How the chemical manufacturing industry is reinforcing brand protection with coding and marking solutions

As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the chemical industry has experienced an unprecedented rise in demand for its products due to the increased need for medical equipment and disinfectant solutions. Initially, there was a significant increase in demand for certain products, but demand has remained high because people and businesses need even greater hygienic conditions. Other than healthcare and pharmaceutical products, there is likely to be a rebound in production and consumption of other packaged chemicals due to the easing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

As far as the chemical manufacturing business goes, the overall cost of owning machines such as coding and marking equipment can be crucial to keeping expenses low. Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and the requirement for cost savings are widely employed by coding and marking companies to emphasise the advantages of their products. Control Print’s top-performing industrial printing devices are designed to maximise Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and minimise scheduled downtime for maintenance.

Supporting new workplace conditions due to COVID-19

While COVID-19 has put unprecedented pressure on manufacturers, they must also consider adapting their manufacturing processes to ensure safe working conditions for employees after the pandemic.

Control Print’s coding and marking solutions play an essential role in helping manufacturers to adapt to new COVID-19 regulations. Features such as remote control and monitoring capabilities and easy-to-use software interfaces will allow workers to operate machinery without coming into contact with potentially infected surfaces. Large, clear, responsive touchscreens will also enable operators wearing gloves to make coding adjustments quickly and easily, reducing the risk of error and improving productivity.

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Reinforcing brand protection and compliance in the chemicals industry

Manufacturing and expiry dates, batch numbers, and traceable codes that are high resolution and durable, will ensure that chemical products meet legal requirements and customer needs, with clear and legibly printed labels that remain in place on all kinds of packaging materials.

Control Print offers a vast range of industrial printing solutions and consumables, so you can select one suitable for just about any substrate, i.e., cardboard, paper, metal cans and all kinds of rigid and flexible plastics (PET, PVC, HDPE, or PP).

Chemical-resistant inkjet printers and laser coders can be used to produce clear, permanent codes that remain intact even when exposed to chemicals and resist fading from exposure to sunlight, heat, moisture, and oils. Other specialised inks are available for printing and adhering to packaging materials coated with a thin layer of oil or grease; these inks can withstand exposure to solvents, acids, bases, oils, greases, and water during production and end-use by the customer.

Regardless of the print job’s specifications, any errors can be costly in wasted time, lost products, additional rework, and the possibility of a recalled item. Our modern coding and marking printers offer software applications with built-in error detection features that ensure consistent results every time. These systems allow for quick and accurate corrections before production begins.

With easy-to-use interfaces and software programs, you can create messages quickly and easily, often using pictures and on-screen prompts to ensure consistent results. This helps prevent mistakes and rework on the production line.

One way to prevent accidental changes to messages is by transferring them between computers using a USB, where each user has their level of permission to create, select, or change messages.

Automatic code selection is used where barcode readers are linked to coding and marking systems. Additional security against incorrect messages can be obtained by managing and monitoring individual or multiple printers centrally from a single control system.

Printing high-quality codes on chemical products and packaging

The chemical sector is an ever-growing market, and manufacturers face particular challenges in maintaining the integrity of their packaging because of the nature of the products they produce. For example, the packaging of products can make them susceptible to damage during transport; therefore, the packaging codes should be durable enough to withstand such conditions.

Furthermore, the codes must withstand the rigours of the manufacturing process, so they do not change during production. These challenges must be addressed to avoid recalls or rejections if companies are to retain market share. Batch coders help chemical manufacturers meet their regulatory requirements and ensure they achieve optimal operational and output efficiency.

A poor-grade code, either too small or too large, blurred or illegibly written against the background colour, can also lead to expensive reworking or scrapping.

Our Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) and Laser printers deliver a wide variety of code formats and styles, including 2-dimensional QR codes, onto most materials with crisp and legible printing. Non-contact inkjet printers allow variable information to be printed onto various containers, including round tins and the bases of aerosols, without compromising print clarity. Our pigmented ink in multiple colours ensures codes remain visible against a range of coloured substrates.

Control Print’s robust and reliable printers will be able to run continuously for long periods without stopping due to clogging or damage from dust or water. Printers with IP65 certified enclosures, or a sealable printhead, provide protection against liquid or particulate contamination and can operate in dirty or wet conditions to avoid unplanned stops and maintain high-quality printing. Toughened printhead conduits can withstand repeated movements such as traversal across multiple substrates and contribute to uninterrupted operations.

Our top-grade printers will help you save time by reducing manual processes, reducing errors, and increasing efficiency. For instance, a printer with a carton coding function can print both primary and secondary packaging on one machine.

How coding and marking solutions enhance productivity and profits in the chemicals manufacturing sector

Control Print’s coding and marking systems can improve manufacturing efficiency by helping reduce production errors, minimise product wastage and increase manufacturing uptimes.

Boosting speed and flexibility

Traversal of printheads allows for printing across a range of products at high speeds and is specifically helpful in high-volume production lines. Our versatile printers are capable of handling a wide range of printing needs and applications, including multiple lines of data, and human and machine-readable codes, allowing manufacturers of both consumer and industrial goods to comply with export markets’ specific needs and meet varying international trade demands. This helps businesses comply with various regulatory guidelines and ensures they’re prepared for any potential changes in the future.

Decreasing stoppage times

Our printers with auto-clean printhead features will help prevent clogged nozzles and maximise printing uptimes. At the same time, punctual and visible alerts of low ink levels allow for refills to be scheduled during planned production line breaks. You can also minimise planned stops using printers with longer service cycles and self-service and maintenance features.

Shortening wait times

With our digital coding and marking technologies, manufacturers can store multiple messages on one printer, which they can switch at the press of a single button to be easily printed during product changeovers. This reduces the wait times required when setting up new messages, saving time by eliminating the need to switch rollers or plates on non-digital printers.

With multiple production line setups that require numerous products to be printed at once, data stored in the printer’s memory allows for product-line-specific information to be set up and indexed, enabling quick changeover of products when needed.

Lightweight printers that are easy to move from line to line and set up quickly reduce downtime between production cycles, enabling manufacturers to be more flexible when operating their facilities and respond rapidly to changes to meet changing customer demands or market conditions.

Reduction in wastage

If you want to minimise waste, you need to use a printer capable of applying the correct code in the right spot on the product. Our printing and coding systems can accurately print the correct data in the right place on every product, allowing you to minimise wastage by reducing the amount of scrap material due to incorrect coding and the extra time required for re-coding and reworking. This is vital when there isn’t enough room for the codes to be printed clearly, requiring printers that can print the code accurately on a small area of the product.

Fewer processes and inventory

With Control Print’s efficient printing technology, your operators enjoy minimal start-up processes ensuring the first print is just as good as the last one, so there is no longer any reason to keep printers constantly running or to turn them on daily.

With its ability to print multiple rows of variable data as well logos and carton coding, our printer’s versatility enables manufacturers to utilise a single machine for several applications, printing onto various substrates, from paper labels to packaging materials. Fewer variations in machines reduce the need for instructions to be learned and lessens the need for an increased inventory of consumable supplies.

Important factors to consider when selecting printers to code and mark products in harsh environments

According to our recent customer research survey, the key driver for purchasing coding and marking systems in the chemical processing sector was their ability to print on a wide variety of substrates and colours.

The printed code must be high-resolution and accurate to meet customer and regulatory needs. Furthermore, having a robust, reliable coding and marking system that is easy to use and helps save time when setting up and running can help control costs from unnecessary downtime or missed production goals.

During the selection process, the line’s speed, quality of the printing and the materials used for printing are crucial. If you want to print a range of different colours, you must test them out and print samples for each material before committing to production. Before purchasing a printer, you may want to consider running a trial on the manufacturing floor or production line so that it is subjected to your specific manufacturing environment and processes.

Make sure you investigate the overall Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of any new machine before buying one. This includes the initial purchase and the costs associated with consumables and maintaining the device over its lifetime. Recurring breakdown costs can offset any benefits of a low purchase cost. Renting or leasing printers might also be worth considering.

Control Print’s machines are engineered to withstand extreme conditions in the chemicals manufacturing and processing industry. All printers have a stainless-steel metal casing with an IP-65 rating, which means they’re incredibly durable and long-lasting. They also come with heat-resistant electronic components and other essential features like dust proofing and waterproofing. When flameproofing is required, we enclose the printer in a protective pressurised case to prevent harmful gases and chemicals from entering and causing any damage.

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Leading printing technologies in the chemical and lubricant Industry

Control Print offers an array of coding and marking systems with advanced features that make them ideal when used in extreme environments of the chemicals and lubricants industry. Whether you need to print codes and essential information on HDPE containers, barrels, bags, pouches, or cartons, we have the right printer for you.

Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) Printers

Non-contact printing technologies like Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) Printers produce high-quality codes on nearly any type of material or product shape.

Control Print manufactures a variety of ink types, ranging from pigmented ink of various colours, high-contrast inks, dye-based inks, fast-drying inks, and UV curable inks, which offer good adhesion, legibility, and resistance to a medley of chemical packaging. During production or manufacturing, these inks are ideal for preventing your codes from transferring onto another surface or at the point of end-user usage when accidental contact with their contents could cause smearing or even the loss of some or most of the code itself.

With our robust Pench, Gir, and Sundarban CIJ printer models, you can increase your company’s revenue, improve customer service, future-proof against government regulations, avoid warranty claims, and print in the local or regional languages your target audience is most familiar with.

Our CIJ printers can print from one to several lines of text and graphics at speeds varying from 460 meters per minute to 1,300 meters per minute. The compact printhead may be positioned above, alongside or below a production line or traverse from one side to another across the production line. These lightweight CIJ printers weigh between 23-26 kgs, can be quickly carried from one production line to another, and are faster to install and set up than ever before.

Control Print’s coding and marking systems provide the perfect solution for enabling start-ups and growing businesses to easily transition from manual code production to automated digital printing methods to achieve higher quality and improved consistency in their printed products.

Recommended: For product walkthrough videos, printer specifications, brochures, print samples on products, and customer reviews – click here.

 Large Character Printer (LCP)

Large character printing is advantageous when printing directly onto secondary packagings such as cartons or large bags, where the graphics and variable information needs to be easily seen from a distance.

Case coders can produce prints at a high-quality level and are versatile enough for use on various types of surfaces and materials. The advantages of these printers include their ease of setup and adjustability, reliable performance, and low ownership costs. They’re an affordable alternative to pre-printed packaging materials or labels.

Our Large Character Printer (LCP) comes with an automatic internal fail-safe measure called the “No-Print” mechanism that detects whether the print job has been completed successfully. If there is a failure, the system stops the printing process and prevents additional items from being sent out without a code. This automated quality control check helps prevent errors by eliminating human error and reducing the need for manual inspection and controls.

Click here to explore the most reliable, versatile, and cost-effective coding and marking solutions for the chemicals and lubricants industry.

Control Print: A true productivity catalyst in the chemical industry

In an industry that requires variable information to be printed onto containers and packaging during different stages of the manufacturing process, at different speeds or angles and in harsh conditions, Control Print’s coding and marking equipment can meet these complex demands and challenges effortlessly.

Our powerful coders enable you to meet the changing demands placed on the production lines and operate reliably in challenging production environments. Our printers guarantee trouble-free integration into your production processes and are ready to code onto most packaging shapes and materials.

Suppose you don’t have a conveyor belt on your production line. In that case, we can offer you a custom handling system consisting of an alignment mechanism, a rotating device and a transport system for products moving through our print stations.

We design our products to last longer than most competitors’ products. With extended service intervals on our printers, only minor parts need replacement, and most of the printer’s components are engineered to last for years. As a result, we make scheduled servicing quick and less costly for our customers.

Choosing printers that are reliable, easy to operate, help minimise errors, and require minimal support and/or upkeep can help improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). It will also facilitate smoother manufacturing processes, allowing for the fast delivery of high-quality products that deliver a good customer experience.

At Control Print, our focus has always been on ensuring that our clients’ coding and marking needs are met, and that production lines are uninterrupted, regardless of whether they’re large or small.

If you need help choosing which products would be best suited for your business, please get in touch with us at [email protected] or call +91 8097466782 to book a demo.