Laser marking for packaging

June 08, 2022

When coding and marking products and packaged consumer products, inkjet, transfer, and labeling methods are often used to obtain codes or marks. However, recent technological developments have introduced integrated low-power lasers into mainstream coding and marking applications, making it a very optimistic choice for manufacturers to choose product technology.
Technical difference
Laser coding technology uses ablation and engraving to remove or melt materials. Compared to printing with inkjet technology or printing and labeling, it provides high quality and permanent code in a short period of time. This technology provides manufacturers with low-cost, efficient coding and marking methods.
Laser coding technology, compared with other coding and commodity marking technologies, is expected to become a technology commonly used in the packaging industry. What characteristics make laser technology continue to spread? The main advantages of laser coding are: no need for consumables (such as ink, solvent), low maintenance cost, short system downtime, low environmental pollution (because no ink is used), wide range of materials that can be coded, and system integration .
Market change
In addition, changes in market conditions in the packaging industry have had an impact on the company, prompting them to find new coding techniques to adapt to new industry standards. At present, the company faces more requests from customers (such as large chain retail companies or agency agencies). These requirements include, in the process of processing and coding, the content of the code is more specific to facilitate product tracking, the recovery rate of the divergent product needs to be reduced, and the toxic product (ink solvent) must be disabled.
In general, the packaging industry's purchase requirements for coding technology mainly include: reliability, flexibility, coding quality, cost-effectiveness, and coding durability. In addition, the coding equipment having these characteristics is preferably not used with consumables, has low maintenance cost, can obtain direct and long-lasting marks, and has a wide range of materials.
A study by the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Association (PMMI) on the purchase process of packaging printing machinery shows that the first major factors in the mechanical purchase process include: reliability (running time / downtime), production capacity, safety Characteristics, machine design, time required for equipment replacement, work environment factors, total machine cost, flexibility, and purchase price, all of which contribute to laser coding becoming an attractive technology.
The upper hand of laser technology
The laser coding technology has its outstanding advantages. The patented dot matrix printing technology invented by MARKEM combines with the CO2 low-power laser to obtain high-quality graphic marks at extremely high line speeds. Reducing the frequency of the laser cycle, switching only once during the entire coding process, makes the dot matrix printing process more reliable and greatly reduces the cost. The laser requires almost no routine maintenance, and the printed mark has high contrast, fast speed, and long-lasting mark. This has the advantage that the laser coding technology has a high yield. SmartLase's coder integrates many of these advantages and provides users with the most cost-effective coding technology available.
Compared with the current most popular coding technology - continuous inkjet printing (CIJ), laser coding technology has always shown its obvious advantages. Some CIJ printing systems operate at up to $6,000 per year. These costs include $2,000 per year in consumables and $3,000 to $4,000 in repair and end-of-life processing fees. Every week, system maintenance can take up to six hours, and it takes another hour to turn it on and off. At the same time, stains caused by ink wetting may result in loss of packaging. In addition, you need to consider the downtime of the entire system.
For packaging marks, laser coding technology is more flexible than other technologies available on the market. Because it does not require ink, it is more environmentally friendly. The laser coding system's accessories, tools and technology enable it to complete the coding process in the shortest amount of time. In addition, many industries, including medical and beauty, frozen food, pet food, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, automotive parts and many other industries, require the recording and permanent coding of digital data provided by laser technology. A variety of different codes - whether it is right, wide or narrow, dynamic is still static, graphics are still text, laser coding can be implemented on different sizes of packaging, the printed code can also have different directions, can use different languages, You can use solid or dotted lines.
Manufacturer's choice
Once you decide to use laser coding techniques, or investigate the possibilities of advancement and advancement of existing technologies, it is equally important to choose the right manufacturer. The partner organization that the company should choose must be a manufacturer that can provide not only one product, but also the manufacturer is willing to cooperate in all aspects of improving the coding equipment. Some of the added value areas include: improved uptime, yield, and improved customer satisfaction, such as improvements and improvements in reliability, integrated logistics management systems, employee training, online technical support, and project governance.
These processes are able to centralize and optimize the functioning of the coding system, which also indicates that cooperation with the institution providing the equipment is an indispensable part of the entire package. Taking full advantage of their superiority ensures production capacity and results that are met.
The speculation about laser coding technology is becoming more popular in real-world applications. What is certain is that when a company decides to use this technology, they will improve overall productivity, reduce operating costs, and improve the overall value of the product.

Author:

Mr. Franky

Phone/WhatsApp:

+8618929582915