Five questions to ask your printing equipment manufacturer.

A printing equipment manufacturer provides equipment — like industrial inkjet printers and pad printers — to automate the transfer of branding, logos, decorative designs, and other printing onto parts on a production line. These printers serve many diverse industries, including toys, cosmetics, sporting goods, electronics, tools and hardware, promotional items, and medical devices.

Not all inkjet or pad printing equipment manufacturers are equal, so you should do your due diligence and consider all the options before choosing the right one for your needs. To help, we’ve outlined the five questions you should ask to determine whether a printing equipment manufacturer is the right fit for you and your business.

1. How long have you been in business, and how long has your team been with you?

The length of time a printing equipment manufacturing business has been in operation is an indicator of its breadth of experience. But it isn’t just longevity — it’s the diversity of its portfolio that you’ll want to verify. Determine whether the company’s history and experience extend to projects or industries similar to yours. No one wants to be the training ground for a new printing equipment business when their own reputation is at stake.

The length of time a team has been together reveals a lot about a company, too. A team that has worked together for a while knows how to work together efficiently, with a shared history of knowledge and experience that translates into better products and services. Sometimes the average years of team experience can make up for a relatively newer business, if their expertise complements your needs. You’re looking for assurance that the team and the company can answer questions, provide guidance, and anticipate, avoid, or correct problems as they arise.

How EPS answers: Engineered Printing Solutions has been in business since 1985, when we were known as Pad Print Machinery of Vermont. As our capabilities grew into industrial inkjet, we changed our name to Engineered Printing Solutions. We have employees who have been with the company for over fifteen years, and their skills have grown along with the company.

2. What is the difference between digital and analog printing?

There are several important differences. The first is that digital is “contactless,” which confers both advantages and disadvantages. Some parts are heat- or pressure-sensitive, so a contactless method of marking is desirable. But because inkjet printers essentially throw ink at the part, the distance between the print head and the part can’t be too great before image quality suffers — so part topography is still a limiting factor for industrial inkjet. Depending on the durometer of the pad, pad printing can print an extremely wide variety of part topographies, and remains an inexpensive solution for long runs when the art is simple and the colors are few.

The primary advantage of digital marking is that extremely short production runs — even “runs-of-one” — become economical. Runs-of-one will never be economical in pad printing, where all prepress costs (ink-mixing, cliché-making, pad-making) must be amortized on a single unit. With inkjet, variable-data printing such as batch serialization or lot-coding can be combined with standard product information like usage instructions or ingredients. This short-run capability opens up possibilities in industries where inkjet previously played no part, such as promotional products.

Pad printers tend to be cheaper to purchase than industrial inkjet printers, but the short-run capability of inkjet means the upfront cost can be spread across a greater number of SKUs — and the foregone cost of creating and storing spot-color inks, clichés, and pads for every product often makes the payback period much shorter than customers expect.

EPS offers the following kinds of printers:

• Single-pass inkjet printers — parts pass under the print heads only once on a continuous conveyor. Ideal for mass-production printing at extremely high speeds, 50 inches per second and higher.
• Flatbed inkjet printers — printheads move back and forth over flat or semi-flat materials until they reach the desired color and resolution. A large platen can print many images or parts at once.
• Cylindrical inkjet printers — perfect for flat or tapered walls of cylindrical objects. Our rotational printers eliminate the need for labels on water bottles, pint glasses, and other drinkware, with full 360° printing.
• Pad print machines — a silicone pad transfers a 2D image onto a 3D item, pressing the product into an ink plate before stamping. Ideal for complex shapes without distorting the image, by adapting to the part’s shape.

We also offer a variety of ancillary products, including pre-treatment systems, dryers and infrared drying tunnels, laser plate makers, Pantheon flush rigs, washing units, and custom solutions.

3. What certifications and quality standards do you uphold?

One of the hallmarks of a top-tier printing equipment manufacturer is its commitment to quality. When you ask how a company ensures quality, the answer should be easy — they should be able to list the standards and certifications they uphold and identify the ones that matter for your industry. These are especially important in industries with strict sanitary requirements, such as drinkware, health and beauty, and medical, where FDA-approved Class VI medical inks are required.

How EPS answers: Our medical-grade pad printing ink complies with the stringent testing requirements of USP Class VI by the United States Pharmacopeia, the independent group that sets standards for testing plastic medical devices. The FDA also requires strict adherence to its Cosmetics Labeling Guide and its Packaging & Food Contact Substances regulations. EPS complies with all regulatory requirements for safe printing of medical devices, drinkware, and health and beauty packaging, and we make our material safety data sheets readily available.

4. What are your capabilities and limitations?

Ask this question to ensure you have a clear understanding of your manufacturer’s expertise. It touches again on how long the company has been in operation and how diverse their portfolio is, and it tells you whether they have specialties with greater depth of expertise relevant to your business. Don’t hesitate to ask to see samples or examples of their work, so you know you’re getting quality machines that work for your application.

EPS has experience and expertise across these industries and applications: appliances, automotive, drinkware, electronics, health & beauty, medical devices, packaging, promotional, safety equipment, sporting goods, tools & hardware, toys, and tagless printing.

While we specialize in state-of-the-art industrial printing solutions, our highly experienced team also provides additional services such as ink chemistry, custom pad development, design and graphics, and cliché development. We are committed to finding the right solution for every customer.

5. What post-purchase support do you offer?

While each of the prior questions is important, this final one could be the “cherry on top” that differentiates the ideal manufacturer. Post-purchase support can include maintenance and any other assistance after installation. You can verify these services by looking at the troubleshooting or technical support page on their website. Ask about their maintenance contracts, and whether they provide lifetime troubleshooting both on- and off-site.

The right questions lead you to the right manufacturer

Taking the time to ask these five questions can narrow your choices until you arrive at the best printing equipment manufacturer for your unique business needs. Engineered Printing Solutions has a full engineering and software development group, technical services, customer service, and management team to ensure we provide best-fit solutions for every customer we serve.