Innovative New Machinery at PACK EXPO: Coding and Marking

Coding and Marking weren’t the one areas of curiosity at PACK EXPO. Click on the hyperlinks that comply with to learn extra about improvements in:  Cartoning  |  Case and Tray Packing  |  Conveyors and Materials Dealing with  |  Inspection and Detection  |  Labeling  |  Kind/Fill/Seal  |  Meals Processing & Packaging  |  Sustainable Packaging  |  Robotics  |  Pharma  |  Controls

LeibingerMarking and coding options are many and diverse within the packing house, so why not start this evaluation of improvements proven at PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2023 with a take a look at what’s new in marking and coding? We start with ink-jet printing, the place improvements aimed toward simplifying upkeep—in some circumstances even eliminating upkeep altogether—is clearly a development.

Hello-speed industrial ink-jet printer producer Leibinger took benefit of PACK EXPO Las Vegas to unveil IQJET. Described as an entire new platform, Leibinger on its Website succinctly blasts out its basic worth proposition this fashion: “Plug & Print. 5 years no upkeep. The primary clever coding and marking system.”

Based on Volker Teufel, head of product improvement at Leibinger, this new platform relies on new know-how that leverages extra clever methods. One instance is the brand new HMI, which could be operated lots like a wise cellphone. It makes it simple to see what your duties are, what you might be at present printing, the standing of the printer, the standing of the ink reservoir, and so forth.

The no-maintenance-for-five-years a part of the platform means a rise in productive time by means of elimination of normal care measures, printhead cleansing routines, and unplanned downtime. Plus the brand new XXL cartridges utilized in the IQJET empty right down to the final drop and don’t require separate disposal. The system even gives video help on cartridge removing and substitute proper on the HMI.

“The printer has an built-in solvent restoration system to cut back the consumption of the solvent,” says Teufel. “So it’s the printer with the bottom solvent consumption within the market as a result of the evaporated solvent is condensed and returned again into the system.”

A singular nozzle-sealing system known as Sealtronic makes a key contribution to the five-year no-maintenance assure. When extra typical ink-jet nozzles are used, any pause in manufacturing may end up in dried ink and blocked nozzles. This isn’t the case with Sealtronic nozzles. When manufacturing stops, the nozzle retracts, closing the ink loop and stopping it from drying out. To start out once more, the nozzle extends out once more and carries on printing—with out the necessity for cleansing or rinsing cycles. And since no cleansing cycle is required, there’s no want for extra cleansing solvent, which is sweet for the surroundings and the underside line. Neither is there any opposed influence on the viscosity of the ink or the high quality of the primary few prints, both. Watch an informative video describing Sealtronic know-how.

Watch a video of Teufel demonstrating the system at PACK EXPO Las Vegas. 

Bell-MarkAdditionally debuting on the present was the InteliJet HD 3A Accumulator Piezo Inkjet Printing System from Bell-Mark. It’s the first launch of a brand new technology of InteliJet HD piezo inkjet printers that, based on the corporate, “units new benchmarks within the in-line digital printing market on many ranges.”

Designed to satisfy the demanding necessities of in the present day’s pharmaceutical and medical system packaging industries, the HD 3A delivers 600-dpi print high quality on versatile internet supplies, cartons, and different substrates and may attain speeds to 100 cycles/min plus on an intermittent-motion packaging machine. The system can accommodate internet widths as much as 630 mm with out there choices for single-, two-, and full-color CMYK print capabilities.

Additionally featured on the HD 3A is a brand new buffering system that works independently of the packaging machine’s internet pull. This built-in internet pressure management, which Bell-Mark explains is vital for printing purposes the place exact print registration is crucial akin to printing UDI barcodes and different variable information, isolates the printing course of from the packaging machine’s internet advance, permitting for constant internet pressure through the printing course of.

As well as, the HD 3A has new built-in automation processes for upkeep duties, akin to a brand new automated purge and wipe characteristic and an automated capping characteristic. With the push of a button, the InteliJet HD 3A robotically cleans the print heads by forcing ink by means of the nozzles, which helps take away any particles or dried ink which may be clogging the nozzles. The course of then wipes the print heads, so that they’re prepared to start printing. The automated capping characteristic covers the nozzles of the print heads after they’re not in use, defending them and making certain dependable print high quality.

“Purging, wiping, and capping the print heads is a vital course of to make sure most lifetime of the print heads and the best high quality of print succesful,” says Bell-Mark. “The automation of those processes is a precious characteristic that reduces human intervention and downtime.”

Decrease price CIJ

BestCodeBestCode’s new Quantum steady ink-jet printer (CIJ) gives a lower-cost various for small-character inkjet printing that gives lots of the identical options as the corporate’s costlier stainless-steel, IP-rated unit.

Based on BestCode Enterprise Improvement Supervisor Andy Fox, BestCode has taken some price out of the unit to drop the value down. “For instance, the Quantum has a black painted management cupboard that’s not IP-rated as in contrast with our chrome steel IP-rated system,” he says. “So as a result of we’ve taken the fee out of producing, we’re in a position to provide it at a a lot cheaper price for these low-end, low-cost purposes.”

Designed to print best-by, lot, sell-by, and expiration codes and different figuring out marks on non-porous substrates, together with plastic, steel, and glass, in actual time, the Quantum can print one to 5 strains of textual content, barcodes, and graphics at 1,500 ft/min (for one line). Options of the Quantum embody an AutoClean setting that robotically cleans the non-contact print head, OneTouch single-step operator capabilities that cut back operator steps, and on-the-fly exterior ink filling, for ink filling in lower than a minute with no waste.

Based on Fox, one other characteristic, which different suppliers typically get rid of in lower-cost printers, is a ten.4-in. touchscreen. The contact display is at all times on and gives a vivid show with massive, intuitive buttons and standing indicators. “It gives ease of use and eliminates errors throughout programming,” Fox explains.

DominoDomino’s new Ax130i steady ink-jet (CIJ) printer is designed to print easy and high quality batch codes consisting of as much as 5 strains of variable or fastened information by means of CIJ onto a variety of substrates for merchandise in quite a lot of industries that embody meals, dairy, and cosmetics.

Simplicity and ease of use are the watchwords for the Ax130i, says Domino. When it comes to ease of use, the corporate says that operation of the printer and label enhancing are as simple as utilizing a smartphone, with just a few touches on the built-in touchscreen utilizing Domino’s QuickStep consumer interface wanted. The consumer interface could be password protected to make sure labels are protected and appropriate.

The system can also be simple to take care of. Based on Domino, exchanging the ITM (built-in know-how module) service module is straightforward—a less-than-10-minute job carried out yearly by an operator. A key characteristic of the Domino printer system, the ITM minimizes the necessity for typical upkeep, akin to handbook filter substitute, which may help cut back labor prices and downtime. Fluid modifications are additionally simple and stated to be “mistake-free,” by means of auto-identification of consumables, and they are often accomplished with out stopping the printer.

The fluid system itself options correct management methods that allow optimum printer efficiency and code high quality in various ambient temperatures. As well as, fluid ranges are frequently monitored, alerting operators when it’s time to replenish them.

Like the opposite Ax-Sequence printers, the Ax130i is constructed with a Domino-made print head know-how known as i-Pulse, designed to create codes with a nine-drop decision versus the seven-drop decision historically utilized in CIJ printing. Based on the corporate, due to this larger drop decision, the Ax-Sequence printers can create extremely readable codes, ship prolonged intervals of uptime, and save customers as much as 24% in ink utilization. 

Tremendous piezo

From Markem-Imaje, the brand new Tremendous Piezo Inkjet (SPI) printer—first launched at interpack in spring 2023 and making its U.S. debut at PACK EXPO Las Vegas—combines piezo electrical printing know-how and small-character inkjet know-how to allow customers to print high-resolution, serialized 2D barcodes with variable information on a variety of substrates and shapes, together with curved surfaces. With these capabilities, the printer is GS1 Digital Hyperlink suitable, which means it’s outfitted to satisfy the proposed GS1 Digital Hyperlink customary, whereby manufacturers are inspired to section out current UPC barcode know-how in favor of a dynamic 2D barcode.

As Josh Heugel, senior account supervisor for Markem-Imaje, explains, through the use of the 2D barcode, manufacturers will be capable to embed info for his or her customers—akin to promotions and incentives—into the digital hyperlink, which could be scanned by way of a smartphone. It might additionally advise customers at level of sale on remembers, allergens, expiration dates, and extra. The GS1 Digital Hyperlink may even enable the product to be tracked all through the logistics provide chain route for serialization, verification, and traceability wants.

In an article on Markem-Imaje’s web site, creator and international strategic account supervisor for the corporate, Erik Lagarde, writes, “Central to this revolution [the GS1 Digital Link] is the premise of ‘sizzling information,’ a step change from conventional static information to dynamic info extracted utilizing a 2D barcode that acts as a web-based URL. This connects producers and model house owners to the digital world, giving them the agility to react rather more shortly and effectively to traits throughout the complete worth chain—from distributor to retailers and customers.”

What units the SPI aside and qualifies it for GS1 Digital Hyperlink compatibility is its high-quality—it has a local decision of 100 dpi as much as 200 to 250 dpi—its skill to print dynamic, graphical information, and its talent at printing on curved surfaces, all at speeds to 400 ft/min. For extrusion purposes, akin to pipes, tubes, wires, and so on., Markem-Imaje cites a velocity of practically 10,000 ft/min.

What makes these capabilities attainable is the machine’s mixture of piezo electrical, or drop-on-demand, and small-character inkjet printing applied sciences. Explains Heugel, “Drop-on-demand provides you with high-speed printing, and it provides you a bigger print space, however it isn’t significantly good at quick drying occasions. And it’s restricted in its vary of inks, simply because of the know-how throughout the printhead. While you take a look at small-character inkjet know-how, you’re restricted on print top, you’re restricted on decision, and you could possibly be considerably restricted in velocity. So by marrying these two applied sciences, we’re in a position to take one of the best of each worlds—the excessive decision of the drop-on-demand printhead, the quick dry time with the small-character printing ink, and the print velocity of the small-character inkjet printer–and construct off these to make the Tremendous Piezo Inkjet, the SPI, in brief.”

The SPI additionally meets one other rising want for manufacturers: late-stage customization. “Manufacturers want to reconcile the quantity of main packaging materials SKUs due to sustainability initiatives. They spend an terrible lot on packaging,” Heugel says. “To be extra resourceful, they’re searching for know-how that may allow them to go along with a extra generic outer bundle after which customise the packaging by printing on-the-fly on the level of manufacturing, moderately than at a converter.”

Laser know-how

Videojet Applied sciencesVideojet Applied sciences’ new Videojet 3350 and Videojet 3350 Sensible Focus 30-watt CO₂ laser marking methods have been added to the corporate’s vary of CO₂ lasers in response to clients’ calls for for high-performance laser marking options. That’s based on Videojet, which provides that each methods provide “limitless font, code, and graphic choices.”

Amongst the options of the brand new laser marking methods, the 3350’s versatile marking head consists of 32 customary beam supply choices, whereas the 3350 Sensible Focus laser’s marking head gives zero to 90-deg rotation with out the necessity for extra elements. As well as, the 3350 Sensible Focus is provided with automated focusing and marking capabilities for simple product changeovers with out shifting the laser. The Sensible Focus possibility allows multi-level marking with the advantage of an auto-adjustable focal distance, uniform flat area correction, a pilot beam focus finder, and a versatile vary/measurement mode. Based on Videojet, these options assist cut back operator touches, enhance mark high quality, and enhance uptime.

Each new lasers print textual content, barcodes, graphics, and different info at accelerates to 2,000 characters/sec to assist product traceability and anti-counterfeiting. The methods can print on a variety of substrates, together with PET, glass, high-density polyethylene, versatile movie, foils, and labels, rubber, and wooden and lumber.

In accordance to Videojet, the laser methods have been engineered to assist customers meet their Business 4.0 targets with built-in Wi-Fi and mobile connections that assist to reduce IT workload and cut back the price of connecting gear to a community. Advises the corporate, “Housed in an entry field, these Wi-Fi and mobile connections allow simple software program updates and fewer service interactions whereas bettering total gear effectivity with the supply of extra manufacturing info.” 

Exhibiting what Paul Barton, Americas Area, gross sales supervisor for HP Specialty Printing Options, says is the “solely type of product on the market like this,” HP launched its new Thermal Inkjet 108-mm bulk printing answer to the North American market at PACK EXPO Las Vegas. The answer contains a stitched print head with 5 heads with twin channels. Stitching happens when a pair of overlapping print heads print a pair of adjoining picture segments that meet in a sewing area; printing at every location within the stitching area is completed by each print heads with a weighting that is dependent upon the situation being printed throughout the stitching area.

“What this lets you do is print on labels or proper onto a field a really high-resolution barcode with info that’s simply readable and scannable,” explains Barton.

HP’s TIJ 108-mm bulk printing answer for coding and marking on secondary packaging permits firms to shift away from complicated and costly label utility processes by enabling direct printing onto the skin of bins, bettering recyclability by avoiding glues and different adhesives required with conventional labeling processes. Says HP, “As clients look to switch complicated and costly label utility by direct printing on packaging, clients love the simplicity and ease of use of this answer, given the challenges to find and coaching labor in manufacturing and logistics environments.”

Based on Barton, the print head wants no servicing. HP’s proprietary micro-recirculation know-how ensures the ink is saved in print-ready situation throughout the print head previous to printing and in between jobs to make sure the pigments don’t settle. Different options embody a 10-mm throw distance, a print decision of 600 x 600 dpi, and speeds to 800 ft/min. The ink supply system is made up of 775-mL cartridges which can be hot-swappable with water-based inks.

Large information on the Squid Ink sales space at PACK EXPO Las Vegas was the introduction of the Co-Pilot Gemini UV system. It prints as much as 5.6 in. excessive at 360 dpi vertically and 300 dpi horizontally. New water-cooled UV system requires as much as 6 liters of water to maintain the system chilly. The primary concept right here is to have the ability to print non-porous substrates which can be typically tough to print as a result of solvent inks sometimes used want drying time. With these UV-cured inks, the printed picture is totally dry and smudge-free.

Watch a video of the Squid Ink system.

Increasing the attain of digital print

R.R. Donnelley & Sons (RRD) introduced at PACK EXPO Las Vegas its expanded partnership with EFI, marking not solely prolonged capabilities for RRD but in addition an extension of digital printing purposes into corrugated packaging. At its packaging facility in Milwaukee, RRD has put in an EFI Nozomi C18000 Plus single-pass digital inkjet printer. Anticipated to be operational by this fall, the press allows the packaging and print powerhouse to cut back time-to-market by 25%, maximize coloration and design choices, and prioritize sustainability on large-format runs of a number of completely different sized substrates whereas delivering constant print high quality.

The Nozomi C18000 Plus press will drive high-volume manufacturing at speeds three to 5 occasions sooner than scanning superwide-format printers. The single-pass know-how can print as much as 1,000 distinctive boards an hour, aligning effectively with business calls for round sustainability, e-commerce, and on-box adverting, based on Ken Hanulec, vp of promoting for EFI.

Based on RRD’s 2023 (Un)Packaging Actuality Report, the huge majority (90%) of packaging and label resolution makers proceed to agree that sustainability is a key consideration in packaging and label choices. RRD is centered on supporting its purchasers’ sustainability efforts by means of decreased vitality, emissions, and waste. Its set up of the Nozomi C18000 Plus press permits an total discount of carbon footprint resulting from sustainable UV LED inks, extra dependable printing, much less waste, and a 4X discount in vitality utilization in contrast to different digital presses.

“Our know-how leverages UV inks and UV LED curing, which makes use of about 25% much less vitality than any of the standard curing applied sciences that exist on the market,” Hanulec says. “Most different applied sciences leverage warmth, and there’s plenty of vitality required to make a warmth supply.”

There’s additionally little or no water concerned within the technique of digitally printed corrugated packaging, Hanulec notes. “There’s zero water waste related to our know-how,” he says.

Although RRD will use the press for quite a lot of retail signage and shows, Hanulec emphasizes the corporate’s expanded utility into corrugated packaging, pushed by different market influences round e-commerce—particularly, on-box promoting and Amazon’s SIOC (ships in personal container) packaging pointers.

This press additionally expedites new job setup (in as little as seven minutes), prints as much as six colours, and runs constantly with out having to pause printing to reload. The brand new addition helps RRD’s skill to supply high-quality leads to retail signage and shows produced from boards and corrugated to poly-based substrates.

“Our dedication to offering distinctive service to our purchasers consists of investing in new know-how that delivers worth and exceeds expectations,” says Lisa Pruett, president of packaging and labels options at RRD. “As we proceed to guage the evolving market, we’re leveraging innovation to increase our capabilities within the areas that matter most to our purchasers: growing speed-to-market, offering sustainable printing options, and creating price financial savings.”

By leveraging superior print know-how, the brand new press permits for inks that won’t crack when bent or folded, a wide range of media, and quick processes which can be correct and repeatable. The UV LED inks used within the Nozomi C18000 Plus press maximize coloration and design choices out there to RRD’s purchasers.

Tetra PakIn the meantime, on the beverage carton facet of issues, Tetra Pak used PACK EXPO Las Vegas to advertise its new Tetra Pak^R Customized Printing initiative. Additionally large information was the announcement of a model new customized printing collaboration with Toronto-based Circulate Beverage Corp., a well being and wellness-focused beverage firm providing alkaline spring water in Tetra Pak cartons.

Put in and examined in Tetra Pak’s Denton, Tex., changing facility over the previous 12 months or so is a full-width Koenig & Bauer RotaJET 168 digital printer. The Roll-fed ink-jet system has an internet velocity of 240 m/min (787 ft/min) and internet width of 840 to 1680 mm/min (2756 to 5512 ft/min). It makes use of piezo-electrically modulated DOD inkjet printing heads and RotaColor water-based polymer pigment inks.

Tetra Pak sees all types of latest enterprise and advertising alternatives rising because of the elevated flexibility and the flexibility to customise that comes with this digital printing know-how. Tetra Pak Customized Printing is described as the primary and solely premium ink jet-based carton bundle printing answer to supply manufacturers an modern, price efficient, and customizable system whereas offering all of the environmental advantages of paper-based beverage cartons. Advantages like the flexibility to print dynamic on-pack QR codes or to incorporate quite a lot of designs throughout the identical order deliver new potentialities to meals and beverage manufacturers. Digital printing additionally permits for smaller, extra custom-made batch sizes and facilitates linked packaging purposes by way of distinctive codes and designs.

Circulate Beverage Corp. has a sizeable presence in retail shops in Canada and a few within the U.S. One channel the place the agency plans to make good use of custom-made packaging is in its partnership with Reside Nation Leisure, which promotes, operates, and manages ticket gross sales for reside leisure within the U.S. and internationally.

What about pouch printing?

PouchMarkPouchMark featured its “revolutionary” line of feeding and direct-to-pouch variable printing and coding methods, which combine the velocity and print high quality of thermal-transfer printers made by father or mother firm FlexPackPRO with PouchMark’s inexpensive and dependable feeders and conveyors. What these methods enable model house owners to do is stack, feed, and print variable info straight onto pre-made pouches as an alternative of getting to print after which apply labels. “It’s a good way,” says PouchMark EVP/GM Bruce Walter, “to get rid of a particularly time-consuming, expensive, and aggravating a part of the method.” Medical diagnostics kits and medical system merchandise have been fashionable purposes, Bruce provides, although recently the hashish house is exhibiting a really eager curiosity.

Making its PACK EXPO debut on the Las Vegas sales space was Edge, the latest addition to the PouchMark household of machines. A high-volume pouch feeding and printing innovation, it has a loading capability of as much as 250 pouches at a time.

Additionally making its debut on the sales space was FLEXtij, a groundbreaking inkjet know-how the place the speeds and the ink sturdiness by way of what it can adhere to and how briskly it could actually accomplish that are all very new. The Premium model gives speeds to 200 fpm and 600 dpi decision. However the FLEXtij Extremely–which FlexPackPRO claims will outperform CIJ, laser, TTO, and different thermal ink-jet choices in most applications–offers print speeds to 656 fpm and print density as much as 1,200 dpi. A key to this new breed of inkjet know-how is the polymer-based inks that ship sturdy print on porous or non-porous surfaces. “It’s not like conventional TIJ the place you’ll be able to often scratch off the printed picture together with your fingernail,” says Walter. “It’s like nothing else on the market.” The proprietary inks are made by off-shore suppliers to specs set by FlexPackPRO.

As soon as once more a key marketplace for this new know-how was hashish. Not solely do the pouches on this house have gussets and zipper reclosure options that make ink laydown difficult, additionally they have particular double child-resistant zippers that additional complicate issues. FLEXtij can deal with it, says Walter, who’s clearly excited in regards to the alternatives this opens up.

AT Info MerchandiseElsewhere on the planet of pouches, PACK EXPO Las Vegas was the platform for AT Info Merchandise to introduce its new RF Lite Pouch , an automated system designed for coding flat-form luggage and pouches. This technique employs vacuum know-how to align packaging for coding by the Markoprint industrial coder.

The rise in the usage of versatile packaging supplies is prompting the business to seek for adaptable, environment friendly, and economical coding strategies. Challenges come up when coding on-line, particularly on pre-made pouches or stuffed packs. AT INFO’s RF Lite Pouch serves as an off-line various.

The RF Lite Pouch System is a compact, bench-top system that employs vacuum choosing system and belt drive for easy motion. It is designed with a top-loading hopper to maintain throughput. The system additionally options an outfeed catcher tray for coded pouches. It accepts packaging substrates of diverse sizes and supplies, too– suitable supplies embody plastic, mylar, and paper. The system’s feeder can deal with sizes starting from 3-in. by 3-in. to 10-in. by 6-in. Appropriate with each Thermal Inkjet and Piezo Inkjet, the printer can produce alphanumeric textual content, GS1 identifiers, and regulatory compliant graphics.

Based on the corporate, typical feeders deploy friction rollers to maneuver substrate from a hopper to a belt, which proves environment friendly for uniformly thick pouches. Nonetheless, versatile supplies or these with resealable options pose challenges in accuracy. By using vacuum know-how, the RF Lite Pouch ensures constant and dependable feeding.