Thermal Transfer Overprinting (TTO) TTO is a contact coder using thermal a printhead to transfer the ink from a wax/resin coated ribbon to the substrate, typically on to flexible films for high quality print, the on going consumable cost is for ribbons and the periodic thermal print head replacement. |
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Label Printer Applicator (LPA) LPA Prints and places labels of various sizes on multiple package types |
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