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Ipex was the launch pad for Domino’s first press, the N600, a narrow-web colour label press that uses UV-cured inkjet technology. According to Domino digital printing solutions director Philip Easton, the reaction from label printers who came to see the press was "very positive – more so than we expected".

Key to the warm reception, says Easton, is speed. With a speed of 50 linear metres per minute as standard, or, with an attendant drop in image quality, a faster throughput of 75m per minute, he argues that the machine is twice the speed of most inkjet rivals, and also way faster than the electrophotographic machines from the likes of HP and Xeikon too.
In fact, feedback suggests the N600 is more a challenger to flexo presses for short, and some not-so-short, runs.
"One of the things to come out of Ipex was that potential users compared it to flexo rather than other digital presses," he says. "The feeling is that it is much easier to run jobs digitally as it does away with all the repro stages, and flexo repro is highly skilled and time consuming."

The 75m per minute speed might not match the headline speeds of a flexo press, which can be double that, but Easton says feedback from label printers is that they typically run inline with cutting and stripping, and these processes can’t be run any faster than 75m/m. So the extra speed offered by flexo is purely theoretical rather than practical.

"Some people were talking up flexo, others digital, but there was a positive reaction from all," he says.

In fact, the N600 may have carved itself a niche that complements both processes rather than competing head on.
"People told us that it may not match their Indigos, but it’s way better than flexo," he says. "We sit between digital and flexo, we’ve found a space no-one else has found."

And, he argues, the running costs are more akin to flexo than other digital machines. There are no click charges; users pay for ink, so costs are determined by the coverage of a job. While he accepts that the "cost of the fluids is very different than for flexo," there is a hint that with time – as more digital UV inkjet machines get installed – the price of ink will fall to some extent as economies of scale kick in.

With the N600 about to enter beta testing with five firms across Europe, Domino is wary of detailing running costs. It hopes to be able to offer more detail once beta testing is completed and the machine goes on sale at the end of this year.

The price is £520,000 including an EskoArtwork workflow. Given Esko’s dominance of the packaging pre-press market and its expertise in colour management, and, via alliances with manufacturers of the N600’s rivals in digital label printing, it’s a canny move allowing Domino to focus on the press itself. The transport was developed by an (unnamed) firm which Domino has a stake in. So the N600 is all the firm’s own work.

Rivals have taken different approaches. Agfa, with its inkjet and pre-press expertise, uses UK flexo press firm Edale to make the chassis for the Dotrix, while the Nilpeter Caslon relies on FFEI to produce the inkjet gubbins to sit on one of its own transport mechanisms.

Shades of grey
At the heart of the N600 are Kyocera printheads, and it is these which Easton says gives the machine such an edge. The Kyocera heads have a native resolution of 600dpi, and are greyscale, offering four shades of grey per spot. Most of the rival inkjet machines, bar the Agfa Dotrix, which uses Toshiba Tec heads, use Xaar’s latest head, the 1001. Easton says that, in comparison, the Kyocera is faster and offers higher native resolution. It is this that enables the N600 to offer a rated speed of 50m/m, double that of the Xaar-based machines, or by dropping one grey level to boost that a further 50% to 75m/minute. In comparison, the Xaar heads, while offering more greyscales have a lower native resolution of 360dpi and, although they too can be speed bumped by 50% by dropping grey levels, they still only reach 37m/m.

Easton also argues that there is research to suggest that a higher native resolution ultimately produces higher image quality regardless of speed.

Domino says it is working with a number of firms on the UV-cured inks for the N600, although it won’t reveal the details of its partners.

So far the firm has focused on self-adhesive label stocks, primarily polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), with good results on 70% and 50% of those substrates respectively. It is also working on optimising results with glossy papers; however Easton says that the surface energy of those materials is more problematic.

"Some people claim that UV inks can print onto anything, but that’s not true; it’s down to the surface tension/surface energy of the substrate and the ink," he says.

The N600 uses corona treatment to ensure ink adhesion, and Domino is working with substrate suppliers to develop a list of approved materials. One advantage of UV-cured inks that Domino claims over toner-based technologies is that the finish better matches flexo and litho print.

"Brands are more interested in digital matching the look and quality of their analogue processes," he says, arguing that that is ultimately more important on-shelf than higher quality, as some such as HP Indigo claim.

In its first incarnation, the N600 is a four-colour machine, although Domino is working on adding white and special colours too. "We always anticipated that white would be important, and our initial market research confirmed that it was a must-have," he says.

However, some of the beta sites reported that as they had other white capable digital presses, and only 20% of work required white or special colours, the speed was the compelling proposition of the N600.

It looks like the white ink that Domino has sourced is dense enough to print in one-hit. Other options being investigated include spot varnish and digital foil, which is achieved by using a varnish as a glue for cold foil, an inkjet application demonstrated by Domino before.

Familiar territory
While the N600 may be Domino’s first press, and its first full-colour system too, it’s not an outlandish leap into the unknown. The firm has been involved in inkjet printing ever since its foundation in the late 1970s, and so has a long heritage with the technology. Much of that has been applied in coding and marking applications for packaging and labelling, so the firm knows the target audience for the N600 well.

In terms of technology Domino is probably best known for continuous inkjet. However it has over a decade’s experience with the drop-on-demand piezo technology employed by the N600, thanks to its K-series, and the expertise it acquired when it bought Alphadot. And while Easton doesn’t trivialise the difference in moving from monochrome and spot colour to full process colour he believes the firm has enough inkjet expertise to make the leap.

"We’ve watched the development of piezo inkjet and colour, and, in our view, the biggest risk to Domino is not making a move to exploit the opportunity," he says. "Colour is a long-term threat to our existing products, and therefore also an opportunity. In time we see label printing move in-line with application, and we’re also focusing more and more on the packaging and label sectors."

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SPECIFICATIONS

Contact
Domino 01954 782551 www.domino-printing.com

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THE ALTERNATIVES

Agfa Dotrix

The first UV-cured digital web for labels and packaging, and with its wider web, a productive solution. Low-migration ink has recently been added as well as orange and violet inks to enable 90% of the Pantone swatch to be printed.

 

EFI Jetrion 4830

Narrower than the N600, but with the 210mm-wide model Jetrion’s web is creeping ever-wider. Uses EFI’s own Xflow digital front-end.

 

HP Indigo WS6000

Liquid toner technology rather than inkjet, but so far HP has probably enjoyed the most success in digital labels. High quality and the option of special colours, including white.

 

Nilpeter/FFEI Caslon

Best of British inkjet technology from FFEI using Xaar heads, melded to Nilpeter’s narrow web knowledge. Available as a purely digital unit or a module to integrate into a conventional label line, and in 340mm or 410mm widths.

 

Xeikon 3500

The latest Xeikon has a wider web (512mm), which it says can more than double productivity on some jobs, despite being less than twice the width of its other label presses. New QA-I toner is food approved for indirect and direct contact with dry goods and offers improved light-fastness.