Although Domino has been developing industrial ink jet technologies since 1978, this represents their first step into the digital corrugated printing space. Domino is part of an international group with its headquarters in Cambridge in the UK, who became part of the Japanese based Brother Industries corporation in 2015. After launching into the label printing sector in 2012, Domino quickly established itself as the ink jet technology digital press market leader, and now intends to repeat this same success in the corrugated box printing market.

The Domino X630i is a new digital ink jet printing solution designed for everyday corrugated production, enabling corrugated box printers to print with minimal set-up time and waste, significantly improving overall plant productivity.

Matt Condon, Corrugated Sector Business Development Manager at Domino Digital Printing Solutions division, says: “We are delighted to be introducing this highly automated, single pass Domino X630i digital ink jet press which will enable you to profitably develop short and medium run market opportunities, facilitating new streams of business and providing a more complete range of capability for your customer base.” The X630i is based on Domino’s proven and reliable Generation 6 ink jet platform, which has approaching 1000 worldwide industrial installations.

Condon continues, “Digital printing allows you to remove the need for printing plates and the lost production time and waste associated with set-up and make-ready, thereby increasing your uptime, productivity and efficiency, and reducing cost and consumption. With speeds of up to 75m/min (246ft/min), 600 x 600dpi print resolution, and a maximum print area of 3000mm x 1345mm (118” x 53”), the Domino X630i ink jet press is designed for everyday corrugated box production. This investment will enable you to move your short run, multiple SKU and short lead time jobs to digital, rebalancing production with your analogue printing equipment, driving up efficiency and output with reduced costs and improved profit margins. It will give you a competitive advantage, allowing you to grow your longer run conventional print production, whilst at the same time attracting new business and giving your customers the opportunity for more versioning, personalisation and consumer engagement.”

The X630i is supplied with the revolutionary Domino AQ95 CMYK aqueous ink set, which incorporates i-Tech PolyM, one of Domino’s unique intelligent Technology features. These features reflect Domino’s depth of ink jet expertise and are designed to create systems altogether more flexible and reliable. Based on unique micro polymeric particles, i-Tech PolyM is designed to print on both uncoated and coated corrugated substrates without the need to either apply a separate primer or even a bonding agent. In addition, it is also suitable for many non-direct food packaging applications being Swiss Ordinance, Nestlé and EuPIA compliant.

Further i-Tech components are incorporated into Domino’s proven Generation 6 ink jet platform. These include the i-Tech ActiFlow ink circulation system, i-Tech CleanCap automated print head cleaning and capping station, and i-Tech StitchLink automated print head alignment. These i-Tech features optimise ink jet nozzle performance and reliability, delivering more consistent and high quality print results. The automation provides a more controlled process with minimal operator intervention and maintenance and reduced set up times. It is all designed to improve uptime, ensuring the highest levels of productivity.

Condon continues, “Domino recognises that corrugated converters are facing the same challenges faced by label printers ten years ago with increased demands from brand owners for shorter print runs, shorter lead times and more SKUs. The question is how do you meet this challenge cost-effectively? Add to this, the increasing demands for personalisation, shelf-ready packaging, and Covid-19 which has ‘temporarily’ accelerated the already predicted market growth in e-commerce, as security and hygiene take on greater importance. All these factors are drivers towards the digital production of corrugated. Domino wanted to extend and share our digital ink jet knowledge and expertise with the corrugated sector to help you respond to these changing market demands.”

Condon concludes, “The Domino X630i has a small footprint, with big benefits that will help you transform your business and make your entire production floor more efficient.” But don’t just take Condon’s word for this…