Throughout more than 15 years’ experience, ALE has developed the widest range of high-resolution coding systems available on the market, and also offers compatible fluids and complete software solutions.

Food industry

The food and beverage industry is a fast-moving sector in which demand evolves constantly and innovation is the key. Manufacturers have therefore to find coding and marking solutions that will help them to meet the ever-changing standards in the industry and increase at the same time their efficiency.

Industrials on the food industry focus on:

Total Cost of ownership:

In this highly competitive market, in which price matters the most, industrials have to find Coding and Marking solutions that really offer them value for money.
ALE systems are the ideal solution for this sector as they are cheaper than other traceability equipment, such as labels printers for instance (See table below). They require very low maintenance, keeping related costs down. Finally, our systems have been designed to avoid any down-time in your production, even when changing the ink bottle: no money lost due to production line stopped.

Increased productivity through product identification

High quality and clear codes are also essential for the industrials themselves as it can increase the efficiency of their supply chain. Clear product identification, with text or DataMatrix, can help the workers to save time (and eventually money) in both the storage and shipping process.
Direct carton printing can be also a perfect solution compared to labels or pre-printed boxes, as it saves a lot of inventory costs.
Direct carton coding is the ideal solution in the food sector to help reduce inventory costs (pre-printed labels or boxes) and increase efficiency in the supply chain with clear identification of products. ALE's printers have a resolution of 180Dpi and offer constant high quality in the prints.

Maximum quantity of information printable

Governments, under the pressure of customers to have more transparency and traceability in the food and beverage industry, keep introducing tighter regulations and requirements causing an increase in the quantity of information marked on products (dates, list of ingredients, allergens, etc.).
Industrials look for solution which can allow them to mark a big quantity of variable data on their products.
Compared to other systems, ALE printers have no limitations of printable characters or lines per message. Ideal for printing a great number of variable and non-variable data, meeting increasing requirements in the sector.

Increased brand awareness

One of manufacturers' priority is also to protect their brand integrity, and high quality codes can help them achieve this goal. Moreover, brands are looking to engage more with customers, which they can do thanks for instance to QR codes present on the product or thanks to nice designed and high quality shelf-ready packaging.
ALE systems can help you create smart and more engaging packaging for your customers, be it through the printing of your full colour logo thanks to our colour series, or through the use of QR codes that can be created via CodeX software.

Pharmaceuticals industry

Legibility and accuracy of codes

The primary focus for industrials in the pharmaceuticals industry is the consistent and high-resolution quality of the codes. The applications in this industry need to have the highest resolution possible, whatever the substrate and the place of the code and they also need to be always readable.
Not only do they need to carefully indicate the formulation on the product to prevent misuse of drugs (primary packaging), but they also need to meet increasingly demanding regulations as regards to product and batch identification and traceability (case coding).
Constant quality and accuracy of codes is the primary focus of the pharmaceutical industry due to strict drugs legislations and counterfeit requirements. Therefore, ALE high-resolution ink jet printers can be the perfect solution for manufacturers in this sector, especially combined with Tracex modules for barcode verification and monitoring.

Easily changeable messages

Regulations in the pharmaceuticals industry are always evolving, and they also often differ from a country to another. Industrials are therefore looking for flexible solutions to easily edit and print messages, without wasting too much production time, to adapt quickly to changes in requirements.
Because of changing regulations and countries specific legislations, manufacturers need to be able to design or edit easily messages, which can be done thanks to the CodeX software Suite and Windows Driver used with compliance software.

Tailored solutions

The evolutions on pharmaceutical packaging is always a challenge for manufacturers as they need to find unique solutions that can best meet their needs, depending on the substrate they want to mark ( rise of plastic materials for health products packaging) and also the space available for information (rising demand for single dose units).

They need compact machines, who can print with high-resolution on much reduced spaces and, often, on non-porous surfaces.

The rise in use of single dose units in the pharmaceutical sector impacts the size of the coding space and requires compact machines which can deliver high quality prints on small surfaces, as can do our different 18mm systems (TC – TZ or Nano Range). Plastic is also increasingly used for packaging, and it implies the use of solvent-based inks systems with appropriate consumables.

Chemicals industry

Regulations and traceability needs

The chemicals industry is submitted to many regulations, especially regarding traceability of sensitive and dangerous products. Recently, countries all over the world agreed on a worldwide identification system for chemical products, the GHS system, using two-colour symbols (Black and Red).

Manufacturers have then to look for solutions to mark with two colours at the same time, with high-resolution, so that the code can always be readable.
Manufacturers of chemical products have now to abide by the new CLP-GHS global regulation for identification of chemicals. The TC-Twin Range has been especially developed in order to respond to this specific need.

Flexibility

Chemical products come in a wide variety of different containers, with different shapes and substrates. ALE systems would be perfect solutions for this industry as flexible enough to print on most surfaces (porous or non-porous) in different directions of the products .

Resistance of machines and low maintenance requirements

Due to harsh environmental conditions, industrials in this sector need reliable machinery that can ensure high-quality marking even with dust or some humidity. Codes they print have also to resist these conditions.
Moreover, systems in this sector will often need to print non-stop, as the production lines are working almost 24/7. The maintenance should be kept at a minimum, avoiding downtimes in the production.
ALE systems are really resistant and can be suitable for this kind of industry with harsh printing environment, always delivering codes with the highest quality possible.

Construction materials

Specific substrate printing

From concrete to extrusion pipes, including belts, steel or wood, manufacturers of building materials are confronted to a wide variety of specific substrates to mark on, that often require special inks or fluids to ensure optimum quality.
Moreover, contrary to traditional primary marking or case coding, the surfaces to mark are often harder to print on, given their size (height or width) or the fact that they are uneven.
ALE can help you choose the best option which suits your specific needs within its range of printers and consumables. There is even the possibility to send us samples for us to determine the best machine to use.

Resistance of codes to difficult conditions

Most of materials used in the construction industry are made for outdoor use or will be used in extreme conditions. It implies that codes marked on the products have to be resistant enough to last in time regardless of their surroundings. =>
Building materials for instance are made for outdoor use. Codes on these products need to be resistant enough to survive extreme conditions: ALE's solvent-based inks systems and our water-resistant inks can be the ideal solution for this type of industry!

Colour printing

One of the most common applications in the construction industry is companies' logo printing, a way for the manufacturers to promote their know-how. In that sense, resolution is important but also colour printing can add value to marking as it will strike more attention and increase perceived brand quality.
Colour printing can also be an asset as regards security marking, essential in such a dangerous environment as construction.
Colour printing is widely used in this industry, be it for safety reason or as a promotional means (company logo, etc). Discover our Colour Series and our TC-Twin Range, two systems that can maximise the potential of your marking!

Paper / Cardboard

Constant code quality

In the case of outer cases, good quality of marking is crucial both for the efficiency of the supply chain and the traceability of the products, as well as for customer perception (as it is sometimes the first thing they see). High-resolution ink jet technology appears to be the ideal solution as there is no direct contact with the box, not damaging the print, and the legibility and accuracy of the code is guaranteed.

Flexibility

Carton boxes come in a variety of sizes and shapes and substrates (varnished cardboard, white, brown, etc). This implies that coding machines in this sector need to be flexible to print on any side of the product (TC Range or TZ Range), with different sizes and in any substrates with always the same quality.

Innovation

Packaging is a fast-moving and innovative industry and technologies need to keep up in order to offer suitable solutions, such as full-colour printing for major brand awareness, or new software modules for specific applications.

Textile

Adequate inks for specific needs

Textile products, like belts or woven fabrics for industrial use, require highly resistant codes, as they are often submitted to extreme environments. For instance, in some production plants, belts are directly bathed into a special wax solution, to colour them after being printed on. They can also be used outdoor, implying that they can be submitted to rain, humidity or sunlight.
ALE solvent fluids, like BSA ink, are the perfect answer to this challenge, as the drying-time is minimum and they are completely water-resistant. Even under harsh conditions, your codes will stay clear!

Machines to fit in small production lines

Manufacturers in the textile industry often have limited space for production lines, in which all their machinery should fit.
ALE inkjet systems are very compact, and they can fit easily in any production line, even the smallest ones. We also have a range of compact self-contained printers to save even more space!
Moreover, textile products are moved flat in the production line, implying the coding and marking to be made top-down.
ALE's TZ-PR Range appear to be the perfect solution, as it has been especially designed to print in any direction of the product, in this case down, following very easy installation steps.

Maximum printing band

Coding and marking on industrial textile products often differs from traditional outer case printing, as the substrates to code are far bigger. Contrary to most inkjet printers, often limited in size, ALE offers you systems with the biggest print band on the market (144mm), able to mark up to 576mm with a single controller!