Thermal inkjet on a roll

2 March 2011



Thermal inkjet printers are coming out of the office and onto the packaging line, writes Lynda Searby.


Historically, companies looking for a coder to operate in a factory environment had three choices: a laser coder, a continuous inkjet (CIJ) coder or - if the coding substrate was flexible film - a thermal transfer coder.

Today there is a fourth option, as thermal inkjet (TIJ) is increasingly regarded as a serious contender. “Thermal inkjet coding is becoming more popular in the packaging market as it’s well suited to industrial applications, providing quality codes and straightforward integration into production environments,” says Tom Hawkins, Product Manager with Videojet.

And his observation is backed up by Harry Thomason, Director of Sunala, who confirms: “Thermal inkjet is definitely becoming more popular, especially where a clean environment and a maintenance-free operation are essential.”

TIJ isn’t a new technology: it has been used on office desktop printers for years - but the equipment has only recently become robust enough for industrial environments, hence the recent surge in popularity.

Advancements in inks, in terms of drying times and substrate compatibility, have also made TIJ more appealing to industrial users. “Before, TIJ printers could only print onto porous substrates. Now there are inks that can print onto a range of primary packaging substrates,” says Ian Luck, MD of Euromark.

Indeed, according to Sunala’s Harry Thomason, innovative new inks are making it possible to print onto non-porous surfaces such as aluminium pharmaceutical blister foil. Nevertheless, he says the applications best suited to TIJ are small character coding of alpha-numerics, bar codes and 2D codes onto porous surfacessuch as unvarnished cartonboard.

Domino claims to be the only supplier to offer multi-substrate, fast-drying inks, a position which has allowed it to expand the range of compatible print materials and application possibilities for its G-Series TIJ coders. “The capability to switch quickly between water and ethanol-based inks enables printing onto both porous and non-porous materials, setting the G-Series apart from other TIJ solutions, which are typically restricted to slower-drying, water-based options,” says Domino’s UK General Manager Will Edwards.

The cartridge advantage

But what is the attraction of TIJ? And where does it sit in relation to CIJ and laser coders?

The main benefits stem from the ink cartridge system: the disposable, single-use cartridge contains both the ink and the printhead. This prevents ink spillages during operation and changeovers, and minimises maintenance, since the key elements of the printing system are replaced every time new ink is required.

“People are going for this option because there is no maintenance - if something goes wrong you just whip out the old cartridge and put a new one in. With a CIJ printer, if something goes wrong you have to wait for an engineer to come and fix it, which can result in serious downtime,” says Ian Luck.

For Chris Coyle, Sales and Marketing Manager with Maplejet, the main attraction of TIJ coders is the initial low capital cost of the equipment. “However,” he adds, “I think the ongoing ink costs mean it is best suited to low volume applications where initial capital cost outweighs ongoing ink costs.”

He’s not the only one to pick up on the potential issue of ink costs. Lucy Benbow, Marketing Specialist at Markem-Imaje, says: “There are questions about consumable costs, the frequency of replenishment stoppages and their ability to withstand harsh factory conditions.”

Nonetheless, she concedes that TIJ printers ‘do offer acceptable print quality and high speed operation, making them suitable candidates for such applications as blister packs, cartons and other paperbased packaging’.

Broadly speaking, it seems there are compelling arguments for considering TIJ printers for outer case coding applications, and for those primary coding applications involving low volumes, card-based substrates and clean conditions. But it is important not to lose sight of the fact that CIJ is still the technology of choice in the vast majority of coding applications.

“It would be wrong to suggest that TIJ is gaining in popularity at the expense of CIJ for primary coding. This is still very much a vibrant and developing technology, as indeed is laser,” says Linx’s Marketing Director, Paul Doody.

“Because technologies such as CIJ and laser are well established, there is a tendency to think that the days of innovation and major new developments are over, but the packaging industry continues to develop at a fast pace and coding equipment suppliers need to respond to this. The needs of customers will vary but key drivers are areas such as speed, efficiency, reliability, flexibility and cost of ownership.”

For example, he says the Linx 7300, launched last year, was designed to avoid the hidden costs of coding by delivering low running costs, minimised production downtime, error-free coding and future proofing. In laser, the company’s new Visicode technology is said to give a much clearer code on cold glass, while offering low running costs at high speeds.

Videojet’s Tom Hawkins is also keen to stress that TIJ should not be confused as a replacement for small character inkjet printers. “It provides a very different code and suits a different customer need,” he says. “CIJ printers are still massive business in the coding industry and this is where most coding suppliers are spending their R&D budget. Our customers tell us that reliability and performance is the number one priority so we continuously investigate new techniques for giving them the best solution to keep their production line running longer and without intervention.

“We also realise that customers nowadays are looking for ways to purchase their equipment and to fix costs over a period of time.”

With this in mind, he says Videojet has developed various flexible packages to ‘give customers access to our complete range of products and services without having to break the bank’.

Cost control and sustainability

According to Markem-Imaje’s Lucy Benbow, reducing operating costs and improving sustainability are the two main customer requirements driving innovation.

“In today’s uncertain trading conditions, cost control is naturally at the top of the user wish list, but customers are no longer prepared to settle for the lowest priced piece of kit. Instead there is a readiness to investigate wider cost of ownership issues, and invest in products that deliver more prints per pound, improved productivity or a lower life-time cost.

“Many producers these days are also concerned with environmental responsibility, in all its forms. They demand reduced power consumption, less waste and more recyclability to support their sustainability programmes,” she says.

The past three months have seen Markem-Imaje addressing these concerns with two new introductions. The 9232 CIJ coder features long-life ink cartridges, low additive consumption, reduced maintenance requirements and an ultra-fast printing mode for high speed applications. The SmartDate X40 is a new addition to Markem-Imaje’s thermal transfer range and is designed to drive down consumable costs by a number of ribbon-saving features. Electrical power consumption has also been cut by 50% and air consumption has been reduced.

Maplejet says its biggest product development in recent months was the launch of a printer with a UV ink curing system at Pack Expo, in Chicago, at the end of 2010. “By incorporating a UV LED light source that ‘cures’ the ink after printing into our ProDigit printer, we combine the ease of use and low maintenance offered by high resolution piezo systems together with instant dry times normally associated with continuous inkjet systems,” says Chris Coyne.

UV curing is also on the horizon for TIJ printers, and Euromark’s Ian Luck predicts that when this development comes on stream it will put TIJ on a more even footing with CIJ.

“The problem with using fast-drying inks with a TIJ printer is that when you’ve finished printing you have to take the cartridge out of the machine and put it in a holster to keep it wet. With UV curing inks, you wouldn’t have to do this. No-one’s gone into production with a machine yet as far as I know, but I would say that within a year, there will be a TIJ printer with UV curing on the market.”

Rounding up thermal options

There aren’t as many industrial TIJ coders as there are CIJ or laser coders, but there are still plenty to choose from:

• Last November, Linx Printing Technologies launched two new TIJ case coders, the TJ125 and TJ225, which it says are ‘proving particularly relevant for smaller companies who need cost-effective, reliable quality case coding with minimal maintenance’.

• The Wolke m600 is probably the best known TIJ system on the market, with a large installed base. It uses HP technology and is said to be ideal for cartonboard packaged goods, in particular pharmaceutical, healthcare, food and consumer packaged goods. The latest Wolke m600 with ‘Track & Trace’ software has been integrated with the Travtec Pharmacarton Lite, enabling pharmaceutical packaging lines to meet imminent EC track & trace regulations. The m600 is available to pharmaceutical customers via Sunala. All other industries are served by Videojet, following its acquisition of Wolke Printers in 2009.

• Domino’s G-Series is particularly geared towards the pharmaceutical sector, where it says demand for 2D codes, including France’s CIP 13, is steadily increasing. With 600 dpi resolution and speeds of up to 300m/min, the G-Series is designed to ‘meet the ever-increasing requirement for improved quality and high speed printing onto an expanding and diverse array of substrates’.

• At the budget end of the spectrum is the Anser U2, distributed by Euromark. The Taiwanese-built printer costs less than £1,000 and is said to be capable of printing onto a range of primary packs, including metal and plastics substrates.


Domino claims to be the only supplier to offer multi-substrate, fastdrying inks for coding. Domino Linx's new Visicode technology is said to give a much clearer code on cold glass. Linx Marken Imaje’s 9232 CIJ coder features long-life ink cartridges, low additive consumption and reduced maintenance requirements. Marken Imaje The acquisition of Wolke Printers in 2009 gave Videojet a route into the TIJ market. Wolke The coders in Videojet’s 1000 series are said to allow long intervals between preventative maintenance. Videojet 1 The Wolke m600 TIJ printer has established a market leading position in TIJ technology, especially in the pharmaceutical market. Wolke

Wolke Wolke
Domino Domino
Marken Imaje Marken Imaje
Videojet 1 Videojet 1
Wolke Wolke
Linx Linx


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