Can Coding
Printing onto steel or aluminium cans presents a number of unique challenges: non-porous surfaces, curved surfaces, wet or dusty environments, limited print areas, post-marking sterilisation processes and strict labelling compliance requirements.
Can coders are used in a wide range of industries including food, beverage and cosmetics, personal care products and chemicals.
Challenges in Metal Can Marking
Metal is non-porous and often coated or lacquered, so inks struggle to bond properly. This can lead to smudging or transfer and poor durability. Coatings and varnishes (common in beverage and personal care cans) can further prevent standard inks from adhering effectively.
Cans are rounded and often rotating at high speed, making accurate placement difficult. Limited space (e.g. base of cans or lids) means small codes must remain readable and multi-line or 2D codes risk distortion.
Curved can sides or domed can bottoms can distort print and compromise scan quality (especially barcodes/QR codes).
Slim and narrow cans may require compact print areas and specialised narrow-font formats to maintain legibility without compromising production speed.
Beverage and food canning lines can exceed 100,000+ cans per hour, so codes must be applied instantly and consistently.
Even small errors create large-scale waste or rework so printing systems must cope with continuous operation and minimal downtime.
Many manufacturers produce multiple can sizes, formats and product variants on the same line. Frequent changeovers require coding systems that can quickly switch between messages, code formats and print positions while maintaining production efficiency and reducing the risk of coding errors.
Filling, cooling and transport often create condensation on can surfaces. This can cause ink to smear or wash off, poor print quality or illegible codes.
Food cans often undergo high temperature and pressure processes (e.g. retort at ~121°C). Challenges include ink fading or disappearing entirely, labels peeling. Therefore codes must survive heat, steam and cooling cycles.
In personal care and chemical industries, cans may be exposed to oils, solvents, cleaning chemicals. Codes need to withstand abrasion, chemical exposure and handling.
Metal cans (especially aluminium) reflect light and may have dark or printed coatings. This creates challenges in achieving high contrast codes
Codes must remain legible throughout the entire product lifecycle to meet regulations. Requirements include: Batch/lot codes, Expiry dates, Barcodes or 2D codes. Failure may lead to recall risks, compliance issues and brand damage.
Brand owners often specify detailed coding standards for traceability and quality control. These requirements may include precise date formats, specific character heights, code positioning rules, date rounding conventions and customer-specific traceability information. Coding systems must be flexible enough to manage these requirements consistently across multiple products and production sites.
What is an Production Can Coding Machine?
Can coding printers must be suitable for high volume expiration date coding or batch identification, and are designed to print directly onto metal cans in almost any orientation. They can mark variable information as well as printing barcodes, Data Matrix and QR codes onto cans to enable traceability, and convey quality and safety information to the consumer.
The most commonly used technologies for coding onto metal cans are continuous ink jet (CIJ) and laser coders. Each has unique benefits and the one that is right for you application will depend on your product material, environment and code requirements.
Our expertise in product and packaging marking & identification can help you to reduce costs and improve production rates.
Food Tin Coding
A range of specialist CIJ inks are available to enable long-lasting codes onto a range metal cans and tins. Retort inks can withstand heat and steam in cooking processes, thermochromic inks change colour during heating, and many inks can code through light layers of oil.
Laser coders can also code onto bare or coated metals and paper labels, providing rapid, permanent marking with no need for consumables.
Contract Beverage Manufacturing
Contract manufacturers often produce products for multiple brand owners on the same line. Each customer may require different date formats, batch information, code positioning and traceability standards.
Linx coding solutions allow manufacturers to store multiple messages and job settings, simplifying changeovers between products while helping reduce operator errors and maintain compliance with customer specifications.
Personal Care Product Coding
Many industries require coding on the base of cans, CIJ and laser methods can code on bare or coated metals, in any orientation to fit your product and can integrate easily into your production setup.
Complex codes including logos, 2D codes and variable information can be printed for branding, compliance and anti-counterfeiting.
Aluminium Drink Can Printing
Modern beverage producers operate at extremely high line speeds while managing multiple stock keeping units (SKUs), pack formats and customer requirements. Coding systems must deliver consistent print quality across standard, slim and speciality can formats while supporting rapid product changeovers.
Linx printers can store multiple customer-specific messages, helping manufacturers quickly switch between products and code formats. Flexible message design capabilities support complex brand-owner coding requirements, including customised date formats, traceability codes and variable information required by major beverage companies.
For products such as energy drinks, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages, specialist inks are available to maintain code legibility despite exposure to condensation, saline or sugary residues and demanding production environments.
Coding Across Multiple Packaging Types
Many beverage manufacturers need to apply traceability information beyond the primary can itself. The same coding solution may also be required to print on cardboard fridge packs, multipack sleeves, trays, shrink film and secondary packaging.
Flexible coding systems help manufacturers standardise coding across production lines while reducing equipment requirements and simplifying operator training.
What to look for in a Can Coding Machine
Code Content: The code requirements (batch numbers, dates, 2D codes etc.), the size, colour and the desired marking area will affect the coder most suited to your application. Consider a coder that can mark in any orientation for flexible marking on any part of your product e.g on the base. Also think about how the code requirements may change in the future or on other products you produce.
If you produce products for multiple customers or brands, ensure the coding solution can store and manage large numbers of messages, support customer-specific coding standards and accommodate future changes in traceability requirements. Features such as date calculation, date rounding and automated code generation can help reduce operator intervention and coding errors.
Production processes: For durable codes the printing solution you choose must be able to adhere reliably and still be legible through your production and supply chain. Laser codes are permanent while for ink based printers you will need to consider retort, condensation, pasteurisation or cooking processes.
Speed: Ensure the coder you choose can keep up with your production line speed or volume goals without compromising on code quality. Drying time of ink based solutions can be an important consideration.
Production environment: Wet, hot, humid or non-temperature controlled production environments can affect the performance of your printing solution and the printed codes. In demanding conditions or washdown environments the IP rating of your coder may be key. If the production space is limited, investigate coders that are compact or can be mounted in different ways to fit the available space.
Available budget: It is vital to consider not only the initial purchase price but also the total cost of ownership, including consumables and cost and frequency of servicing. Can the product be user maintained and repaired?
Reliability: On a high-volume line, the reliability of your coder is crucial to avoid product rework, scrappage, line downtime and loss of efficiency. Frequent breakdowns can negate any benefits of a lower purchase price coder; look for automatic cleaning or self-service features.
On high-speed canning lines, printer status visibility is equally important. Alarm beacons, warning notifications and remote monitoring tools can help operators identify issues quickly and minimise unplanned downtime before large quantities of product are affected.
Integration: Modern canning lines often require coding systems to work alongside inspection equipment, reject systems, fillers, seamers and packaging machinery. Integration capabilities can help ensure coding systems operate in synchronisation with other line equipment, improving production efficiency and traceability.
Linx Technologies for Coding on Cans
Whatever your substrate, line speed and operating environment, Linx can provide you with a suitable coding solution for metal cans. Browse our different technologies from the options below:
Linx 9000 Series
Flexible solution for any process
Features
Suitable for 24/7 operations | Data Matrix and QR codes |GS1 compliant 2D codes | GS1 code builder | High-speed production | Print up to 6 lines | Black and coloured inks
Key Benefits:
- Excellent print on curved surfaces and any orientation, narrow fonts and MK11 Mini printhead for small print areas
- Reliable operation in hot, dusty, wet, or non-temperature controlled environments
- High adhesion inks for metal and specialist inks for cold-fill, retort and thermochromic applications
- IP65 (option) for ingress protection and washdown environments
- QuickSwitch syncs messages from other line equipment and Linx Message studio allows creation and deployment of messages remotely
- Support flexible coding on cans, sleeves, cardboard multipacks and shrink film using the same coding platform
Linx FSL Series
Small spot size for coding on bare metals
Features
Suitable for 24/7 operations | Data Matrix and QR codes |GS1 compliant 2D codes | High-speed production | Choice of 4 lenses | Internal cooling system | Up to 360m/min
Key Benefits:
- Very fine spot size for quality codes, lots of information in a small space or small products
- Compact marking head for easy integration into moving and static lines
- Zero consumables
Not sure which solution is right for your can coding?
Contact us to find the best solution for your marking and coding needs
Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Authentication
Many food, beverage, personal care and chemical manufacturers are introducing enhanced traceability and product authentication measures to protect their brands. UV-readable inks can provide covert security marks that are not visible under normal lighting conditions, helping manufacturers identify genuine products and support anti-counterfeiting initiatives.
Laser marking provides a permanent alternative to ink-based anti-counterfeiting solutions. Unlike printed codes, laser marks cannot be washed away, rubbed off or easily altered, making them ideal for products where long-term traceability and authenticity are critical.
Combined with Data Matrix codes, serialisation and variable coding, these solutions can strengthen supply chain traceability and brand protection programmes.
Thermochromic Inks for Sterilisation
Thermochromic inks are specialised inks that penetrate oily surfaces, remain indelible and permanently change colour when exposed to a specific temperature, making them particularly useful in food canning applications. During retort sterilisation, where filled cans are heated to ensure product safety, the ink changes colour once the required temperature is reached. This provides a clear, visible indication that the can has been exposed to the correct heat conditions, supporting quality assurance processes on high‑speed production lines.
These inks are designed to withstand the demanding conditions of food processing, including high temperatures, moisture and pressure, while maintaining clear and legible codes. Although they do not confirm that sterilisation has fully taken place, they offer a simple and reliable visual check that the required temperature has been reached, helping manufacturers improve process control and product safety.
Available on Linx 9000 Series CIJ printers
Solutions for coding on metals including steel and aluminium
Inkjet and laser coding on painted or coated metals
High-speed printing directly on bottles, cans and packaging for the beverage industry
FAQ
Coding on cans is the process of applying variable information such as dates, batch numbers, barcodes or 2D codes directly onto metal cans during production to support traceability and compliance.
A wide range of cans can be coded, including aluminium beverage cans, steel food cans and coated or lacquered containers used in cosmetics and chemicals.
The most common technologies are continuous inkjet (CIJ) and laser coders. CIJ is widely used for high-speed production, while laser coding is increasingly used for permanent, consumable-free marking on aluminium cans.
Yes, modern coding solutions are designed for very high production speeds, making them suitable for beverage and food canning lines without compromising code quality or accuracy.
Yes, industrial coding systems can print in multiple orientations, allowing codes to be applied on the base, top or side of cans depending on your production setup and requirements.
This depends on the technology used. Ink-based systems can produce durable or removable marks depending on the ink, while laser coders create permanent codes that cannot be removed.
Yes, coding on cans often takes place in environments with moisture, condensation or heat. Suitable equipment and inks are designed to perform reliably in these conditions and maintain code quality throughout production and processing.
Yes, specialised inks and coding solutions are available to ensure codes remain legible after processes such as retort or pasteurisation used in food canning.
In food canning, thermochromic ink is typically used during the retort sterilisation process. The ink changes colour when the can reaches the required temperature, providing a visible indication that the product has been heat treated.