From 1st August 2019 inkjet printing will be permitted for marking corner and central blocks and has been included in the EPAL Technical Regulations. Until now the marking on the corner blocks (EPAL in oval) and on the central blocks (IPPC/ISPM 15 and EPAL ID number) has been applied exclusively by branding. Jens Lübbersmeyer, Head of the Technical Department at EPAL reports, “Inkjet-printing technology on wood and woodchip blocks has continuously improved in the past few years. The quality of inkjet printing now meets EPAL’s requirements for printing pallet blocks.”
With the introduction of the new EPAL CP pallets it has become essential that the marking can be applied to smaller blocks and blocks with differing sizes. The newly approved inkjet printing ensures the quality of the marking matches the quality of the pallets and can also be used for marking the intelligent pallets being developed in the EPAL Lab.
“The approval of inkjet printing is an important component to help in the research project with the Fraunhofer IML, which we got off the ground in the last year.” says Christian Kühnhold, EPAL CEO. “In the future, inkjet printing can open up new and different possibilities in marking, which can help achieve users’ requirement for clear marking on EPAL pallets.”
To start with, inkjet printing is limited to the production of EPAL pallets only. The individual approval procedure for inkjet printing starts in August 2019. Both the approval of inkjet printing and the continuous monitoring of pallet- and marking quality is part of EPAL’s quality assurance system: nearly every licensee – from a total of more than 1,500 worldwide – is inspected at least once a month.
