Diagraph Blog | The Latest Information On Carton Printing

Keep Up With Snack Packaging Trends With Smarter CIJ Technology

No longer is it the case that snacks are packaged specifically for children’s lunch boxes. Today, the snack market is heavily geared towards adults with 94% of adults snacking at least once a day and 50% snacking 2 to 3 times a day.* Snack producers are tasked with changing traditional packaging to address a different kind of consumer.

Are You Ready to Automate Date Coding on Your Ready-to-Eat Products?

Fast-paced lifestyles of the working class and a growing number of Millennials demanding on-the-go options are two contributing factors to the rise in the ready-to-eat (RTE) prepared foods market with a projected CAGR of 7.2% between 2016-2026 With the versatility of the packaging substrates and forms for RTE products, we are outlining some key considerations to keep in mind for date coding to still achieve demanding throughput goals.

How to create durable ISPM 15 compliance marks on wooden pallets

Shipping products using wood packaging and dunnage between countries is a process regulated by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). Wooden materials like pallets and crates can potentially carry diseases or insects from one country into another where an infestation would negatively impact the ecosystem. Composed of 175 member countries, the IPPC has established requirements around the treatment of wood packaging leaving and entering their countries to prevent infestations that could be harmful to their local plant life.

Color Contrasting Inkjet Coder Runs Cleaner for Longer

Diagraph is pleased to announce the launch of the Linx 8900 Plus Series – an advanced range of color contrasting inkjet technology that provides the highest levels of printer reliability and ease of use. Enhancements in printhead design and pigment particle dispersion in the Linx 8900 Series prevent common clogging issues associated with inkjet systems when using color soft pigment-based inks.

Benefits of automated coding in the meat, poultry and seafood packing industries

According to a recent PMMI Business Intelligence Report, the meat, seafood, and poultry packing industries are experiencing “a global boom” due to several factors including import and export opportunities expanding into new markets, growth in foodservice, and growth in ready meals. Food producers are rapidly moving to automate processing and packaging to be prepared to meet increased demand and be flexible enough to adapt to changing product coding requirements.

Understanding High Resolution Inks for Your Industrial Inkjet Printer

Selecting ink for your inkjet technology – impulse jet, valve jet or thermal jet – requires an understanding of your application and some basic qualities of the inks available. We asked our inkjet experts for key information to help shine some light on understanding the ink options available in the market.

The Top Choice for Date, Lot and Batch Coding

Diagraph’s customers have spoken and they prefer the Linx 8900 continuous inkjet printer for their date, lot and batch doing needs! Customer feedback cited several reasons that the Linx 8900 model is their top choice.

Using Product Coding and Labeling to Manage a Growing Number of SKUs

A number of factors contribute to the drastic rise in SKUs, like company acquisitions and portfolio merging, flavor variety, count variety and retailer-specific case sizes, to name a few. Managing an increasing number of SKUs is costly for snack food manufacturers, especially when a bulk of them only contribute a small portion to their bottom-line profit.

What is Retail-Ready Packaging?

Increasing in popularity among big box chains is retail-ready packaging (RRP). A retail-ready package refers to secondary packaging that is branded appropriately to be able to move to retail shelves in a quick, “one touch” movement.

No Time to Train Production Line Workers in New Technology? No Problem.

Companies rely on engineers or technicians to keep production lines up and running. These job functions are essential to hitting production targets, so it is key that their skill level on equipment is proficient. When making the decision to replace this equipment, the amount of time and money that will have to be invested in training your labor is a major deciding factor.

What Makes a Good Spare Industrial Inkjet Printer?

Downtime in your production simply isn’t an option. But at any moment, an unpredictable event can arise like low ink levels, maintenance and clogging, putting your operations on hold anywhere from an hour to an entire shift. So how do you prepare for the unexpected? One option that we see put into practice by many customers is the investment in a spare inkjet printer – a reliable, on-hand system that can quickly be fired up on a production line when your regular systems suddenly quit.

Enhance the Food Safety Process with Functional Inks

Continuous inkjet (CIJ) is the technology of choice for food packaging coding as the solvent based inks adhere to a variety of materials like cartons, plastics, films, foils, metal and glass. CIJ is ideal for food packaging in that it offers high speed, non-contact small character printing and enables food processors to incorporate inkjet codes into their functional safety and traceability processes.

Questions to Ask When Evaluating CIJ Versus Laser Coding for Your Food Production Line

Two common automated marking and coding solutions for food packaging are continuous inkjet and laser coding. Which solution best fits your application is dependent on a number of factors.

Achieve Less Downtime in Food and Bottling Lines When You Choose These Durable CIJ Features

All food and beverage manufacturers have a commitment to efficient operations and strive to increase output with maximum uptime. Many of these manufacturers require variable information such as lot or batch codes, expiration dates, or barcodes on their product and make use of Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) to achieve these required codes.

How Traversing CIJ and TTO Technology Solutions are Impacting Your Bottom Line

If you’re a manufacturer integrating traversing CIJ and thermal transfer overprinters in your form, fill and seal machines, consumables contribute to your total cost of ownership in a major way.

NEW MODELS EXTEND LASER CODING CAPABILITIES

Linx Printing Technologies is launching two laser coders that will open up the benefits of laser technology to more companies and applications. Key benefits of the new Linx CSL range are even faster printing speeds and greater versatility, making the coders ideal for a wider variety of products. Quicker and easier installation and set-up help to make laser coding simpler and more accessible.

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Small Character Inkjet Features That Shine in the Meat Packing Industry

The meat packaging industry has coding and traceability requirements similar to other food industries, yet the cold and humid environments indicative of the industry can pose additional challenges for packaging equipment not experienced in more temperate facilities.

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Look for these 4 CIJ Features When Facing Skilled Labor Challenges

Ease of serviceability was a common pain point expressed by customers at this year’s PMMI Annual Conference “The Customer Speaks — OpX Leadership Network Panel”. Manufacturers are experiencing frequent turnover, making it difficult to keep a staff knowledgeable, up-to-date and skilled on their equipment.

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Choosing Stick Pack or Sachet Equipment to Integrate with Your Multi-Lane Printer

Once your packet is coded, sachet or stick pack packaging requires a specialized system to form the packaging receptacle, fill the product into the packet, and seal the ends to secure the product for transport. These systems are known as FFS - form, fill, and seal machines - and they come in two different varieties: (1) Vertical (VFFS) and (2) Horizontal (HFFS).

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Improved Linx Printhead Offers Advantages Over Competition

The latest Continuous Inkjet Printer from Linx Printing Technologies, the 8900 Series, reflects the fundamental Linx design philosophies of Ease of Use and Reliability and is supported by the MK11 hermetically sealed printhead that protects all critical components during operation and cleaning.

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GMO labeling crisis? Here's what you should know and what you should do

Did you know there were 80 GMO labeling bills introduced in 20 states in 2015? On July 1, 2016 the first GMO labeling law will go into effect in Vermont. The Vermont law requires raw agricultural commodity and processed food producers who sell food products in or into the state of Vermont to mark the lowest saleable unit of food packaging with a disclaimer that clearly and conspicuously reads “produced with genetic engineering.”

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The Container You Choose for Your Brew Determines Which Coding Technology You Should Choose

Different types of technology are needed for printing on your primary (bottle or can) package and on your secondary (outer box) package. Continuous ink jet (CIJ) and laser are the most common options for printing date clodes, batch codes, other text, graphics, barcodes, QR codes and other codes onto primary beverage packages.

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What would you do with 3 months?

The new printer reflects the fundamental Linx design philosophies of Ease of Use and Reliability, supported by a hermetically sealed printhead with no moving parts, self-service Easi Change module and new features such as one-touch cartridge refills and a 10” capacitive touch screen with customizable menu.

How do you Print on a Sachet or Stickpack?

Sachets are packets or sealed pouches that contain liquids, gels, or powders and typically sealed on four (4) sides. Stickpacks are tube-like packaging that is sealed on two ends with a continuous seam side. These convenient packaging methods are highly utilized in the food and beverage additive markets, but can be seen in pharmaceutical as well as cosmetic industries. This packaging type requires a specialized system to form the packaging receptacle, fill the product into the packet, and seal the ends to secure the product for transport.

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Selecting the Right Ribbon

Diagraph offers many different formulations of Norwood ribbon to allow us to offer solutions for most films. The coating and chemical make-up of the film is what drives the ribbon formulation. We offer wax, wax/resin, and resin ribbons and within each of these 3 categories we offer a number of formulas and colors.

It's Positive

Many companies have the need to mark discrete variable information such as lot codes and expiration dates on their products. One of the best solutions available to address this need is Continuous Ink Jet printers (CIJ). CIJ offers non-contact high speed coding with immediate dry times resulting from the solvent based inks that are used.

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Comparing Pneumatic and Electric Label Printer Applicators

Diagraph’s E-Series labelers are considered the simplest, most reliable all-electric labeling solutions in the industry today thanks to years of continuous improvement and innovation. Our entire line up of Diagraph E-Series print and apply and automated label applicator systems build upon the durability of the proven Diagraph Platinum Series design, yet incorporate key electronic enhancements that allow it to perform more consistently and reliably over time.

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Variable Coding Ready to Eat Meals with Inkjet

Although laws vary by state and only baby formula has a federal regulation on “Use By”, “Sell By” or “Best Before” date coding, consumers look for this information before making a purchase. Continuous Inkjet Printing (CIJ) is often the preferred method to achieve date coding. Continuous Inkjet offers high-speed, non-contact marking using solvent based inks to print variable information on a wide variety of substrates.

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