Bag marking of bulk materials

Marking of filled and unfilled paper and plastic bags

Bags, big packs or pouches are often used as primary packaging when the product is in powdery, granular or chunky form. These can be made of paper as well as plastic. However, in addition tot he filling process itself, the clear and traceable marking of the bagged product is a required and very important issue.

[Translate to Englisch - Ungarn:] Bag Marking with REA JET DOD 2.0 on the side of the paper bag with best-before date and batch number

Heavy duty and industrial-suited

Branchen und Produkte

Bag marking must be fast and reliable without compromising on the print quality of the marking. This is because bag marking of bulk materials often takes place under rough and harsh environmental conditions. High dust pollution, temperature fluctuations or vibrations are the rule rather than the exception. High-contrast and well legible print results can be easily achieved here despite the difficult environmental conditions. In many industries, it is even required by regulations, customers or retail chains to apply high-resolution prints such as 1D and 2D codes.

Bulk materials include the following branches and products:

Building materials industry:
Sand, gravel, lime, cement, gypsum, concrete mix, crushed stone, grit, powder coatings, ceramic powders, granules
Food industry:
Flour, cereals, sugar, salt, starch, coffee, food additives, seeds, rice, baking raw materials, food powder, tea, spices, malt
Paper industry:
Starch
Chemical industry:
Pigments, fillers, granules, fertilizers, chemicals, starch, sulfur, sodium, calcium, talc, powder, plastic powder
Feed industry:
Pellets, mineral feed, pet food

How to mark bags of bulk materials?

Print distances, guiding rails, distance leveling device

In the majority of cases, marking is done after the product has been filled into the bags or pouches. In this case, the filled bags move on conveyor belts and the marking is applied directly to the bags from above or from the side. The challenge with bag marking from the side is to ensure an even print area and the correct distance between the product and the print head. This is achieved by correctly guiding the filled bags using guide rails. Alternatively, a distance leveling device can be installed which follows the contour of the bag, always guiding the print head at the optimum distance from the product surface and thus compensating for different bag sizes and varying contours.

If, on the other hand, marking takes place before the bags and pouches are filled, dust pollution generally plays a subordinate role. This also allows high resolution printing results to be achieved. Information such as barcodes or data matrix codes can then simply be printed directly onto the bags. Printing then usually takes place from above. Alternatively, labels can be applied by blowing or rolling.

Information has to be applied like:

Best-before date
Production date
Filling date
Batch numbers
Product information
Layer codes
1D codes
2D codes
Weight codes
UFI Code
Unique Device Identification (UDI) data

[Translate to Englisch - Ungarn:] Sidewise marking with weight and product information - REA JET DOD 2.0

[Translate to Englisch - Ungarn:] Sidewise marking with best-before date - REA JET DOD 2.0

[Translate to Englisch - Ungarn:] Labeling of unfilled bags - REA LABEL DS

[Translate to Englisch - Ungarn:] Marking of unfilled paper bags - REA JET GK 2.0

[Translate to Englisch - Ungarn:] Paper bag marking with four cascaded print heads - REA JET HR

[Translate to Englisch - Ungarn:] Sidewise marking of concrete with production date and barcode - REA JET HR

[Translate to Englisch - Ungarn:] Plastic bag marking on the side with product information - REA JET HR

[Translate to Englisch - Ungarn:] Feed marking with best-before date on the side - REA JET DOD

[Translate to Englisch - Ungarn:] Labeling of filled bags on the side - REA LABEL DS

Suitable coding and marking systems for bulk materials

Fast, sturdy, reliable

Under which conditions the marking must take place, whether the marking takes place before filling or afterwards and which printing result is to be achieved, these are the requirements to be specified for a coding and marking system. Suitable REA coding and marking systems which have proven to work very well for bag marking: