Inkjet & Digital Printing
Digital Comes of Age at Domino
Thursday 27. May 2010 - IPEX 2010 marks a watershed for Domino, with the Cambridge, UK-based company using the show as the launch pad for a brand new range of four/five colour digital presses. The move positions Domino as a mainstream supplier of full colour digital printing equipment as well as being the acknowledged market leader in in-line variable data printing.
Simultaneously, the company is introducing a new addition to its highly successful K-Series high resolution single colour piezo ink jet system. The 600dpi K600 satisfies the growing market requirement to digitally print complete products. Print widths range from 108mm (4.25″) to 780mm (30.8″), with scalability being achieved by mounting print modules within a variable sized frame including automatic cleaning station.
Philip Easton, Director – Digital Printing Solutions at Domino, says, “Domino has become pre-eminent in industrial ink jet over the last three decades and is continuously expanding its product range to add value to customers businesses, helping them to enter new markets and create additional opportunities for growth.
“Drawing on our accumulated wealth of experience in ink jet technology, we believe that the time is now right in terms of price, technology and print quality for Domino to expand our offering to incorporate full-colour ink jet printing.
“The impact of digital is not just confined to colour: the launch of the full-width K600 reflects real demand in the single colour market as well,” continues Easton. “Our customers are looking for the most cost-effective solution to meet their requirements: this may mean full colour digital, single colour digital or imprinting a pre-printed form with variable data. There are a number of factors that determine what is most cost-effective – if the requirement is for variable text only and the production runs are very long then imprinting may make sense. For short runs, or where there are many colour version changes, full colour digital fits.”
One of the pioneers of industrial ink jet technology, Dominos credentials in terms of delivering and supporting ink jet printers are beyond question. The company was formed in 1978: it floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1985 and has just reported its 31st year of consecutive growth, with sales to November 2009 of £256m (290m) and operating profit of £36m (40m).
Ongoing and substantial investment in R&D has seen the Domino portfolio expand beyond its initial continuous ink jet (CIJ) offering to incorporate the broadest and most complete range of flexible system solutions, including continuous, binary, thermal- and drop on demand ink jet technologies. For the commercial printing sector, this translates into added value in a variety of applications, such as printing addresses, barcodes, numbers and graphics with integrated controllers that interface with existing industry-standard databases and software. This allows users to easily manage rapid speed and high quality variable data on printing, finishing and mailing lines.
“Domino is committed to delivering the right product to the market at the right time,” says Philip Easton. We have been monitoring developments in the fast-moving CMYK ink jet market closely dating back to 2006 when we test marketed our first CMYK solution and are confident that the N600 is the solution that meets the needs of printers and brand owners now and for some time to come.
“In our view ink jet technology will be the next generation of digital solutions due to higher productivity and print quality comparable to offset. As it evolves, there will be a further step change in the transition from conventional to digital technology.”