With so much happening every year in the Coding and Marking industry, it has become so difficult to write an end of year review. 2017 was of no exception. After some heavy debate and consultation we came up with our favourite 5 events / topics to discuss here with you today:
1. Domino Ax-Series Launch – CIJ technology has been around since the 1960’s but it only hit the main stream in the mid to late 1980s. Domino already had huge success with the A-Series Classic and Plus models and more recently with the revolutionary I-Tech printers, which were the first Service-Free CIJ printers on the market. What Domino did is they went back to the 1800s and Lord Rayleigh to the inception of the perfect ink drop and developed a whole new CIJ printer designed with the user in mind. They asked their customers what they looked for in a CIJ printer and delivered the worlds’ first perfect drop printer. Thousands of Ax-Series printers sold globally in 2017 has kept Domino in front as a global leader in industrial printing. Read more about AX-Series here.
2. Interpack 2017 – Interpack is the European Cup Final in terms of packaging trade shows and exhibitions. For 10 days the Messe in Dusseldorf opens itself up to thousands of exhibitors and visitors from the packaging and printing community. Interpack has always been the best place to go to check out the latest and greatest from the World’s leading machine builders. Domino, of course, did not disappoint. We saw all their coding and marking equipment on a fantastic stand that took over 2 levels of exhibition space. My personal favourite piece was the F720i fibre laser that was developed for laser marking beverage cans at high speed on the fly! This is huge. The ability to code cans with a laser and achieve a clear and constant code was unheard of up to 2017. Read more on the F-Series here.
3. Labelexpo 2017 – Label production is at its highest ever levels and is therefore one of the most exciting sectors we deal with. Today label producers are looking for high quality, fast and highly customisable label presses. Domino has developed the N610i, a full colour (up to 7) digital label press with the ability to run up to speeds of 75m per minute. The N610i has been a huge commercial success globally. Domino have collaborated with finishing and die cutting machine manufacturers to offer a full end to end digital press. This year at Label Expo Brussels Domino had a cafe/bar on the centre bottom floor so people could network on their stand. The printers were lined up on the outer perimeter so everyone could see them working with the finished label stock. By the end of the week all of the printers were sold off the stand, a first for Domino DP. Some people were lucky enough to pick up a personalised bottle of water! Read more on the N610i here.
4. Beer Labeling with Yellowbelly Beer – Last year Codico actively decided to expand our product portfolio in to product labeling. We had already sold the Domino M-Series print and apply labeller for a number of years but that was mainly for case and pallet coding. Our partner and fellow Domino distributor, Intrex of Poland, had developed a range of standard and bespoke labelling machines and heads. One of our first success stories in Ireland was Yellowbelly Beer of Wexford. An innovative and hugely successful craft brewer, they were looking for a labeling system that could handle both bottles and cans, and that could handle fast changeover of label stock. The result was a 12m long conveyor, labeling engine and a collecting table with rollers. Read more about our Intrex Set1101 here.
5. Quick Design Coding Automation – For years we have been saying that coding automation was the future. Coding automation is the ability to send custom strings of information, gathered from a database or ERP/ MES system, to your Domino printer. This could be a different supplier code on to outer cases for example. QuickDesign is a fully automated – error proof messaging system that enables you to print custom information via one of the Domino range of printers (CIJ, TTO, TIJ, Print & Apply or laser markers). In 2017, we took that a step further. We successfully integrated our coding automation software (QuickDesign) with bar code vision recognition. The result is a fully end to end coding automation and message selection system. Perfect for manufacturers that are producing more than one SKU on the same packaging line. Read more about QuickDesign here.
We are looking forward to working with you, our customers, again in 2018. Wishing you a prosperous new year.
The Codico Team.
