2023 Guide to Industrial Marking Equipment (with cost comparison table)

The 2023 Guide to Purchasing Industrial Marking Equipment provides practical references for manufacturers, including a functional comparison and cost analysis of mainstream equipment such as laser markers, inkjet printers, and label applicators.By providing a cost comparison table, it helps businesses understand the performance of the equipment, its maintenance costs, and its long-term use costs, thereby helping to make accurate decisions and avoid purchasing pitfalls.

What should you know before buying industrial marking equipment?

Industrial marking devices come in many different types and price ranges, and if you simply go for the highest or lowest price, you're likely to get burned.Let's start with the most basic types of equipment.

Common types of equipment and their applications.

Laser marking machines are suitable for permanent marking of hard materials such as metal and plastic, and although they are expensive, they are highly accurate. Inkjet printers are more practical for marking on food and pharmaceutical packaging and other high-volume production lines, where the cost of consumables is a major consideration. Label applicators are the best choice for mass production of outer packaging.Before choosing equipment, first clarify the material, volume and labeling requirements for your own products.

Cost comparison of mainstream equipment in 2023.

The table below (see below) lists three major categories: the cost of acquiring the equipment, annual expenses for consumables, and annual maintenance costs.For example, a laser machine made in Taiwan may be cheaper to buy, but its laser tube may have a shorter life and the cost of changing it every two years may be higher than the price of an imported machine.It is recommended that people not only look at the down payment, but also calculate the long-term costs of the loan.

Hidden costs that are often overlooked.

Details such as training costs, response times, and component compatibility tend to be overlooked.For example, although some imported brands may be of high quality, it takes two weeks to repair them. If production lines can't be stopped, spare machines need to be kept on hand. Such hidden costs must also be factored into the budget.

A buyer's guide to pitfalls.

Don't be fooled by the "all-in-one" label.

Some salespeople recommend equipment that can do everything, but in actual use it often turns out to be inefficient and incompatible.For instance, the frequent adjustment of parameters that would be required to process both metal and film material could slow down production.

The necessity of small-scale trials.

The big companies usually support free samples, and it's most reliable to test your own products.For example, he once encountered a client who found that a laser marking machine's speed rating was inaccurate: the machine would overheat and shut down after running for eight hours. Problems like this can only be discovered through actual testing.

The risks of used equipment.

There are many lasers available on the second-hand market, but you should be aware that lasers tend to deteriorate over time.Some machines claim to have a 100,000 hour lifespan, but the actual core components may already be due for replacement. There are many cases in which people who try to save money by repairing their machines end up spending more than if they had simply replaced them.