As a leading manufacturer of copper and aluminum residential, commercial and industrial building wire, they describe themselves on their own website as “a company based on old-fashioned values”. However, those values have helped them innovate and grow into a highly successful enterprise of over 3.5 million square feet under roof, stretching across 460 acres near McKinney, Texas.

According to Encore Wire, one way of ensuring success is to focus on productivity and quality: “The key to our success and growth has always been our ability to supply customers with the products they need in a timely fashion, shipping on time with exceptional fill rates.”

Naturally, this means using the best suppliers for every aspect of production – and the high-speed industrial printers used for mandatory coding on every length of cable that leaves the plant is an essential part of that equation.

Give it a go. You might like it!

A key development in Encore Wire’s approach to coding came along almost ten years ago. “Back in 2016 our partners at Rusco Packaging came to us with a Leibinger printer and wanted to know if we wanted to run a trial”, explained one of the company’s senior management team. “We ran the trial on one of our lines in our commercial building wire plant. I’ve used different printers in my 39 years in the wire business and Leibinger has been far superior as far as reliability and performance and uptime.”

Encore Wire began using Leibinger equipment, and when a new specialist wire printer was announced that claimed to outperform previous models, the company wanted to see what it could do. “Leibinger had developed high-speed rapid wire printers that they wanted us to try. They would print on circuit-sized wire, very small wire, 16-gauge to 8-gauge and run up to high speeds, performing up to 3,280 feet per minute. We ran a trial and the performance was exceptional. Now in that circuit wire plant we have replaced all the other printers with Leibinger’s rapid, high-speed printers.”

What convinced them to switch to Leibinger?

What exactly was it about the product that impressed Encore Wire so much? The best way to understand is perhaps to look at the six key demands of wire and cable printing plants – and how Encore Wire assessed Leibinger’s performance in those areas.

1. Printers need to withstand harsh industrial conditions

Encore Wire points out that conditions for printers in the plant can be tough: “We’re in Texas – and in Texas it gets pretty hot”. Printers need to be able to withstand all kinds of conditions in other parts of the world too, enduring humidity, heat and cold – so the “Jet Rapid Wire” is built for industrial environments with IP54-rated protection, ensuring reliability in the most extreme conditions.

2. Operating costs need to be kept down

Companies like Encore Wire want to keep all operating costs to an absolute minimum. Tom Fisher of Rusco Packaging, a close partner and supplier to Encore Wire, explained how he can rely on Leibinger printers to do just that: “The thing about a Leibinger printer is that it does exactly what it says it’s going to do. Your maintenance is going to be less. Your overall operating costs are going to be less. It’s going to be easier to operate. It’s just a better-quality piece of equipment.”

For example, the “Eco Solv System” reduces solvent consumption by capturing and recycling evaporated solvent, making the process more cost-efficient for Encore. Leibinger printers are also built to last and are easier to service – which means Encore Wire needs to pay less in maintenance. With an easy-to-use display, staff can use it with minimal training, keeping them productive. Whichever way you look at it, operating costs are lower.

3. High speed operation is essential

Like most cable and wire plants, Encore Wire seeks to maximize output. So, they manufacture around the clock, with the extrusion processes used to make the products running at very high speeds. The printers they use therefore have to be able to keep up with them.

The Leibinger “Jet Rapid Wire” can print up to 1,000m/min. That’s 3,280 feet of wire every minute. It’s a machine that runs faster than a tiger! And it is not only fast but accurate, with a specialized print head that brings the nozzle closer to the cable, ensuring outstanding print quality even at the highest speeds.

4. Wire and cable manufacturers need to stay productive at all times

Because all cables and wires need to be coded, the printers need to keep running. One downside of some printers is that ink can become clogged on the print head, meaning that production has to pause while nozzles are cleaned. Leibinger uses a unique nozzle-sealing technology that prevents unused ink from drying on the print head. No clogging, no cleaning, no interruptions to production. When you’re printing thousands of meters of cables every minute, productivity matters.

5. Ink performance and print quality is important

Speed of operation is one thing – but cable manufacturers also insist on quality. Transfer printing, for example, where marks transfer to adjacent surfaces because the ink has not fully dried is unacceptable. Encore Wire noted that Leibinger’s ability to formulate and manufacture fast-drying inks that adhere to any kind of substrate was impressive: “Leibinger manufactures their own inks, so they can provide us with inks that have superior adhesion on our PVC, nylon, or XLPE – whatever type of plastic we want to print on, they will provide and develop the ink that will print on to that type of material.”

6. Printers need to be easy to integrate into the plant

The performance of Leibinger’s “Jet Rapid Wire” printers was clearly exceptional. But a cable or wire plant can’t afford to have problems when switching out one solution for another. The “Jet Rapid Wire” is particularly easy to integrate into any industrial production line, with a comprehensive set of interfaces that allows effortless Plug & Print integration, including USB, Ethernet, I/O signals (9/8), and serial RS232, ensuring compatibility with various production environments. The fact the Leibinger printers were easily integrated into Encore Wire was no surprise to Tom Fisher: “We didn’t have to do anything extraordinary to make the addition of LEIBINGER printers to Encore’s inventory. It just worked because we knew that it would.”

Not a difficult decision in the end...

Encore Wire owes its success to making the right business calls at the right time – consistently pursuing excellence and taking a long-term view instead of constantly changing direction. However, the evidence for using Leibinger was overwhelming. “We have very strong relationships with our vendors and our suppliers, and it really has to be a superior product for us to move on to something different – and Leibinger definitely was.”

The company is proud to use Leibinger equipment – and Leibinger is equally proud to play a part in Encore Wire’s success story. The relationship continues to strengthen, and Encore Wire suggests that other businesses – whether they are wire and cable producers or any other kind of company – would do well to follow their lead. As a company spokesman said: “I would definitely recommend Leibinger printers for any industry.”

Discover the advantages of Leibinger marking systems for your cable production.

Interwire 2025, booth 2031

Paul Leibinger GmbH+Co. KG

Daimlerstrasse 14

78532 Tuttlingen, Germany

Contact person is Aljona Barberio

Tel.: +49 7461 9286-236

abarberio@leibinger-group.com

www.leibinger-group.com

About Paul Leibinger

Leibinger is a globally operating specialist in coding and marking systems with headquarters in Tuttlingen, Baden-Württemberg (Germany). The third-generation family-run company, founded in 1948, develops and produces industrial inkjet printers as well as inks for various applications – with a workforce of close to 300. Innovative technologies and an exceptionally high standard of quality are what distinguish Leibinger’s advanced coding and marking solutions. As the inventor of a groundbreaking nozzle sealing technology that makes ink-based marking systems much less susceptible to contamination, Leibinger ensures greater productivity in the manufacturing of food and industrial products – with tens of thousands of successful installations worldwide. A global network with some 150 distribution partners and subsidiaries in the US and China ensures that Leibinger is ideally positioned to maintain close relationships with its many customers worldwide.