The History of Allen Coding Systems
During its 30 years plus of existence in the coding and marking sector, Allen Coding Systems’ recipe for innovation and product development has put the company
at the forefront of UK manufacturers of coding and marking equipment. This position has allowed us to establish global reach through a number of distribution channels including
Original Equipment Manufacturer partners (OEM’s) and international distributor agents. We invite you to learn more about our company’s history.
In the beginning.....
The company was founded in 1977 to design, develop, and market a range of hot foil coding equipment aimed at
filling a gap in the market for an automatic on-line coding device. The 38/12 was introduced.
In 1978 the company moved to rented premises in Barnet with 5 full time employees. Following this, in November 1979 the company changed its name to Allen Coding
Machines Ltd.
1980's
The 1980’s saw rapid growth of Allen Coding Machines hot foil product portfolio including the introduction of the popular ‘Compact’
to replace the HFC 38/12. This period also saw the introduction of the first generation offline carton coder the ACC.
The development of new products and growth of customer base fuelled the company’s expansion with the relocation to its present site at Welwyn Garden City,
and the formation of associated companies across Europe including Allen France S.A. (France), Svenska Allen (Sweden) and Allen Codiergerate GmgH
(Germany).
In 1988 Allen Coding Machines was acquired by Goring Kerr PLC, based at Windsor, who manufacture metal and other contaminate detection equipment in use within the food
and pharmaceutical industries.
1990's
The first thermal transfer coder, the TT53IM, was officially launched at the PPMA exhibition in 1996. This positioned the company to be able to penetrate new markets
with a coder capable of printing barcodes and variable data fields. The 1990’s also saw the development of a vacuum carton coder, capable of hosting both hot foil and thermal transfer
coders. In the latter part of the 1990’s the TT53CM coder was introduced to the product range.
In June 1998 Thermo Sentron purchased Allen and confirms commitment to expansion in new geographical sales and product development.
2000
The early part of this decade saw two name changes. A change to Thermo Allen Coding Ltd in 2000 to highlight links to its American parent, and a
subsequent change in 2003 to Thermo Electron Weighing & Inspection Ltd to consolidate the UK businesses.
2006
In June 2006 the Allen Coding business of Thermo Electron Weighing and Inspection Ltd was sold to Illinois Tool Works. The company
immediately changed its name to Allen Coding Systems to re-launch the company under the AllenTM banner. Allen Coding Systems began its transition into
becoming decentralised with strong focus on growth and customer satisfaction through ITW’s investment business culture. Following this in December 2006 Allen Coding Systems
became UK distributor for our sister company ITW Betaprint.
2008
January the 55sst thermal transfer coder was added to the product range. Capable of printing variable data and datamatrix codes in both intermittent and
continuous applications, it is specifically targeted towards the pharmaceutical products manufacturers.
February saw the introduction of the 53LTi entry level thermal transfer coder. With all the features of a thermal transfer coder, for the price of a hot foil
coder. This product was specifically targeted towards upgrading existing Allen hot foil products within the food and pharmaceutical industries.
June saw the introduction of Macsa range of Laser equipment.
2009
Introduction of the new low-cost Icon Laser to compliment the already extensiove range of non-contact laser equipment. In addition to this
the Hitachi range of inkjet equipment was also introduced.
April saw an entry level 53LTc continuous motion thermal transfer coder addition to the product range.
2010
Total solution provider for contact / non-contact labeling equipment.
