There were 36,486 food and beverage processing factories in the U.S. in 2017, as per government sources. Some of the world’s largest food and beverage companies are based in the U.S., which results in massive production and export volumes. This industry is strongly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which mandates that all product details, including ingredient list and nutritional values, batch number, manufacturer contact information, and manufacturing and expiry dates, be clearly mentioned on the packaging.

Due to such strict regulations, the U.S. coding and marking systems market will likely grow to $860.6 million by 2023 from $558.4 million in 2017, at a 7.6% CAGR between 2018 and 2023, says P&S Intelligence. This is because it is these systems that print the required information on the primary and secondary product packaging. Moreover, with people becoming more aware of natural and organic ingredients and their nutritional values, they read the product packaging carefully before buying.

Due to the combined effect of the FDA’s product labeling mandates, anti-counterfeiting and intellectual property protection regulations, and growing trade of fake goods, the usage of continuous inkjet, thermal inkjet, thermal drop on demand (DoD), laser coding and marking, transfer overprinting (TTO), and print and apply labeler systems is rising in the U.S. Among these, continuous inkjet systems are preferred because they print fast and virtually on any material, work for long hours, and carry a low requirement for servicing. Moreover, they can print millions of characters with just one liter of ink, thereby helping save materials, most importantly, water.

Apart from food and beverage, coding and marking systems have become extremely important in the automotive & aerospace, electrical & electronics, chemicals, and healthcare sectors. For instance, in the automotive sector, they are used to label individual parts and components, so that fraud can be prevented. A lot of illegal chop shops operate in the U.S. and Mexico, which strip the original vehicle down and sell their individual parts. Here, coding and marking systems can help track stolen vehicles and their individual parts intended for reselling.

Similarly, the healthcare sector is a significant end user in the U.S. coding and marking systems market because drugs and medical devices are among the most-sensitive goods anywhere. Hence, the FDA strongly regulates these and requires companies to clearly state the product info on the packaging and the product themselves. Consuming expired or fake drugs can lead to severe reactions, including death, which is why healthcare products need proper labeling.

Therefore, with the laws related to keeping customers aware of what they are purchasing strengthening in the country, the usage of coding and marking systems will increase too.