Food, glorious food - the benefits of using Continuous Ink Jet |
Create Config
Edit Name Description Configiration Type Type

Cookie Notice: We use cookies to improve your browsing experience. By continuing to use our site, you accept our privacy and cookie policy. Learn more about our Cookie Policy. I Understand

Home »  Blog

Diagraph's Blog

rss

Diagraphs Blog covers the latest in coding and labeling products


Food, glorious food - the benefits of using Continuous Ink Jet
Food and Beverage, General, Product Coding, Small Character Printing posted by Diagraph
Specify Alternate Text

2020 will go down in history as a challenging time for food producers. While it is vital that food supplies to supermarkets are uninterrupted and rigorous hygiene is maintained, we should not forget the importance of the printed information that is provided to the consumer when it is on the shelf. There are heavy fines for batch and date codes that do not meet required legislation, and the printed codes must meet stringent traceability requirements should any recall be needed.

What to research

How do you go about ensuring you have the best possible coding equipment for the job in hand? As with any purchase, it always pays to do research and you may want to consider the following:

  • Substrate – think of the range of different materials on which you will need to print. It’s a good idea to ask for samples coded by the printer you are considering.
  • Line speed – can the printer keep up with your line speed? If not, what will the degradation be to the code? Also, make sure you future-proof your printer for a potential increase in output. No-one likes to buy twice!
  • Factory environment – this can be tricky for coding onto food products. You need to ensure your printer and ink can cope with greasy environments, plastic film and the cooking process to name but a few. (Check out our ink blog for the latest ink developments at Linx, specifically developed for the food industry).
  • Budget – don’t be swayed to purchase based on the printer price alone. Consider the total cost of ownership and factor in reliability–there is nothing more costly than a breakdown and we all know they never occur at a convenient time.

 

Why Linx is a good choice for the food industry

Linx’s continuous inkjet (CIJ) printers, with a minimum IP55 rating to withstand washdown, are an excellent choice for the food industry. They deliver quality coding with exceptional reliability, ease of use and efficient operations. Simple user interfaces with built-in mistake proofing help keep uptime to a maximum. Touch screens are solvent and alcohol resistant so they can be operated while wearing plastic or rubber gloves, and operators can use hand sanitizers to stay healthy and still operate the printer.

touchscreen printer

Linx CIJs are the optimum coders for the harsh environment of food production, and reduce stoppages through:

  • extended service intervals
  • three monthly printhead cleans
  • fluid refills during printing and eight-hour fluid reserve

 

Linx’s extensive experience in the food industry translates into coders that are perfectly suited to challenging environments.


Related Posts

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

    Specify Alternate Text
    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.

  • Standardizing Food Date Labels in the United States

    Specify Alternate Text
    U.S. regulatory agencies recently announced a new preference to standardize on the use of the quality-based date label of "Best If Used By" on packaged foods. This recommendation is voluntary and based on research-based industry best practices. 

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.


Comments are closed.


3360 Views
Tagged With:

Search

Categories

Featured Posts

  • Overcoming the daily challenges of pigmented ink printing Posted 5 months ago
    Using pigmented ink in printers, especially ‘white ink’, often presents daily challenges compared to standard dye-based ink printers that result in more downtime. These challenges often include more frequent servicing and daily cleaning.
  • Avoid Labeling Mistakes by Removing Plant Air Posted last year
    All-electric label applicators revolutionize the packaging industry by eliminating the reliance on plant air, providing precise applicator control for consistent and accurate label placement and ensuring secure label control for various label sizes.
  • Is training production line workers creating a challenge? No problem!  Posted 7 years ago
    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.
  • Don’t let fast drying ink slow down your CIJ coding process Posted last year
    Continuous inkjet printers (CIJ) use super-fast drying solvent-based inks. One of the technology challenges presented by these inks is that they aren’t too particular wherethey dry. With CIJ technology, the formation of drops from an inkjet stream creates a mist (or satellite drops) which builds up a layer of ink over time on the components inside the CIJ print head, causing print failure. Routine cleaning of ink with solvent from the components in a print head is required to maintain best print quality and uptime.
  • How do I get labels to stick in hot and humid environments? Posted 4 years ago
    Something to be aware of when considering using labeling for product identification in a hot or humid environment is that labels are sensitive to temperature, making facility environment temperature a determining factor in choosing what label material to use on a product.  
Read More »