Cap and closure decoration is the highest-throughput packaging application EPS engineers. The line economics live in changeover, not raw print speed — most cap producers run more SKUs in a week than they did in a year a decade ago. EPS engineers single-pass inkjet cells that displace direct offset on multi-SKU programs and pad cells where pad economics still win.
Caps, lids, and closures are the highest-volume packaging decoration EPS engineers — and the application where the economic case for single-pass inkjet is cleanest. Direct offset (the conventional process for caps at production volume) wins on a single long run, but loses changeover-by-changeover as the SKU count grows. Pharmacy chains, beverage brands, and pharmaceutical fillers keep adding SKUs, languages, and brand variants. Every additional SKU is a changeover, and every changeover is where EPS’s single-pass economics take the line back.
EPS engineers two distinct cell architectures for the cap and closure segment. The EPS ClosurePrint System — built on the XD-108 single-pass print engine — integrates hopper feed, waterfall orientation, flame pretreatment, single-pass print + LED-UV cure, 100% inline inspection, and post-print blow-off into one continuous footprint. For lower-volume short-run multi-color cap work where the SKU mix doesn’t justify single-pass capex, the pad cell with up to 5 colors and 360° wrap on cylindrical caps still earns its keep. EPS picks the right tier, then engineers the cell around the part.
Different substrates, different regulatory profiles, different decoration economics. EPS engineers the cell around the family.
Child-resistant closures supplying pharmacy chains, hospitals, and pharmaceutical fillers. FDA-regulated production discipline; multi-SKU, multi-language brand graphics; 100% inline inspection feeding into the filling line.
Aluminum, plastic, and crown closures for beverage filling lines. High-volume single-SKU long runs alternating with short-run promotional and limited-edition graphics. Single-pass inkjet inverts the direct-offset economics on the short side of the SKU mix.
4-inch plastic container lids — yogurt, sour cream, deli containers. Polyolefin substrates requiring flame pretreatment. Multi-SKU programs where SKU swap is a push of a button, not a down line for changeover.
Caps, lids, and dispensing closures for cosmetic, personal care, and household chemical packaging. Graphic-heavy brand applications where color fidelity and SKU agility matter more than raw run rate.
Drum closures, pail caps, IBC tote covers, paint can lids. Larger formats, lower volumes, more variable-data demand (lot codes, batch numbers, regulatory marks).
EPS deployed the ClosurePrint System for a leading global pharmaceutical closure manufacturer supplying child-resistant closures into pharmacy chain, hospital, and pharmaceutical-filler channels. The cell consolidates six line functions into one continuous footprint — bulk feed, waterfall singulation, flame pretreatment, single-pass print + LED-UV cure, 100% inline inspection, and post-print blow-off — so the line ships from bulk pallet to decorated, inspected, and conditioned closure with no operator handling between.
Real customer cells — full process walkthroughs.
Zero changeover. New SKU every shift. 600 dpi UV inkjet on 4" plastic lids — replaces direct offset on multi-SKU lid programs.
Six line functions in one footprint. Bulk-in to inspected-and-cleaned-out — XD-108 single-pass + flame pretreat + LED-UV cure + 100% inspection.
Pick the cell that matches your SKU mix, run length, and substrate. EPS engineers the rest of the line around the print engine.
Hopper feed, waterfall singulation, flame pretreatment, single-pass print + LED-UV cure, 100% inline inspection, post-print blow-off. The cell architecture for high-mix multi-SKU pharmaceutical and beverage cap programs.
Explore single-pass →
Up to 5 colors in a single setup, full 360° wrap on cylindrical caps. The platform for short-run multi-color cap work where pad economics still beat single-pass — and for medical/catheter overlap where Class VI inks are required.
Explore Pad Printing →
Where neither pure pad nor pure single-pass fits, EPS engineers hybrid cells — pad print for spot color and brand mark, inkjet for variable data, all integrated with automation around the customer's specific cap geometry.
Explore Custom Cells →What's inside the ClosurePrint cell that competitors' single-pass setups don't include.
Feed → singulate → pretreat → print/cure → inspect → blow-off integrated into one continuous cell. The decoration line stops being multiple cells the operator has to balance.
Polyolefin caps require surface activation. ClosurePrint runs flame pretreatment in-line, in motion — no batch step, no buffer. Pretreatment scales with print throughput so it never becomes the bottleneck.
Every decorated closure verified before it leaves the cell — supporting the FDA-regulated downstream filling environment. Failed parts diverted before they reach the filler. Sample-based QA is not viable on a 24/7 pharmaceutical line.
No plate, blanket, or cliché swap between SKUs. Graphic change is a job-load operation on the fly rather than a mechanical reset. The economic argument against direct offset lives here.
Post-print blow-off removes debris and static. Decorated closures exit cleanroom-presentable for downstream filling and capping. The cell hands off into the customer's pharmaceutical filling line with no intermediate conditioning step.
Tell us about your cap geometry, substrate, SKU mix, and current decoration process. We will show you whether ClosurePrint, a pad cell, or a hybrid is the right tier — and what the production economics look like.