When food manufacturers are looking to reduce their reliance on coding supplies like ink, laser marking systems offer an excellent alternative. Videojet recently introduced two 30-watt CO2 laser marking systems, the Videojet 3350 and Videojet 3350 Smart Focus. Both systems are engineered to mark text, bar codes, graphics, and other information on products and packaging moving on lines at speeds up to 2,000 characters per second. In addition to marking on glass and hard plastics, the lasers can deliver high-resolution, permanent codes on flexible film, foil, labels, paperboard, and other packaging in the snack foods and baked goods industries.
With laser marking technology, a beam of infrared light is focused and steered with a series of carefully controlled small mirrors to create marks where the heat of the beam interacts with the packaging surface. The 3350 Series lasers can be used to mark metalized bags and pouches, such as those with MBOPP as the outer layer, as the 30-watt laser technology is powerful enough to make precise and permanent marks yet controlled enough to preserve the packaging’s integrity.