Coding and marking systems developer LEIBINGER, together with computer consultants coilDNA, will be presenting a “cutting-edge smart code system” that enables seamless tracking of all parts of industrial semi-finished products, at this year’s globally acclaimed ALUMINIUM Exhibition trade fair being held from October 8 to 10 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

LEIBINGER explains that semi-finished products are manufactured, dispatched and further processed along international supply chains, with one of the greatest challenges being assigning the material to each step of the processing chain.

This becomes especially difficult when products such as coils, pipes, profiles, strips or hoses are modified in length or width during production.

In conventional production processes, it is virtually impossible to precisely allocate the data for each part.

A 100% subsidiary of AMAG Austria Metall, coilDNA identified the market gap and developed a patented code comprising 14 unique alphanumeric characters that are strung together in the code track – and which are never repeated. Each individual code element allows its exact position on the product to be determined.

When data is assigned to these code elements, it can be retrieved in subsequent processing steps, regardless of how the semi-finished product was split.

This enables seamless tracking of the material, its properties and the manufacturing conditions over several stages of the value chain – all the way through to the end-product.

A key requirement for the success of this type of coding is a high-performance continuous inkjet printer system that can apply the code reliably, flexibly, without interrupting production and with reproducible results – even at very high speeds and under challenging industrial manufacturing conditions.

To achieve this, coilDNA and AMAG turned to LEIBINGER, the industrial printer specialist and reliable partner for innovative coding and marking systems.

Working Together

LEIBINGER developed its advanced interface software based on the LEIBINGER messaging protocol.

The LEIBINGER JET3up printer’s “exceptionally high data processing speed” allows printing of several 100 m to 1 000 m rolled products at up to 500 m/min.

The flexible positioning and easy manipulation of the LEIBINGER print heads enable printing of the rolled strips in AMAG’s production at virtually any width position, even in several lanes if required.

As a result, up to eight slit strips can be printed individually from above and below with different markings on the slitting lines. “Even in this high-speed range, excellent legibility of the dot-matrix font is ensured.”

AMAG IT head and mathematician Dr Werner Aumayr took part in the development of the endless code.

“The comprehensive support provided through LEIBINGER during the installation and testing phase, as well as the high quality and flexibility of the JET3up printers in use, deserve special mention,” he says.

He adds the installation of the printers and related equipment during ongoing production – without interrupting it – presented the team with a unique challenge, which was solved to the company’s complete satisfaction and on schedule, owing to “excellent” project coordination.

The solution has now become well established at AMAG and has passed extensive practical testing.

In addition to the JET3up printers used at AMAG, implementation would also be possible with the new IQJET printer from LEIBINGER, as it also features the required interfaces.

coilDNA adds that its experience with the LEIBINGER printers and protocols has been very positive and the Internet-of-Material experts are happy to recommend them to other companies requiring this unique expertise.