Digital direct marking of primary and secondary packaging
Cardboard boxes and cartons made of paper and cardboard are ideal as primary and secondary packaging for transporting and storing products safely and reliably throughout the entire transport chain to the customer.
Above all, primary and secondary packaging must be reliably marked with a range of important information. Important information that serves to support logistics (movement of goods, traceability) and consumer protection. These are:
- Description of goods
- Part number
- Batch number
- Best before date
- Storage instructions
- Barcodes
- Matrix Codes
- Branding
This information can get onto the packaging in a number of ways:
- pre-printed cartons
- Labels
- digital direct print
Marking with digital direct printing
Sustainable, flexible and cost-efficient solution
Digital direct printing – especially compared to pre-printed cardboard and labels – is cost-efficient, flexible and sustainable, and thus meets the industry’s spirit of the times. The printers for direct cardboard marking are small, compact and can be easily integrated into the production line even when space is limited.
Contact-free, static and variable data can be applied captively with direct printing. Combinations of static print content such as logos or symbols and variable print content such as date, time, counter or shift code are just as possible as pure variable or static data. They thus allow the greatest possible scope for individualizing the print content. Even greater flexibility is provided by a printing system with flexible print head alignment.
While the space available for the information to be conveyed is limited in the case of labels, large and at the same time high-resolution print images with all the relevant information can be generated in digital direct printing. Barcodes and 2D codes can also be imaged reliably and with the required edge sharpness and contrast. Several print heads can be used in cascade to increase the print area.
Digital printing systems are generally low-maintenance and require nothing more than new ink on a regular basis. This eliminates the need to stock pre-printed cartons. Likewise for pre-printed labels. Materials management is simplified by low-maintenance printing systems. This is because changeover times, which otherwise occur during ongoing operation and cause machine downtimes, can thus be reduced to a minimum.
What are the advantages of direct cardboard marking?
- Only one printing system required, which can be integrated into production with its compact design
- No costs for a wide range of consumables such as pre-printed cartons or labels, as well as their storage space and administration
- No expensive downtimes due to set-up times for product changes, label roll changes or carton layout changes
- Economical ink consumption, low maintenance
- Higher printing speed, lower printing costs per print
- Captive, and therefore no peeling of the print or poor adhesion
Which coding and marking system is suitable for direct cardboard marking?
REA JET GK 2.0 – High resolution inkjet printer:
The new generation of High Resolution Inkjet Printer REA JET GK 2.0 prints freely combinable texts, logos and graphics with variable print data. A horizontal resolution of up to 1,200 dpi ensures print results with high edge definition – and at print heights of up to 100 mm. With their compact design, the devices can be easily integrated into production. What’s more, they are fully Industry 4.0-capable.
- High resolution marking up to 100 mm print height
- For paper, cardboard, corrugated board, shipping packages, paper cores, continuous corrugated board, continuous paper
- Edge sharp marking on absorbent surfaces
- Cascading of multiple print heads for large print images
