Continuous Inkjet Printers / Case Coder

Continuous inkjet printers provide non-contact, high-speed marking for a wide range of materials, including packaging, plastics, and metals. Designed for high-throughput production lines, CIJ systems enable consistent coding of dates, batch numbers, and barcodes across multiple industries.

・Print on curved and uneven surfaces
・Support high-speed production lines
・Reduce downtime with low maintenance requirements

Case coders provide reliable, high-quality marking directly onto corrugated boxes and shipping cases. Also designed for high-throughput production lines, case coding systems enable consistent printing of dates, batch numbers, barcodes, logos, and other variable information across a wide range of secondary packaging applications.

・Print directly on corrugated boxes and cases
・Produce crisp, legible codes for reliable identification
・Reduce downtime with simple setup and maintenance

Industrial-use inkjet printers can print on a wide variety of materials such as metals, resins, glass, packing films, cans, and PET bottles.
In order to print on products moving on production lines, quick-drying ink, which dries in under 1 second, is used. This enables printing on materials other than just highly absorbent ones, such as paper and cardboard. As such, these printers are used in a wide range of applications in the food, medical, cosmetic, electrical and electronic components, transportation, and metal industries.

Dye-based and pigment-based inks are commonly used with continuous inkjet printers. Dye-based ink can be quickly absorbed by print targets, which allows fast dry time. It also doesn't precipitate when mixed with liquid, making the printer easy to maintain. On the other hand, color pigment ink sticks to the surface of print targets and gives long-term fade resistance. However, precipitation will occur with this type of ink. Therefore, the printer needs to have an auto-circulation feature to ensure no ink hardening.

Industrial continuous inkjet printers have a wide range of applications across various industries, most notably the packaging industry, as CIJ printers excel at printing lot codes, expiration dates, batch numbers, 1D and 2D barcodes, and other relevant product information.

KEYENCE's MK-G Series offers advanced features that enhance the reliability and performance of CIJ printers in all industries. With a direct connection to print inspection equipment, the MK-G Series eliminates any chance of incorrect or missing printed details, ensuring product traceability and compliance. Its auto-cleaning feature ensures cleaning is a hands-free process, maintaining print quality.

Industrial continuous inkjet printers are a noncontact, versatile, and high-speed way to print lot codes and date codes on substrates along a manufacturing line. These printers utilize an ink tank system to deliver ink through a nozzle, where it is fragmented into numerous droplets via high-frequency vibration. After the droplets are produced, specific ones are charged using electrodes. The stream of droplets then navigates through deflector plates, generating an electrostatic field.

As the charged drops traverse the deflector plates, they are redirected out of the print head onto the product, shaping the desired message. Droplets that remain uncharged are recirculated within the system for future use. This process generates the height or Y-axis of printed text. At the same time, the substrate or print head must be moving to help generate the width or X-axis.

In the past, industrial continuous inkjet printers required frequent maintenance and troubleshooting by a skilled engineer, maintenance technician, or third party service tech.

With the release of KEYENCE's MK-G Series self-diagnosing and troubleshooting CIJ printers, any beginner operator can press a button or follow along with the on-screen, easy-to-follow instructions and videos to run production. This reduces the need for skilled/trained on site staff, disruptions during employee changeover/turnover, and expensive service contracts.

When evaluating a CIJ printer, consider the material, surface texture, print speed, and ink formulation required. For non-porous or curved surfaces, a non-contact system such as the MK-G Series maintains print quality. Automated cleaning, predictive diagnostics, and remote monitoring functions reduce maintenance effort and keep line uptime high.

CIJ printers mark lot codes and dates on bottles, cans, and pouches as products move through the line. Case coders print barcodes and tracking data on cartons at the packing stage, keeping packaging consistent from filling to shipment.

The MK-G Series prints more than 2,500 characters per second with encoder control, and the CC-1000 Series runs at up to 100 meters per minute. Both keep codes clear even as line speed or spacing changes.