The canning lines of North America’s largest independent producer of PepsiCo products have been given a coding makeover with the introduction of Domino’s F720i fibre laser printer.

Pepsi Bottling Ventures is responsible for serving 8 million customers from 16 production plants in Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Within facilities, canning lines run at high speeds, with no room for downtime, so quality coding has always been a significant challenge for the company.

In the past, Pepsi Bottling Ventures used inkjet printers to code the bottom of its cans, but, after becoming dissatisfied with the resulting code quality, upgraded their lines with F720i fibre laser printers. 

The F720i laser uses short, intense pulses, which significantly increases its marking speed and allows it to deliver high-quality codes on up to 100,000 cans per hour. The result is a high-resolution, durable mark, time after time, can after can.

“From a production standpoint, we love it. When a can comes through, we don’t have to constantly check the code date … with the inkjet system we constantly had to check.” Daryl Beeler - Production Supervisor at Pepsi Bottling Ventures

Beverage canning lines present a challenge when it comes to coding and marking, as hot, humid, conditions can cause condensation to build up on the outside of cold cans making it difficult for inks to stick. With a fibre laser printer, as there is no ink adhesion, there is no issue.

“Why does Pepsi use Domino laser coding? Because it works! With laser coding there can be a little bit of condensate, it really doesn’t matter … It’s powerful enough; it’s going to etch the bottom of that can with the code.” Mike Collins - General Manager at Pepsi Bottling Ventures

The F720i is a simple solution for beverage coding, which integrates seamlessly and is low maintenance. An IP65 rating and robust build make the printer suitable for even the harshest production environments. Total cost of ownership is also reduced through the removal of inks and solvents, uninterrupted production runs, and a lack of waste typically associated with can printing.

Sabri Kundakcioglu, Vice President of Engineering at Pepsi Bottling Ventures, highlights three main reasons why the company decided to switch over Domino F720i fibre lasers: “quality, productivity, and sustainability.”

Since introducing the F720i, the company has reported notable improvements in all three areas: “Line efficiency is improved; cost of production has been reduced, and customer complaints about proof printing quality have been reduced,” says Kundakcioglu.

“One of the most important things for us is to make the right decisions. We have seen improvements in our business results after coordinating with Domino for our coding needs,” continues Kundakcioglu. “Domino has done a great job and exceeded expectations in our production environment, customers are satisfied, and our brand is protected.”