Coding and Marking on Metal

Metal coding is required for a wide range of industries including food, beverage, construction, automotive, and chemicals. Linx marking solutions can cover most product identification applications including printing dates on beverage cans and food tins, barcodes on pipework and batch information on sheet metal.

Printing onto metals, such as steel, aluminium, copper, iron and brass can be challenging: non-porous surfaces, curved surfaces, wet or hot environments, post-marking sterilisation processes and long term durability.

Industrial coding printers for metal products may need to be suitable for printing directly on a variety of metal shapes and surfaces in any orientation, high volume expiration date coding or batch identification, and challenging production processes such as sterilisation or post-production durability such as light fastness for parts in prolonged daylight. 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 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.

Code Content: The code requirements (batch numbers, dates, 2D codes etc.), the size, finish 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 requirments may change in the future or on other products you produce.

Substrate: The reflection on bare metal can make some laser coders unsuitable; CIJ printers or Fibre laser coders can work effectively on bare metal.

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, light-fastness, abrasion and chemical exposure.

Speed: Ensure the coder you choose can keep up with your production throughput 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: 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.