Just three years ago, Jan Fritz founded his company Saucenfritz, which stands for handmade and carefully balanced gourmet sauces. Only fresh, high-quality and, above all, natural products are used as ingredients, which are lovingly processed by hand without additives or preservatives in the small Berlin factory.

The product and packaging labelling experts at Bluhm Weber Group in Rheinbreitbach have come up with a special highlight: Jan Fritz was looking for a cost-effective yet reliable and flexible system for coding the metal lids of his sauce jars. Bluhm Weber Group recommended the X1Jet inkjet printer, whose inks previously only adhered to absorbent surfaces such as paper or cardboard. Thanks to a special ink solution, the compact X1Jet can now also print on metal in a durable and abrasion-resistant manner.

Bluhm Weber Group offers the specially developed X1Jet inkjet printing system as an ‘entry-level model’ for product marking. It is compact and therefore quick and easy to use. The printer is connected to the conveyor belt and fitted with an ink cartridge. The integrated photocell detects passing products and automatically triggers printing.

Advantages of an HP print head:

• Pin-sharp coding at speeds of up to 90 metres per minute
• Maximum print height of 12.5 millimetres
• Texts, barcodes or logos can be quickly created on any PC using the free i-Design software supplied
• Changes to existing print files can be made in a standard text editor
• Data transfer via USB, Ethernet or serial EIA232 interface
• Memory space for up to nine different text messages
• Automatic updating of data such as time, date and serial number
• Up to 18,000 ink droplets per second

The inks used in these printing systems to date were predominantly water-based and were particularly suitable for marking on absorbent substrates such as cardboard or folding boxes. At Saucenfritz, however, the shelf life and batch information had to be printed directly onto non-absorbent metal lids. The engineers at Bluhm Weber Group therefore developed an ink that adheres well to such surfaces. The print head is part of the ink cartridge. This has the advantage that a brand new print head is available every time the cartridge is replaced.