Laser technology has been used in many forms, be it in medicine, space technology, weather gathering, manufacturing and labeling products and goods. Lasers are a very fast way of printing high quality permanent codes and images. Because it does not use any consumable parts, the cost of owning a laser printer is very low. On any medium production lines, return on investment can be less than three years. Laser coding are also used carton labeling, chassis labeling, pallet barcodes and other industrial products that need to have a permanent code intact upon production and distribution.
What is laser coding on cartons?
Laser printing is done by ablating and engraving the surface of a package or product. Ablation removes material from the area that needs to be marked like a layer of metal or a printed ink on a package. It then etches or engrave a very fine mark of fine groove on the fresh batch. Because the print and mark is indelible, it suitable for brand protection or any application where codes are needed to survive the life of the product.
Laser Coding Applications On Food And Beverage
The food and beverage producers and manufacturers at present are constantly searching for ways to enhance productivity and increase the uptime of their machinery. There are many ways of achieving these goals, but sometimes data coding and packaging is overlooked as a variable data. These printed labels, laser coding on cartons and codes show product information such as manufacture dates, expiration dates, lot codes and other variable data on the package. This information is made and printed on packages to protect the producers and consumers from lawsuits and harm. This will also allow producers and manufacturers to quickly recall that any product can affect the welfare of the consumers.
There are different systems and technologies available for carton and package coding out in the market. The latest generation of laser coding systems provides many benefits for product coding applications and solutions in the food and beverage industry. It provides an efficient system, reduced cost and downtime plus durable and permanent imaging and its ability to handle faster line speeds and the demand for more data within a package code.
Common laser Printing Types
There are two common methods of laser printing used in today’s food and beverage industry. Let`s discuss:
1. Ablation. This method uses heat form the visible laser light that is focused on the product or package surface. It results in removing a small amount of material from the product or package surface. Other techniques include removing the top layer of a foil pouch or etching or marking beer and wine bottles.
2. Surface modification. This technique , melts the surface of the product package in order to create an image or a code. This method is very popular in marking PET bottles and containers for different beverages and bottling applications. It is also used in marking, bottle caps, tubes, blisters and other plastic an hard container.
Advantages Of Laser Coding And Printing On Packages
• Permanent. Prints and marking are permanent because the images are etched over the product`s surface.
• Fast. Marking can be done in 1000 characters/Sec
• Flexible. Since there are no fixed Printheads, complex marking patterns can be made in any surface shape and size.
• It is safe and clean. It does not require inks or any other solvents in doing the job.
• No parts to wear. Since there are no moving parts when printing, it will last longer than conventional printing methods. No surface impacts are made, no vibration to make parts to become loose and it can be used on flat and curved surfaces.
• There is a wide range of materials for use. Reliability, quality and precision can be made in a wide range of materials such as metals, plastics, wood, paper, leather, rubber, marble, ceramic and other materials.
The benefits of laser coding and printing in different industries are vast. If you`re making the choice of acquiring laser printers for your business, you may need to talk to people that are experts in this field. Talk to manufacturers and businesses that own laser printers. They can give you pointers on which machine uses that will fit your business and goals.
About the Author:
Reggie is a web developer and a blogger who writes specifically for companies, business owners, IT geek and people who are interested with technology and business. She finds barcode and and laser date code printer to be interesting subjects to discuss in her blogs.
