Is the HP 108mm the Ultimate Printhead for Case Coding?

At Pack Expo Las Vegas 2025, I had the opportunity to check out several versions of the new HP 108mm Thermal Inkjet (TIJ) printhead.

This new device, based on HP’s TIJ 4 technology, can print on porous materials, such as corrugated materials used for shipping cases and cartons.

Why Does this Matter?

Well, when it comes to printing barcodes and other information onto secondary packaging, companies have several options:

Have the corrugated vendor pre-print the cases at the time they are converted.
Use a thermal label printer and either manually or automatically apply the labels to the package.
Print the information directly onto the boxes at the time of packaging using inkjet printers.
Use a CO2 laser marker, in conjunction with a laser-receptive coating, such as DataLase.

This topic is discussed here: Labels or Inkjet for Shipping Cases

Most inkjet printers used for case coding have been Piezoelectric printers, often manufactured by Trident (now Diagraph) or Xaar.

So, What About Thermal Inkjet?

Thermal inkjet (TIJ) systems have been used successfully for case coding for some time, but they have disadvantages that make them less than ideal for these applications.

Limited print height. Most TIJ printheads have a print height (swath) of 12.8 mm (others are available up to about 25 mm – 1″), which means a single printhead is not capable of printing the text and barcodes needed for marking secondary packaging.
Printer OEMs have worked to overcome this by building arrays of multiple printheads and stitching the image together to get the required print height. This can work, but it isn’t particularly elegant.
The throw distance (the maximum distance from the printhead to the surface to be printed) is only a couple of millimeters. This means that super-accurate product handling is needed to control the package on the conveyor and keep it close enough without hitting the printer.
TIJ printheads have a limited decap time—the time a printhead can be left uncapped and still reliably start up with good print quality. Quite often, several packages might need to pass before the printer is at full efficiency or the head might need to be cleaned.

The New HP 108mm Printhead

Markoprint Singular with HP 108mm Printhead, from Automated Marking, Inc.

The new thermal inkjet system recently launched by HP promises to address the issues that currently prevent TIJ printers from becoming more mainstream in case coding. This new platform is undoubtedly packed with innovative features,

The new platform is built on HP’s TIJ 4.0 technology. While TIJ 4.0 initially used 22 mm high printheads, the new HP108mm printhead combines five of these heads in a single housing to achieve the required 108 mm print swathe. The combined head is treated as a single entity when designing and printing formats.

Other New Features Include:

A maximum of 1200 dpi print resolution to ensure good quality, even when printing small font sizes, and to ensure clean edges to barcodes.
The printhead can print either horizontally (ie, printing on the side of a shipping case passing on a conveyor) or vertically (printing downwards, say on a flat item passing on a feed belt).
Longer throw distance – up to 10 mm.
Because each printhead has a pair of printing channels, it can print in one or two colors. Adding a second color helps print warning logos, such as for batteries or chemicals.
HP’s Smart Servicing Solution (patented micro-recirculation technology) reduces the need for head cleaning and extends the decap time up to 48 hours.
A 775 ml ink cartridge enables high-speed production with minimal downtime.

Another innovation that the HP 108mm brings is the ability to use two printheads in tandem to print full CMYK color applications.

4-Colour HP108mm Printer: Norwix Booth, Pack Expo Las Vegas

There were several examples of this configuration on display at Pack Expo Las Vegas, including the one above at the Norwix Marking booth. From what I saw of the CMYK printers in operation, the print quality won’t rival that of high-quality colour inkjet systems (such as HP’s own Indigo and offerings from companies such as Domino), but it will be fine for many applications.

What Do I Think?

Basically, I think this new TIJ platform from HP is a big step forward for thermal inkjet in secondary packaging and will open inkjet printing to more companies.

The HP 108 mm with its 108 mm print swath, higher speed, and longer throw distance is a much better option than stitching together multiple smaller TIJ printheads and is an ideal solution for replacing pre-printed shipping cases in Late-Stage-Customization (LSC) applications.

I’ll be interested to learn how well HP’s micro-recirculation technology keeps print nozzles open in dusty conditions. This has been an issue for piezo-type printers, especially as the quality of the corrugated material has declined with the introduction of more recycled materials.

Of course, if barcode quality is the number one priority, a black-printed code on a white label will still get the highest verification scores, due to the higher contrast.

Where to Buy

HP doesn’t sell these thermal inkjet systems directly to end users. Instead, they supply a kit of the necessary components to printer OEMs who build them into complete print systems.

Since the HP 108mm system was initially launched in Asian markets, more OEM products are now available from manufacturers in those markets. We can expect to see more offerings from OEMs in Europe and the Americas before long. For example, my friends at Automated Marking (AMI) in the US can already provide solutions based on HP 108mm technology.