Edding + Elried – Why ink makes all the difference

The cooperation between edding and Elried combines innovative printing systems such as the new in-line Pro IP67 with the special edding ink portfolio. What is behind this, and why does it offer unique added value in production?

Back in 2018, edding AG and Elried Markierungssysteme decided to combine their strengths and launch an innovative series of industrial TIJ printing systems. The idea was to combine Elried’s expertise in mechanical engineering with edding’s expertise in ink development in order to achieve superior printing results by combining the best printer with the best ink.

But what makes an ink truly unique? When individual windows are still lit at night at edding’s headquarters in Ahrensburg, it is usually the ink development offices. The team at edding aims to optimise all the important dimensions of an ink, even if these appear contradictory from a chemist’s point of view:

• Long decap time (the downtime that a cartridge can tolerate without having to be wiped clean afterwards)
• High yield
• High coverage
• Permanent UV and weather resistance
• High edge sharpness of the print image
• High throw distance or high print distance
• Permanent adhesion to all substrates

Unique successes have been achieved in all these areas in recent years:

In terms of decap time, edding has launched NPXP, the first universal ink on the market that adheres to all surfaces (including plastic, film and glass) and still has a decap time of 72 hours. This means that even after several days of inactivity, the ink still produces a perfect print image without any cleaning. With this, edding has solved the well-known problem of drying print heads for the first time.

The yield per cartridge is a decisive factor, especially in thermal inkjet printing, i.e. printing with cartridge-based systems. These systems often have a reputation for causing high printing costs. However, numerous tests carried out by customers have shown that edding inks achieve twice the range of traditional cartridges with the same printing parameters. Combined with the ink-saving technologies developed by Elried, this results in up to six times higher coverage and thus the possibility of achieving over 3 million prints of a best-before date from a single cartridge. Together with the maintenance-free nature of edding systems, this results in uniquely low printing costs.

For high coverage, edding has developed a complete portfolio of pigment-based inks in black, white, yellow and light blue, in addition to high-contrast dye inks. This allows high-contrast marking even on dark surfaces without sacrificing the ease of use of a cartridge-based inkjet system.

In terms of print durability and UV and weather resistance, it goes without saying that all edding inks must undergo a comprehensive testing programme in the laboratories before being approved and are therefore delivered with proven durability.

The high edge sharpness of the print allows the inks to replace previous TTO applications. Only with this increased precision is it possible to print barcodes and data matrix codes with top marks according to ISO standards and ensure high legibility.

The throw distance, i.e. the maximum printing distance, is always relevant in high-resolution printing. Due to the very fine droplet sizes, a high printing distance is naturally more difficult to achieve than with the rather coarse print images of continuous inkjet systems. Nevertheless, edding was able to achieve print distances of up to 18 mm with inks such as SP25, which is many times greater than that of conventional high-resolution printing systems. This leads to significantly higher process reliability, especially when printing on secondary packaging.

In addition to all these requirements, the inks must, of course, achieve secure and permanent adhesion on all substrates. While absorbent substrates such as cardboard do not pose a challenge here, the variability of the materials to be printed is a special feature of industrial printing. For this reason, edding has developed special processes to optimise the composition of the inks for the widest possible coverage of a wide variety of materials. This ensures that challenging applications such as printing on plastics and films, particularly cold or warm surfaces, as well as resistance to alcohols and cleaning agents, can be achieved. This gives customers a high degree of flexibility in their choice of packaging material without having to take the printing system into account.

In addition, there are numerous special inks, such as UV-readable security inks, alkali-resistant inks for printing on concrete, thermochromic inks with colour change, and magnetic inks. edding also develops inks tailored to customer requirements for new challenges.

Last but not least, edding’s experts are particularly challenged in the area of regulatory compliance. Today, edding+elried’s customers are faced with a comprehensive range of regulatory requirements that are constantly giving rise to new specifications and are difficult to keep track of. edding develops suitable inks that always meet the latest requirements and supports its customers by providing them with the necessary certificates and attestations.

edding+elried was launched with the aim of combining the best printer with the best ink to make labelling easy for customers again – in line with the company motto “Mark it simple”. The teams in the edding laboratories and the regulatory affairs department play a key role in this – even if it means working late into the evening once again.