The fourth industrial revolution poses a challenge for companies to interlink industrial production with information and communication technology. Leibinger, manufacturer of industrial inkjet printers for product coding and marking, is convinced that even small and medium-sized companies should be able to economically enter the industry 4.0 era.

"From the outset, we equip our industrial marking and coding systems with interfaces that customers would need to buy first from many competitors," explains Managing Director Christina Leibinger. "The machines are easy to integrate into automated production environments and flexible enough to comply with Industry 4.0 requirements." The Jet up model features, for example, a product sensor input (PNP/NPN 24V), an incremental encoder input (TTL 5V, HTL 24V, RS422 5V), eight digital outputs, ten digital inputs as well as twelve additional inputs with defined special functions, serial interfaces (RS232 to 115,200 baud) and a USB and Ethernet connection. "The printers represent a strong link in smart factory automation chains thanks to this extensive variety of interfaces and their high level of reliability."

Beyerdynamic, a manufacturer of microphones and headphones from Heilbronn is among the users of the Jet3up. Data communication in both directions was one of the main reasons the company opted for Leibinger. "We can not only transmit data from the transfer system to the printer, but we also get data back," explains Ahmet Cakir, process engineer at Beyerdynamic.

The so-called continuous inkjet (CIJ) technology is at the heart of the Leibinger printers. Up to 128,000 drops shoot per second through a tiny nozzle in the print head. While printing, a high-voltage field deflects charged drops. The flying drops of ink land as a pixel or image point on the product surface and dry within one second. With the Jet3up and Jet2neo models, it is possible to apply information to products without contact, such as batch numbers, 2D codes or graphics - at conveyor speeds of up to 600 meters per minute. The Jet Rapid, even allows speeds of up to 1,000 meters per minute - the equivalent of 60 kilometers per hour. With this in mind, the CIJ printer from Tuttlingen is as fast as a lion on the hunt. pb