If you’ve been asking around about coding and marking machines, you’ve probably heard both “CIJ” and “TIJ” thrown around like everyone just knows what they mean. They don’t, usually. So let’s clear this up properly.

Both CIJ (Continuous Inkjet) and TIJ (Thermal Inkjet) do the same basic job — printing batch numbers, expiry dates, and barcodes onto your products as they move down the line. But how they get there, and what kind of factory they suit, is quite different.

How CIJ actually works

A CIJ printer pushes ink out continuously through a tiny nozzle, then uses an electrical charge to steer individual ink droplets onto your product — kind of like a very precise, very fast water gun. Because the ink is always flowing (even when it’s not printing on your product), it needs a closed-loop system to recycle unused ink back into the machine. This is why CIJ printers need a bit more upkeep, but it’s also why they’re the workhorse choice for high-speed lines.

How TIJ works

TIJ uses cartridges, similar to what you’d find in a home inkjet printer, just industrial-grade. The ink only comes out when it’s actually printing — heated rapidly to form a bubble that pushes a droplet out. No recycling loop, less maintenance, but you’re paying more per millilitre of ink because you’re buying it in sealed cartridges.

So which one do you actually need?

If you’re running a high-speed line — think beverage bottling, where you’re coding hundreds of units a minute — CIJ wins almost every time. It’s built for that pace and the running cost per unit is lower once you’re at volume.

If your production run is smaller, or you’re printing on porous packaging like cardboard cartons where TIJ’s water-based ink soaks in nicely, TIJ tends to make more sense. It’s also a lot less messy to maintain if you don’t have a dedicated technician on site.

A lot of our clients in food and pharma actually run both — CIJ on the main bottling or filling line, TIJ for secondary packaging like cartons. There’s no rule that says you can only pick one.

The honest answer

If you’re not sure, tell us what you’re printing on, how fast your line runs, and what you’re printing (date codes, batch numbers, barcodes), and we can tell you in five minutes which one fits. Don’t let a supplier sell you whichever one they happen to have stock of.