Every plant that runs a CIJ printer eventually asks the same question: is this machine worth another year, or is it time to take it off the line? The answer is not the same on every line, and it is rarely the one the next vendor wants to give you.
We sell thermal inkjet. We do not sell continuous inkjet, and we do not sell laser marking, so we have no CIJ printer to push you toward and no reason to tell you to keep one. That is the position this page is written from: when replacing a CIJ printer with thermal inkjet pays, when it does not, and how to find out on your own line.
Want a second opinion on a coder you are about to replace or renew? Book an equipment audit and we will look at the pack, the speed and the room before anything is quoted.
Should you replace your CIJ printer or keep running it?
Keep a CIJ printer that still meets the application and is maintained by people who know it. Replace it when the application no longer needs a long throw distance or very high speed, and the cost of keeping it running, in service, solvent, downtime and effort, now exceeds the cost of a simpler coder.
Those two tests decide almost every case. Age on its own is not a reason: a well kept coder that prints a clean code every shift is not a problem.
The mechanics of both technologies are on our thermal inkjet versus continuous inkjet page. This page assumes you own a CIJ printer and goes straight to the ownership question.
What does a CIJ printer really cost to own?
The cost of owning a CIJ printer is the machine plus everything around it: ink and make up solvent, filters and service parts, scheduled service visits, the labor of start up and shut down, and the lost production when a nozzle blocks. Cost per code is only one line of that total.
Most plants know what the ink costs because it is on a purchase order. Fewer plants know the rest, because it is spread across maintenance, production and purchasing. To compare a CIJ printer honestly against anything else, pull these from your own records for the last twelve months:
- Consumables. Ink and make up solvent, by the month, not by the year.
- Service parts. Filters, pump and valve work, and any component replaced.
- Service visits. Scheduled and emergency, with the invoice for each.
- Downtime. Every stop where the coder was the cause: a blocked nozzle, a contaminated system, a failed start up. Include what the line was waiting to pack.
- Labor. The time somebody spends on start up, shut down, solvent top up and cleaning. This is the number nobody writes down, and it is often the largest one.
- Rework and rejects. Cases coded badly, held, recoded, or returned.
Total those, divide by the codes you printed, and you have a real cost per code to set against a quote for something else. Thermal inkjet has a higher consumable cost per code in many applications; a CIJ printer has a higher cost everywhere else on the list. Which side wins depends on your volume and on how much of that list is real on your line. We will not tell you the answer is always ours.
When can a thermal inkjet printer take over from a CIJ printer?
A thermal inkjet printer can take over from a CIJ printer on discrete case, carton, tray and bag coding: a date and a lot code on packs that can be presented a few millimeters from the printhead, at the speed the line actually runs. Some seasonal plants, and some plants that have lost maintenance depth, may find the switch worth looking at.
Look for these situations, because they are where the swap goes smoothly:
- The coder prints dates and lots on cases and cartons. Discrete packs, a known position, a modest amount of text.
- The plant runs hard for a season and idles for the rest. A solvent circulating system has to be shut down, stored and restarted correctly. A sealed cartridge printer has no circulating fluid, so it simply starts. This can matter in the Pacific Northwest, where many plants run seasonally.
- The person who understood the CIJ printer has left. A system nobody on shift can service properly is an exposure, whatever its age.
- Print quality is now the constraint. Smaller text, a logo, or a barcode that has to survive a scan.
- Solvent handling has become a question. Storage, ventilation, and what an auditor makes of an open solvent system near food.
- You want one predictable consumable. A cartridge replaces ink, solvent and most service parts, so spend is easier to forecast.
Our Titan printers carry our own label, with inks under our own MPT part numbers. The range and the ink chemistries are laid out on our coding and marking equipment hub.
When should you keep your CIJ printer?
Keep your CIJ printer when the printhead cannot physically get close to the product, when the line runs faster than close range coding can follow, when the surface is hot, wet, oily or sharply curved, or when the product is continuous, such as cable or pipe. In those cases CIJ is the right technology.
Say it plainly: continuous inkjet wins on throw distance and on speed. A thermal inkjet printhead sits a few millimeters from the pack. If your pack wanders, your guarding keeps the head away, or your line is a high speed beverage or bottling line, a replacement printer that cannot reach the product is a worse printer, however simple it is to own.
Two more cases belong on the keep list:
- A maintained fleet that works. Trained operators, a spares position and a code that scans. Fix the one failing unit rather than changing the technology.
- A mixed plant. Many plants should run both: CIJ where the throw distance is real, thermal inkjet where it is not.
On a visit we will tell you which of your coders fall in this group, before the quote rather than after it.
What changes on the line when you switch from CIJ to TIJ?
Switching from CIJ to TIJ changes five things: the printer mounts close to the pack, the ink chemistry is chosen by substrate, the print trigger has to be reliable, the data source has to be connected, and the plant stops managing a solvent system. A printer, a bracket and a trigger are usually the physical scope.
Mounting and presentation. The head moves from a distance to a few millimeters. If packs wander, a guide rail fixes it, and a guide rail is cheaper than a technology change. If a guide rail cannot fix it, that line belongs on the keep list above.
Ink chemistry. Porous surfaces such as uncoated corrugate take water based ink. Coated cartons, plastics, films and foils need solvent based ink. Specify it for the substrate, then hold it for the season. Our inks carry Marapack part numbers and are made to order, so we set up standing pre-season orders.
The trigger. The printer has to know a pack arrived, at the right moment, every time. A poorly placed product sensor causes faults that look exactly like printer faults, and many plants migrating from CIJ discover that their old trigger was never as good as they believed.
The data. A date typed at shift start is a different system from a date pulled from a line controller or an ERP. Carry over whatever your CIJ printer does now, and decide up front whether the new printer will do the same. Where the code feeds a customer requirement, such as a lot number on a case label, confirm the format with the customer before the switch.
Maintenance. There is no printhead to clean and no make up solvent, because the printhead is part of the cartridge. The maintenance that remains is the pack, the trigger and a head that is kept clean.
How do you test a switch before you commit?
Test a switch by printing on your own pack, at your own line speed, in your own room, then looking at the code an hour later to see whether it smeared or faded. A specification sheet cannot answer that. Ask whoever quotes you, including us, how that test will be done.
Use a short checklist before the test:
- Write down the worst case content you must print, not the typical case.
- Identify the substrate and whether it is porous or non porous.
- Measure the real line speed at the print height you need, not the rated speed.
- Note where the data comes from today.
- Check for condensation. Cold packs entering a warm room grow a film of water in seconds, and no ink dries on water, whichever technology you use.
If a barcode must meet a stated print quality grade, a printed label is often the safer answer, which is what our print and apply labeling systems are built for.
What are the alternatives to replacing a CIJ printer with TIJ?
Besides thermal inkjet, you can replace a CIJ printer with thermal transfer overprinting on flexible film, a printed label applied by a print and apply system, or hot foil coding for small amounts of data. Laser marking and a newer CIJ printer are also options, but we do not sell them.
Keep the list honest and short:
- Thermal transfer overprinting. A printhead prints through a ribbon onto flexible film inside the packaging machine. No ink system at all. For flow wrapped and sealed film packs it is often a better answer than either inkjet technology. We can supply thermal transfer coders through the Altech distributor price list.
- A label instead of a code. Where variable data includes a barcode graded by somebody else's scanner, a label is a safer surface. Pallets and cases that follow retailer or industry rules usually end up here, and our guide to GS1-128 and SSCC labels covers what those rules ask for.
- Another CIJ printer, or laser. If your application needs the throw distance, the speed or a permanent mark with no consumable, these can be right. We are not the supplier, and we will say so.
Frequently asked questions
What is a CIJ printer? A CIJ printer is a continuous inkjet printer. It pumps solvent based ink through a nozzle as a stream of droplets, charges the ones it needs and steers them onto the product, recirculating the rest. It is used for coding dates, lots and barcodes at speed and from a distance.
How long should a CIJ printer last? That depends on how it is maintained, and we will not quote a figure. A well serviced unit can run for many years, and a neglected one fails early. The better question is whether it still meets the application at an acceptable cost to run.
What should I look at before replacing a CIJ printer? Twelve months of consumable spend, service invoices, downtime caused by the coder and the labor spent keeping it running, plus what it prints and onto which surface. Those records show whether the printer is the problem or whether the trigger, the pack presentation or the ink is.
Can thermal inkjet replace continuous inkjet on every line? No. Thermal inkjet suits discrete packs that can be presented a few millimeters from the head. Where the throw distance, the line speed or the surface is the constraint, continuous inkjet is still the right technology, and we will say so.
Is it cheaper to run thermal inkjet than a CIJ printer? It depends on volume. Cost per code is often lower on a CIJ printer at high volume, but thermal inkjet removes service, solvent, filters and much of the labor from the total. Compare the total from your own records rather than the cost per code alone.
Will a thermal inkjet printer code onto plastic and film? Yes, with a solvent based ink. Water based ink on a non porous surface will not dry, and that mismatch is the most common reason a coding installation smears. It is an ink specification issue, not a limit of the technology.
Is switching from CIJ to thermal inkjet a big project? For case and carton coding it is usually a printer, a mounting bracket and a trigger. It is more involved where the existing printer reaches something a close range head cannot, and in that case you should not switch.
Do you sell or service CIJ printers? No, we do not sell continuous inkjet. What we can and cannot do on a specific system is worth asking about on the line rather than assuming, and we will tell you when the answer is a technology we do not sell.
Can you help us decide before we spend anything? Yes. An equipment audit looks at the pack, the substrate, the speed and the room, and ends with a view on whether to keep, repair or replace each coder, including when the answer is to keep it.
Decide with your own pack on the table
The most useful hour in a replacement decision is the one where somebody prints on your actual substrate at your actual speed and checks the result an hour later. Whoever you buy from, ask for it. We will walk the line with you and tell you which coders to keep, which to replace and what each switch would involve. Request an equipment audit, or call 253-709-5566.