In the 40 years since its inception in Japan in 1974, KEYENCE CORPORATION has steadily grown to become a leading force in industrial automation technologies, serving over 300,000 customers in over 100 countries worldwide. KEYENCE is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacturing of factory automation equipment ranging from automation sensors, measuring instruments, vision systems, continuous inkjet printers, laser coders, and digital microscopes. Our innovative products meet customer requirements in every manufacturing and research industry.
In relation to the food and packaging industry, KEYENCE has been making continuous inkjet printers since the 1990’s. We brought our fourth-generation inkjet, the MK-U series, to America in 2014. The MK-U’s Auto-shower cleaning eliminated the need for hand cleaning your inkjet. The conditioning tank added a new tank that allowed recycling of makeup/solvent and helped to balance viscosity which is one of the most important factors in inkjet performance. The on-board maintenance guides walked the operator through minor and major operations right on the HMI, eliminating the need for printed operator’s manuals. Finally, the tool-less nozzle replacement put the power in the customers hands to fix a costly and time-consuming problem in a fraction of the cost and time.
KEYENCE’s fifth generation inkjet, the MK-G series, was released in 2020 and built upon the massive success seen by the MK-U series. In addition to the features mentioned above, we added several new features and optional accessories to increase reliability, simplicity, and predictability. The most important innovation with the MK-G is what we call the MK Dock, a game-changing innovation and was created specifically to address the labor shortage in U.S. manufacturing. Inkjets are complicated machines that take highly skilled operators to maintain and operate. With the MK Dock, the MK-G series gains a brain that will self-diagnose problems using KEYENCE’s proprietary sensors throughout the print head, paths, valves, and replaceable parts throughout the printer. After self-diagnosis, the MK Dock will also run the necessary maintenance procedures automatically to ensure reliable startup or automatically recover quickly and efficiently should you run into an error during a production run.
At KEYENCE, we pride ourselves on providing a wide variety of manufacturers the world’s best automation technologies. KEYENCE also offers a full range of services provided by our technically trained sales engineers such as application problem solving, technical sales support, and a quick response time to any customer request. KEYENCE prides itself on speed and accuracy, and is dedicated to supporting the customer’s mission of becoming the leader of their respective industry. KEYENCE has ranked within top 100 on Forbes’ list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for12 consecutive years and has been named one of Business Week’s “1000 Best Valued Companies.”
