Why the Linx 8940 is a smart choice for bottling

Due to the often-harsh nature of the bottling environment, beverage manufacturers and bottle packers must choose their equipment wisely: fragile or temperamental coders will not survive wet, dusty or sugary environments, and will need replacing frequently. This means more downtime, regular expenses, and a decrease in productivity. Naturally, this is something that professional bottlers wish to avoid at all costs. The new Linx 8940 CIJ printer can help.

The Linx 8940 is the simplest, most reliable CIJ printer in harsh and high-output environments. With an IP65 rating as standard, the Linx 8940 is protected from dust ingress, as well as from low pressure water jets from any direction — making it able to cope perfectly with in-situ equipment washdowns.

A coder that gives you options

As packaging trends come and go, and the variety of bottling options increases, beverage manufacturers need coders that can cope with multiple line configurations. Bottles come in different sizes and can be made from a range of materials — and the Linx 8940’s printhead can be adjusted to code from whatever angle you require, all with minimal setup. The Linx 8940 can print alphanumeric characters from 1.8mm to 20mm high, so it can print codes onto secondary packaging as well as bottles. It also offers narrow print fonts to help fit codes into small spaces such as bottle tops or necks.

Being able to retain coding information and switch between different product lines at ease is a valuable time-saver for beverage manufacturers. The Linx 8940 allows manufacturers and bottle packers to name up to 50 individual production line settings, and save individual setup details for each of them.

For example, code requirements are likely to differ between 1l of still mineral water and 500ml of carbonated mineral water — so, rather than manually adjusting the settings whenever the coder is moved to a different line, manufacturers can simply select the desired setting (e.g. “Still Mineral Water 1l”) and start printing.

This also reduces the likelihood of human error. Due to the large variety of products, high line speeds and quick changes, this can happen more often than it should when staff are inputting the codes afresh each time. With the Linx 8940, the pressure to quickly change product lines is reduced, as the codes are already there waiting to be selected.

High output, high efficiency

High-speed lines demand high efficiency from their equipment, and when the equipment doesn’t deliver, serious delays can follow.

Slow and unreliable printers are a real threat to bottling efficiency, and can cause expensive delays to output — as one of the last steps in the packaging process, coding has the potential to delay shipments and cause bottlenecks, particularly when the coder is slower than other equipment in the chain.

The Linx 8940 can code at production line speeds of up to 4.1m/s for 2 lines of code, and up to 6.25m/s for single-line codes.

Easy to use

The CIJ coder’s simple, intuitive interface means less time needs to be spent training new employees how to use the equipment. When the Linx 8900 Series CIJ printers were first shown to new customers, they were able to operate them without needing any training or even having to refer to the manual!

With a large touch screen, sensible and recognizable icons, and customizable home screen — providing easy access to the features you use the most — the Linx 8940 is quick, easy and efficient to use. Codes can even be transferred between different 8900 Series printers using a USB. Simplicity saves time, and for beverage manufacturers, speed is priority.

Less downtime for high reliability

The Linx 8940 comes equipped with Advanced System Monitoring, allowing manufacturers to detect potential errors before they become a problem. Advanced System Monitoring continually tracks critical elements of the printer and the operating environment, allowing it to run reliably for longer. When preventative maintenance can be pre-empted, manufacturers and packers can schedule it at a time that suits them, minimizing waste and unexpected disruptions. Scheduled service module changes can be done in less than 30 minutes, without the need for a skilled technician, so they can be completed during product changeovers with no further impact on production.

The Linx 8940 CIJ coder also comes with quick and clean fluid refills, so bottlers can spend less time on maintenance and more time on printing.

A sound investment

The Linx 8940 CIJ printer comes with the capability to print up to 5 lines of code as standard, allowing beverage manufacturers and bottle packers to future-proof their operations against new regulations that require additional lines of code. Products shipped to international markets often require an extra line indicating Country of Origin, and with this capacity built in, the Linx 8940 is an investment that will facilitate future expansion.

With an extended service interval of up to 18,000 hours (24 months), the Linx 8940 CIJ printer has the proven reliability that our customers have come to associate with our products. With fewer service demands and greater speeds, the Linx 8940 CIJ printer is an ideal choice for beverage manufacturers and bottle packers working in harsh, high-output environments.

To find out how the Linx 8940 can help increase bottling efficiency for your company, contact us for a demo and trial today.