Pittsburgh, PA, March 7 - 8 --  New affordable ink-jet marking/coding systems to meet  a range of wine/grape industry applications – from basic 1- and 2-line case coding to high-resolution logos, graphics and scannable bar codes - will be demonstrated by Matthews Marking Products in booth #335 at the Wineries Unlimited show in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
            The company has just introduced marking systems at both ends of the spectrum: for smaller producers -- the economical I-Mark™ SX-7 or SX-16 for 1- or 2-line water-based alphanumeric marking on porous materials, such as corrugated cardboard; and for premium products the affordable, high-resolution LC2 and IP9000 systems for printing up to 4 lines of alphanumeric characters, logos, and graphics on one or two sides of porous surfaces at resolutions up to 200 dpi horizontal/187 vertical, operating at line speeds up to 4.6 ft. (1.4 m) per second.  The new high-resolution systems virtually eliminate the need for costly labels on cartons/cases.
New I-Mark™ SX-7 and SX-16 for simple, affordable case/tray coding
            The new compact, user-friendly SX-7 (1-line printing) and SX-16 (2-line) are Matthews most economical marking systems, priced at less than 25% of the cost of previously available Matthews printers and ideal for smaller producers looking for a basic marking system.  Economy is coupled with reliability in the SX family, which uses the company’s proprietary Drop-on-Demand (DOD) valve inkjet technology, capable of operating in challenging environments.
            The new SX-7/16 offers more memory than competing entry-level carton marking systems.  Easy to install and set up, the SX- 7/16 have controller, printhead and ink system integrated into one compact unit that simply plugs in.  An icon-based menu and hot keys make the system easy to operate.  The pressurized ink using Matthews X-370 water-based ink eliminates the need for an external ink pump.
New low-maintenance, high-resolution IP9000 Series eliminates need for costly labels          
The just-introduced high resolution inkjet system for printing text, logos, and graphics on one or two sides of cartons/trays offer a combination of high print quality, exceptionally low ink consumption (as little as 2% of what other ink-jet systems use to print the same information) and minimal maintenance requirements. 
            These systems save on both costs and time: the printing controllers use a repairable print engine from Trident, while Matthews’ rugged printheads need no filter change, recalibration or flushing when the system is shut down. 
            The IP9000 Series prints up to 4 lines of text in an area up to 1.9 inches high.  The LC2 system, combining the entry-level LC2 printhead with an IP 9000 controller, is priced 20% lower than most alphanumeric printers and produces high-quality text and graphics.