Laser coders enhance quality assurance for can ends

NCI Packaging produces a range of cans, drums, and pails for both food and industrial customers. For its can ends, the company applies a special ink that changes color when it is laser coded, enabling manufacturers to include production and traceability information.

The Linx CSL30 and Linx CSL10 lasers, supplied by Linx Printing Technologies Ltd. distributor Reynolds Group, are being used in NCI’s QA laboratory to test the effectiveness of the ink and ensure NCI customers can produce high-quality, readable codes in line with their own rigorous quality standards.

Test codes are between two and four lines and also include a 2D QR code. Code readability is then checked by a scanner.

A major benefit of the Linx laser coders is their compact dimensions, given the limited space available in the laboratory. Installation was facilitated by the printers’ flexible conduit design, detachable marking head, connectors and conduit, and quick-disconnect umbilical cable.

Both the Linx CSL10 (10-watt) and CSL30 (30-watt) models feature a processing board that quickly relays the message from the control unit to the marking head. According to Linx, the laser coders can handle complex messages and graphics without any loss of quality, and the LinxVision® operating system allows for fast and simple setup that minimizes errors.

Says Windsor Yang, Sales Manager – New Zealand, at NCI Packaging, “We needed a laser solution that was compact and easy to operate, and one that had the capability to accommodate both our existing and potential future customer requirements.

“We were referred to Reynolds and Linx by a mutual customer and are very happy with the decision. The laser coders are of a very high standard and in tests outperformed the other model we were considering.”