Our Solutions for Marking and Coding Cardboard and Paper
Printing on Cardboard and Paper
Whether as a shipping box, folding carton, or plain paper: cardboard and paper are among the most frequently marked materials in industry and packaging. As primary or secondary packaging, they ensure that products of all kinds can be safely distributed, stored, and transported – without them, many everyday products would not be manageable at all. Accordingly, the information that needs to be applied is just as diverse: batch numbers, barcodes, best-before dates, or traceability codes, all of which must remain legible and durable throughout the entire storage period.
The challenge lies in the details: coated or varnished paper grades require special, fast-drying solvent-based inks, while untreated, often brown cardboard material places high demands on barcode readability. Depending on the application, marking must also be possible in multiple colors, and larger cardboard layouts require greater print heights (25, 50, or even 100 mm). When paper or cardboard is used in the food sector, the use of harmless, migration-safe inks is additionally critical to rule out any contamination of the food. At the same time, all solutions need to meet the high cost pressure typical of this industry as well as the demands of fast production lines.
How High-Resolution, Reliable Printing on Cardboard and Paper Works
High-resolution inkjet marking systems based on Thermal Inkjet or Piezo technology are particularly well-suited for marking cardboard and paper – they enable direct, large-area labeling with crisp image quality, low printing costs, and maximum barcode readability, even on highly fibrous or brown cardboard. These systems reliably replace both existing label solutions and pre-printed cardboard.
For paper – especially coated or varnished grades – special solvent-based inks with particularly fast drying properties are also used, ensuring a clean, smear-free print even at high production speeds. For food-sector applications, edding offers unique specialty inks made from purely edible base materials, eliminating any risk of harmful substance migration into the food – a genuine innovation that permanently removes the reputational risk posed by contaminants in food packaging. Our universal systems cover the full range: from simple, single-color markings to multi-color, high-speed printing on large-format cardboard layouts.
