Coding and Marking Market - Global Outlook & Forecast 2022-2027

MARKET INSIGHTS

The global coding and marking market is expected to reach USD 8.95 billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 8.20% from 2022 to 2027, from USD 5.58 Billion in 2021. Coding & marking equipment is used to print product-specific details on the outer covering of a product. These details aim to provide end-users and manufacturers with authentic information about the product. Coding includes printing manufacturing dates, expiry dates, and the size of the packaged lot, among other details. Printing codes or marks on products help manufacturers reduce the risk of counterfeiting and protect the brand image among end-users. Coding or marking is essential to establish the authenticity of products. It helps inform the supply chain about the product information and its destination. It sets a unique identity to the product and enhances its traceability. Previously, the coding procedure was done manually, which was labor-intensive and prone to errors. After the advent of highly reliable coding and marking machinery, it was largely adopted by companies across varied industries. The global coding and marking equipment market is expected to witness a boom in the future years.

MARKET DYNAMICS

The global coding and marking equipment market has witnessed significant transformations over the last decade, largely due to various innovations, regulatory standard modifications, growth of end-user industries, integration of automation in production, and the influx of vendors across geographies. Coding & marking solutions are handy for several reasons, such as product tracking & traceability, identification, and tackling counterfeiting. With the growth across end-user industries such as F&B, healthcare, chemicals & construction, electrical & electronics, and automotive, the increase in product proliferation has become common. This has further led to managing a diverse inventory range in the best possible manner.

The global coding and marking equipment market is growing at a steady pace worldwide. The CIJ technology dominated the market in 2021. Nevertheless, the increased popularity of TIJ and laser technologies give tough competition to CIJ technology. Also, laser and TIJ are competing worldwide. Further, the overall market growth is highly correlated with the growth of the global packaging industry. Since the global packaging industry is growing at a steady rate of approximately 5% annually, the global coding & marking market is also experiencing constant growth. The increasing instances of product counterfeiting and government regulations that mandate the printing of product-specific information on packets are fueling the demand for coding & marking solutions and driving the market growth worldwide.

KEY INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

• Developing eco-friendly marking systems is a major trend in the global coding and marking market. Patents such as EP0700793A2 and EP0565235A2 have been developed for biodegradable resin-based marking devices.
• Technologies that use environment-friendly printing techniques are being developed to counter the harmful effects on the environment. One such example is the SMARKTEC marking system developed by REA Elektronik.
• The stringent government regulations and standards are driving the use of barcodes on products to specify specific information. In addition, various countries' governments have introduced regulations on printing product-specific data on products and packaged goods.
• The requirement to include specific details of manufacturing and packaging data, lot number, and expiry has fueled the market growth. These regulations help end-users identify authentic products and reduce the penetration of counterfeits in the market. Thus, the formulation of stringent regulations and standards is forcing manufacturers to adopt coding & marking services, which is expected to boost the overall market growth during the forecast period significantly.
• The need for continued support and upgrades is a challenge for vendors in the global coding & marking market. Worldwide technological advancements have made it mandatory for periodic upgrades. The absence of continual improvements in coding products might lead to the product being graded as obsolete.
• The vendors offer equipment and accessories with almost identical quality to end-users at a competitive price, which creates intense competition among vendors. Furthermore, customers prefer familiar market vendors because of the ease of accessibility and cost advantage.

COVID-19 IMPACT ANALYSIS

The impact of COVID-19 on the overall economy was swift and substantial. The initial estimation was a slight interruption in the export and imports with respect to China. However, with the increasing number of COVID cases in China, the situation escalated to a full-blown trade stoppage, with manufacturing industries coming to a complete halt. The closures of many assembly plants led to economic distress and increased default risk. Moreover, the second wave of Coronavirus across Europe, India, and others have further disrupted the global economy and production in end-user industries and has raised trade concerns.

Almost 50% of the demand for coding & marking arises from the F&B industry. The various segments of the F&B industry are essential food items that generate demand in all seasons. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry has witnessed a supply chain disruption because of a voluntary shutdown of factories or authorities enforcing lockdown. In some cases, the manpower at the supplier location has been reduced to ensure a certain amount of work is carried out to deliver smaller batches of materials required at the converter's place.

The demand for F&B and healthcare products has equaled regular spikes and lulls in demand. Analysts at Arizton have considered this while arriving at the market numbers globally. The high prices of premium categories of F&B products were majorly impacted, while the reasonably priced essential F&B products are expected to see higher demand. Manufacturing and packaging activities increased to address the growing need for medical supplies such as COVID test kits in flexible packs and PPE kits. To keep track of such products and maintain SKUs and traceability, the demand for coding & marking is increasing worldwide.

OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGE ANALYSIS

GROWING DEMAND FOR LASER CODING

Laser coding is one of the recent developments in the global coding & marking market. This technology has witnessed a sharp rise in demand, largely due to its properties and feasibility across a wide range of end-user industry applications. For instance, laser coding solutions are growing in popularity across end-user industries such as cosmetics, personal care, F&B, and automotive, among others. A key reason for this growth in popularity is the ability of laser coding to remain permanent and of high quality than its peer coding & marking solutions.

RISING DEMAND FOR TRACEABILITY BY END-USERS

Manufacturing across various sectors has witnessed a considerable transformation over the last few years owing to the rising technological integration. This has raised standards and increased the expectation levels across sectors. A manufacturing brand thus must ensure that its product, once released post-production stage, functions in the intended creative manner throughout its life. The scope for errors has risen substantially across industries due to the constant demand for producing within a short period and having on-demand production procedures. This has further given rise to instances of product recalls across various industries.

OPERATIONAL ERRORS & HIGH COST

Errors due to human negligence or mistake can often dent the profits of manufacturers and market vendors. Humans are considered accountable for more than 69% of product coding errors. This is a major challenge across end-user industries that manufacturers consistently focus on. Often, large-scale manufacturing companies have people working in shifts, which increases human-machine interaction. This tends to raise the scope of errors due to the time needed to master the printing machine process. Also, this denies companies the time and resources they could have utilized elsewhere.

SEGMENT ANALYSIS

PRODUCT MIX

The consumables segment dominates the global coding and marking market. In 2021, consumables accounted for over 45% of the overall market revenue. The demand for consumables in the global coding & marking market increased during the COVID-19 pandemic owing to huge requirements for inks and other consumables from the F&B and healthcare industries.

END-USER 

The F&B industry was the largest end-user segment in the global coding & marking market in 2021 and accounted for around half of the market share. The growth in F&B and healthcare segments is attributed to the improving demographics across the globe, increasing investment, strict regulations by the government, and a shift towards urbanization. In addition, several other factors such as changing consumer preference about the consumption of products, increasing demand for sustainable packaging, rising demand for attractive packages, and more are fueling the growth of end-user industries, which eventually boosts the demand for coding & marking in the global market.

TECHNOLOGY 

The global coding and marking market comprises various technology coding printers such as CIJ, Laser, VIJ, PIJ, TTO, TIJ, and PALM. In 2021, the CIJ segment accounted for almost 40% share of the global market, followed by the laser segment. The laser and TIJ coding and marking technology segments are expected to gain market share during the forecast period. The laser system is free of consumables such as ink; hence, it has low maintenance. The laser segment will witness a high CAGR of over 9% during the forecast period.

GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS

The global coding and marking market is well-diversified across North America, APAC, Europe, Latin America, and MEA. In 2021, the APAC region dominated the market and accounted for over 30%. North America and Western Europe followed it in 2021. The market in APAC is expected to witness a rapid growth rate due to the high demand for coding & marking equipment in various end-user industries during the forecast period. The market's steady growth is due to the high importance of providing product information, specifications of print, standards such as ISI in India, FDA in the US, and Directive 2011/62/EU of the European Union. The importance of traceability by printing information such as date of manufacture, expiry, shift numbers, batch numbers, counterfeit prevention, real-time data, and operational quality control information has been realized by many companies in the past decade. The growth of the coding & marking market is driven by the expansion of the overall packaging industry.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

The global coding and marking market is highly fragmented. On the one hand, there are international players providing coding and marking devices with high functionality and designs. The five major leaders in the market are Danaher, Dover, Brother Industries (Domino Printing Sciences), Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems, and ITW (Diagraph). All these companies have a global presence at least in three major geographical regions: North America, APAC, and Europe. However, local vendors provide products with similar specifications at lower prices. The CIJ systems provided by local vendors are priced 6–7% lesser than those provided by international vendors. However, the products of local vendors would deliver lower performance than those of international vendors. This has intensified price wars among vendors. Some of the major players that are dominating the market include

• Danaher
• Dover
• Brother Industries (Domino Printing Sciences)
• Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems
• ITW

The market is characterized by the presence of diversified international and regional vendors. As and when international players increase their footprint in the market, regional vendors would find it increasingly difficult to compete with them. The competition will be based solely on quality, quantity, technology, services, and price.