Personal Care & Cosmetic Package Product Coding

The personal care/cosmetics field is incredibly vast in more ways than one. The products themselves range from makeup mainstays like lipstick, eyeshadow, and foundation to toiletries like shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste and even extend to over-the-counter (OTC) drugs like aspirin and anti-fungal medication.

Alongside product diversity comes a wide range of packaging types, including:

• Rigid plastic containers
• Flexible plastic packaging
• Glass bottles
• Lightweight metal packaging

While these products and packaging forms are obviously diverse, they are united in shared compliance for traceable codes and markings. Essential to thwarting counterfeiters, performing recalls, and complying with distributor guidelines, traceable codes are standard throughout the personal care/cosmetic field.

Of course, to perform personal care and cosmetic package product coding, you must have a marking solution that:

1. Is compatible with your packaging material
2. Can meet your operational efficiency requirements
3. Will be able to withstand any potentially challenging environmental conditions

Thankfully, it isn’t hard to find a marking solution that fits these criteria when you have expert help. Here’s how InkJet, Inc. can help you find a marking solution that will meet all of the above requirements and more.

The Importance of Proper Personal Care and Cosmetic Package Product Coding

Whether your company is involved in developing high-end cosmetics, OTC drugs, or toiletries, traceable product markings are a must for a number of reasons.

For one, traceable codes are frequently required to appear on products as a part of distribution network policy. Distributors rely on traceable codes to both trace goods as they move along the network, as well as to locate problematic goods during a recall.

Traceability Hinges on Having the Right Machine for the Application

Personal care products and cosmetics come in a wide variety of packages. Some of the most common examples include:

• Rigid plastics containers and cases
• Flexible plastic pouches, sachets, and squeezable tubes
• Metal aerosol cans
• Glass jars
• Folding paperboard cartons

The DuraCode Continuous Inkjet Printer (CIJ): Capable of uninterrupted high-speed coding for up to 24 hours a day, the DuraCode CIJ is a great choice for industrial production lines. Built with an IP55 outer structure and able to operate in temperatures ranging from 41-113° F, DuraCode printers are built to resist a range of environmental hazards, allowing them to deliver quality coding results day in and day out.

The Anser U2 Pro-S Thermal Inkjet Printer: Compact and cost-effective, the Anser U2 Pro-S is a great hardware choice for smaller-scale personal care/cosmetic companies that don’t require the industrial marking speeds offered by CIJ printers. Although the Pro-S only weighs a few pounds, it can still mark products moving at speeds up to 120 m/min, create machine-scannable codes up to 600 x 300 DPI, and code all popular CBD/cannabis packaging materials, including rigid plastic, flexible plastic, glass, paperboard, and metal.

The Anser X1 Thermal Inkjet Printer (TIJ): While the Anser X1 may be a thermal inkjet printer, you wouldn’t know that from its high-speed marking capabilities. Able to print at speeds up to 300 m/min, the Anser X1 is one of the most powerful TIJ models on the market today. Beyond industrial speed marking, the Anser X1 offers a number of other impressive features, including a max resolution of 600 x 600 DPI, a 1.97-inch print height (with stitched printheads), IP66 protection, and the ability to control two different production lines simultaneously.

The F8200 Series Laser Marking System: Fast, accurate, and capable of delivering high-quality code results, laser systems are commonly found throughout the personal care/cosmetic packaging field. InkJet, Inc.’s laser marking system offers a max marking speed of 2,000 characters per second, making it a great option for high-volume production lines.

Precision Series 72 High-Resolution Case Coder: Designed to print directly onto cardboard shipping cartons, the Precision Series 72 allows users to replace physical labels with directly applied codes, text, and images. If you’re looking to improve your secondary packaging processes, the Precision Series 72 can help you reduce physical labeling needs for higher overall efficiency.

Inks for Every Substrate and Packaging Type

Just as there’s no “one-size-fits-all” marking solution, there’s no one ink formula that will satisfy every coding need. After all, every packaging material has its own unique surface properties that affect code elements like:

• Adherence
• Durability
• Visibility
• Drying times

To ensure that your products are outfitted with long-lasting and highly-readable codes, it’s essential to use an ink formula specifically designed with your packaging materials in mind.