#KeepCodingSimple

Big Mike called us earlier this year looking to upgrade his company's part marking process. Big Mike's Sto N Sho, also known as Mike McKinney, produces a wide variety of custom license plate brackets . His products are sold all over the country through wholesalers and auto parts retailers.

Topics: Coding & Marking, Brand Protection, Meenjet, Traceability, Supply Chain, Product Identification, Family Business, Handheld printer, Stamp, Part stamp, Meenjet M6 Printer, Park marking, Handheld inkjet, Handheld coder

Originally published on LinkedIn on May 10, 2019. 

I've been back in the coding and marking industry for a little less than a year now and it's been a thrill to be back. There were a lot of significant developments within thermal inkjet (TIJ) technology during my hiatus from the industry. The solvent based, fast drying inks were improved drastically on three main fronts - darkness, dry time and decap time (the amount of time the print head can be exposed before drying). I was blown away by all of these improvements. 

As if those improvements for a general purpose black ink weren't significant enough, there were now bright white and yellow inks available for non porous (glass, plastic, metal, etc) printing. These two inks are easily in the running as the most significant developments for inkjet coding and marking within the past decade.

Prior to the introduction of these colored inks for TIJ printers, the only option most manufacturers had for printing a bright colored code was continuous inkjet printers. Beyond that, a special model of continuous inkjet printer is needed as the white and yellow inks contain heavy pigments which settle in the ink solution over time. These upgraded "pigmented" continuous inkjet printers for colored inks have additional components to agitate or stir the ink periodically to prevent the pigments from settling out.

These special pigmented ink model continuous inkjet printers cost anywhere from $10-20,000 per system. Additionally, there are installation charges and normally a service contract ranging from $200-500 per month depending on the OEM (Videojet®, Domino®, Markem-Imaje®, Linx®, Hitachi®, etc). These printers require routine maintenance and service to ensure optimum performance reducing the operational efficiency and further increasing the total cost of ownership.

All of this excess cost, time and downtime can now be eliminated with the advent of white and yellow inks for TIJ coding printers. Manufacturers can now spend less than $2,000 for a colored ink coding printer that not only prints one color, but can easily switch colors within 30 seconds! Three years ago this was unheard of!

I have witnessed firsthand numerous occasions where craft food manufacturers, co-packers, e-liquids producers, craft breweries and wineries are able to take advantage of the flexibility of this technology when limiting capital expense during a growth period is critical for the business. They now have an option that is affordable, easy to use and reliable. The printer delivers a drastic increase in efficiency with a low total cost of ownership.

Have you tried struggled with your current color inkjet coding printer? Have you been in search of a low cost and zero maintenance colored ink coding solution? Call us today! 

Topics: Coding & Marking, Inkjet Coding, Meenjet, Meenjet MX1 Printer, Meenjet MX1 Coder, Traceability, Craft brewing, Micro brewing, Date coding, Bottle Coding, Meenjet M6 Printer, Handheld inkjet, Handheld coder, Pharmaceutical, yellow ink, opaque printer, white ink, pigmented inks, pigmented printer, white ink printer, yellow ink printer

Our Dream Team added two All-Stars this week!

I've often wondered how Bob Myers (General Manager of the Golden State Warriors) felt when he signed Kevin Durant in the summer of 2016. Prior to the signing, none of us would have thought that a championship caliber team like that could possibly get better - enter Kevin Durant and just observe what they have accomplished since!

Topics: Coding & Marking, Family Business

Last month, we were contacted by Mosie Abadi, Vice President at Georgette Klinger Skin Care, who needed to start coding on the bottom of his PET bottles. He was eager to implement a thermal inkjet printing solution due to the affordability and ease of use.

Topics: Coding & Marking, Consumer Protection, Inkjet Coding, Brand Protection, Quality Assurance, Meenjet, Meenjet MX1 Printer, Meenjet MX1 Coder, Traceability, Supply Chain, Product Identification, Date coding, Bottle Coding, bottom coding, hugger belt conveyor, side belt conveyor

This is without question, one of my favorite customer success stories since returning to the industry – quite possibly in my entire career.

Topics: Coding & Marking, Consumer Protection, Inkjet Coding, Brand Protection, Quality Assurance, Meenjet, Meenjet MX1 Printer, Meenjet MX1 Coder, Traceability, Product Identification, Date coding, Family Business

Tired of continuous inkjet, brewer tries Meenjet MX1

Last fall we were approached by Rick Lovett, owner of Indian Wells Brewing in sunny California. He was seeking alternatives coding options to replace his continuous inkjet printers. He had been struggling for years with these continuous inkjet printers to print date codes on his glass bottles. Throughout the past decade, he has tried many different brands and OEMs of continuous inkjet printers but all of them had the same service and maintenance headaches. Simply put, they did not provide him the reliability he was looking for. 

Topics: Coding & Marking, Inkjet Coding, Brand Protection, Meenjet, Meenjet MX1 Printer, Meenjet MX1 Coder, Videojet, Traceability, Product Identification, Craft Brewer, Craft brewing, Micro brewing, Micro brewers, Date coding, Label coding, Bottle Coding

Cost effective printer for coding cans on depalletizer

This spring we were approached by Roy DeWitt, owner of Wind River Brewing Company in beautiful Wyoming. He was seeking a cost effective coding option to attach to his newly acquired twist rinse cage and depalletizer.  

Although Roy was new to the world of inkjet date coding, he knew what he wanted. His main requirements for a coding printer were that it was easy to use, affordable and pain free. Ultimately, he wanted to be able to "set it and forget it" as we like to say. He also needed

Topics: Coding & Marking, Consumer Protection, Inkjet Coding, Brand Protection, Quality Assurance, Meenjet, Meenjet MX1 Printer, Meenjet MX1 Coder, Traceability, Product Identification, Craft Brewer, Craft brewing, Micro brewing, Micro brewers, Date coding, Can Coding, twist rinse cage, Depalletizer

Here are three coding setups we encounter often

We are starting to work with more and more craft brewers as it continues to be a booming industry - 1,049 new breweries and brewpubs opened across the United States last year alone! Craft brewers are some of our favorite customers to work with as they remind us very much of our own company. Each craft brewer usually has a great story that lead them to opening their own business much like our owner, Bryan. 

The three most common date coding applications we work with are coding directly on the can, coding directly on the bottle or coding on a label prior to being applied to a can or bottle. Here's a brief overview of the setups and things to consider when deciding which route is best for you. 

Topics: Coding & Marking, Inkjet Coding, Meenjet, Meenjet MX1 Printer, Meenjet MX1 Coder, Craft Brewer, Craft brewing, Micro brewing, Micro brewers, Date coding, Label coding, Can Coding, Bottle Coding

Major Brands Issue Nationwide Recalls This Week

Two major food brands in the United States were in the news this week with nationwide food recalls. Chef Boyardee issued a recall of over 2,800 pounds of mislabeled chicken and rice products with undeclared allergens. Pillsbury also issued a recall for over 12,000 cases of their Unbleached All-Purpose Flour after a random inspection revealed traces of salmonella. 

Topics: Coding & Marking, Consumer Protection, Domino, Markem, Imaje, Food Recall, Inkjet Coding, Brand Protection, Quality Assurance, Meenjet, Meenjet MX1 Printer, Meenjet MX1 Coder, Videojet, Linx, Markem-Imaje, Traceability, Supply Chain, Product Identification