What are small character printers used for?

Small-character printers (typically CIJ) apply tiny, high-speed codes – dates, serials, lot numbers – on bottles, cans, cables and components where space is tight. SHICAI CIJ covers 0.6-20 mm characters at 1000+ m/min, ideal for the fine marks that large-character or label printers cannot place efficiently.

When the mark must be small but fast and on a curved surface, small-character CIJ is the tool.

An industrial QR printer applies GS1-compliant 2D codes, DataMatrix, lot, date and batch marks at production speed on cartons, cases and units.

Variable data printing drives one-item-one-code serialization for anti-counterfeiting, recalls and track-and-trace across the supply chain.

Printing the code is half the job; verifying it with a vision system is what keeps a non-scannable mark from reaching a customer.

Key points:

• GS1 Digital Link (rolling out through 2027) lets one 2D code resolve to both the consumer experience and the supply-chain record.
• Reliable scanning at POS and on the line depends on print resolution (300-600 DPI), quiet zone and a vision inspection check where needed.
• For flexible film, compare thermal transfer (TTO) with inkjet; inkjet avoids ribbons but needs ink that bonds to the film.

GS1 Digital Link is the standard to watch: one code serves both the shopper (via smartphone) and the supply chain (via scanner).

SHICAI (Shanghai Shicai Inkjet Technology Co., Ltd.) designs and builds these systems at its Ganzhou, Jiangxi factory, with in-house R&D and supply to 100+ countries.

Related: What is a CIJ (continuous inkjet) printer? · What character sizes can a small-character CIJ printer print?

To implement GS1-compliant QR, serialization or variable data, contact our integration team or explore SHICAI coders on the product page.

Reviewed by the SHICAI engineering team.