Batch printing machines, marking machines, and date printing machines are used in the following applications: * Printing batch numbers, manufacturing date, expiration date, retail price, and other information on their plain or laminated and varnished labels, cartons, polypack bags, pouches, tin bottoms, cotton bags, bottles, jars or any solid surfaces. * Adding special information at the time of packing.{{cite book, author=Neal S. Hirani, title=Scheduling Parallel Batch Processing Machines to Minimize Makespan Using Genetic Algorithms, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hv2hqyVzVGwC, accessdate=12 November 2013, year=2006, isbn=978-0-542-80860-9, pages=61–63 * Adding price change or

special offer Sales promotion is one of the elements of the promotional mix. The primary elements in the promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, direct marketing and publicity/public relations. Sales promotion uses both media and non-media marketing ...

on existing labels or cartons.

Types of machine

Batch coding machines are categorized in the following two categories: * Contact coding type * Non contact coding type These coding machines are further sub categorized into the following types depending on their mode of operation: * Automatic Once set, works automatically with the operator only having to look after its working and settings. Feeding,

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

, collecting operation are done automatically, however these features vary in the different makes of machines. * Semi-automatic The machine works on its own but the feeding and collecting has to be done by hand. * Hand operated or manual Feeding as well as the machine are operated manually. They are suitable for small production and are highly portable. * Online These machine works automatically online with other machines or they can be of continuous type with feeding from other machine, by hand or other feeding mechanisms, but are integrated or attached in line with other online machines.

Contact coding type

These machines print or mark on products by contacting the product surface. They mostly use some letters made up of

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

and

ink Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thi ...

media like liquid ink or a ribbon or solid ink etc. to make an impression. The letters are made offset, so while printing they give mirror image and straight print is obtained.

Non contact coding type

These machine do not comes in contact in any way while printing or marking on products. Normally these machine uses beams/spray to mark. These beams may be emanating from

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

, or the spray of ink, the most important factor is that the product or machine should be moving at constant speed. The moving product are sensed by a

sensor A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...

& give a signal to the machine which responds immediately with the printing. These machine also work as online machines. A few machines in this category are

Inkjet printer Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper and plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range from small inexpensi ...

Laser printer Laser printing is an electrostatic digital printing process. It produces high-quality text and graphics (and moderate-quality photographs) by repeatedly passing a laser beam back and forth over a negatively-charged cylinder called a "drum" to d ...

, industrial Inkjet coding machine,

laser marking Laser engraving is the practice of using lasers to engrave an object. Laser marking, on the other hand, is a broader category of methods to leave marks on an object, which in some cases, also includes color change due to chemical/molecular alte ...

systems.

References

Packaging machinery