Find Marking and Coding Technologies for better performance

Marking and coding are mandatory in the industrial world as the government enacted the rules to improve product traceability and quality control. Marking, coding, and labeling the package or product itself can help end users or companies identify the details of a product. 

Marking and coding, these terms might have a similar purpose, yet they are two different things. Each term refers to the placing of printing ink on a product’s body or package so that humans and machines can read and recognize the product’s characteristics.

If you want to know more about the two terms’ definitions, purposes, tools, and differences, read the rest of the article about marking and coding technologies.

What are Marking and Coding?

Marking and coding function as an identification to track and know how a product came to be. Usually, identification tells the production or manufacturing process of development.

The identification details on a product consist of the retail price, batch number, manufacturing date, manufacturing location, expiry date, QR codes, etc. This information is helpful to end users and businesses selling manufactured products. 

Marking refers to the graphical logo, symbol, or line showing the product’s trademark or compliance stamp. Meanwhile, the coding refers to alphanumeric characters on a product eligible for human eyes. Manufacturers print the code on a product to make the tracking process easy.

Purposes of Marking and Coding

The mark and coding help the end users or consumers to have a general idea and determine whether a product is safe for consumption. They can know the authenticity of a product by seeing the information about its freshness and expiry date.

For the manufacturers, aside from the ease of traceability, marking and coding can protect their entire supply chain and prevent counterfeit products. This is because marking and coding tell apart one product from another due to the accurate details. In addition, the information helps a manufacturer to do product quality control.

Varieties of Marking and Coding Tools

There exist various marking and coding tools. Sometimes, these tools are referred to as technologies, systems, machines, solutions, or methods to deliver exact facts about a product. Here are examples of marking and coding tools.

Continuous Inkjet Printing

Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) printers are a cost-effective marking and coding solution for manufacturers to print accurate product data. The data includes barcodes, batch codes, and expiry dates.

Manufacturers use CIJ because of its versatility and consistency in printing a product’s marking and coding. A CIJ printer delivers a continuous stream of ink droplets from the printhead nozzle precisely to the product or package.

Thermal Inkjet Printing

Thermal Inkjet (TIJ) printers, also known as bubble jet printers, use ink cartridge-based systems to print high-resolution codes on various mediums at high speed. They use thermal energy to heat the ink, which then applies to a substrate. 

TIJ can print traceable and precise information such as texts, expiry dates, logos, graphics, barcodes, and batch codes. It is also versatile to print on various materials and surfaces. However, TIJ is more suitable to print marking and coding for flat surfaces.

Thermal Transfer Overprinting

Thermal Transfer Overprinting (TTO) is the ideal and high-resolution technology for printing data or messages onto various packaging materials like papers, films, gloss cards, Tyvek, etc. It uses a thermal transfer ribbon to transfer the ink and pushes the ribbon into contact with a packaging medium.

TTO creates better quality and clean print for ingredients texts, product descriptions, marketing messages, logos, graphics, date codes, and batch codes. It delivers the print without changing the original design or templates.

Laser Printing

Laser Printing refers to a form of xerographic or digital printing which uses toner, attracted using static electricity to a photoconductive drum, for printing, marking, and coding onto a substrate. This type of printer is suitable for small businesses, homes, or offices.

Laser Printing creates moderate-quality images but high-quality graphics and texts. It consists of one color toner to produce monochromatic images and four color toners to create colorful ones.

Large Character Printing

Large Character Printing (LCP) is an inkjet printer used to label or print significant information characters on porous surfaces such as boxes, cartons, wood, sacks, trays, etc. This printer produces high-resolution and durable prints of images, graphics, and barcodes. The way it works is quite similar to any inkjet printer.

High-Resolution Printing

High Resolution (HR) printers are ideal for traceable printing information on products or packages. The high dpi resolution allows the printer to produce accurate and precise labels, texts, barcodes, logos, and graphics straight to the package mediums.

Industries that Use Marking and Coding

Various industries print marking and coding onto their products to comply with the government’s rules and provide necessary information about the consequences for customers and business partners. Any industry manufacturing products for human use and consumption must label them with precise details for quality, safety, and traceability purposes. 

The marking and coding systems are mandatory for industries producing food, beverages, chemical substances, medical devices, electronics, tobacco, home care, and cosmetics. In addition, building or construction, automotive, and military industries also use marking and coding to categorize and label their products.

Read About: Thermal Inkjet Printer: Benefits and Applications

How to Decide the Right Marking and Coding Tools?

Marking and coding are essential to improve your products’ traceability and quality control. Thus, it would help if you had the right tool or technology to produce clear and accurate detailed information. Yet, how does one decide on a suitable marking and coding tool? Check the following tips to resolve this matter.

• Know the types of substrates of your products and packages.
• Make a list of the product details you want to print out and research whether the printer can do the work for you.
• Check the print quality, durability, and legibility. Make sure it doesn’t change your original design but can deliver clean prints.
• Consider the cost of the entire printing process and whether it’s suitable for your business budget.

Marking and coding technologies are essential in producing accurate prints of your products. It helps customers and business partners to know more about your products. In addition, you can prevent any counterfeit products by engraving specific markings and codings. 

You can print detailed facts on various surfaces and materials with a suitable technology or tool. Don’t forget to consider the tips above to get the proper marking and coding technologies!