Probably the most
widely used online buyers guide for the UK convenience food industry
and its suppliers
Let your company shine out from the crowd
with a listing and press release package on the ReadyMealsinfo Buyers
Guide. Click
HERE for details about promotion packages with ReadyMealsinfo
or email sales@readymealsinfo.com.
Domino's New Ink Jet Printer Puts Its Stamp On EVIDEL Expansion
Domino’s A320i, the latest addition to its global best-selling A-Series range of continuous ink jet printers has already proved to be a valuable asset to Belgian soft drinks producer EVIDEL, delivering100% production uptime, maintenance-free push button operation and increased output.
EVIDEL Ginstbronnen was established in 1897 on the site of a natural spring near Gent in Belgium and has been bottling its famous Ginstberg-branded pure mineral water and soft drinks for over 100 years. Sourcing the finest flint-based crystal-clear glass to reflect the purity of its product, the Ginstberg brand has developed an enviable reputation over the years for the healthy properties and quality of its bottled waters and soft drinks.
While the quality and purity of the natural spring water has remained constant over the century, the legislation surrounding the bottling and identification of the soft drinks has undergone considerable change.
“Although the quality of the spring water and how we capture this purity is key to maintaining a successful long term product, legislation has increased considerably in the past few years which demands that we now have to code and identify every bottle we produce for future traceability,” says Niko Claeys, Assistant Managing Director at EVIDEL. Clearly for Niko and his team, the identification and coding requirement could easily have distracted EVIDEL from their core task of producing quality mineral water had it not been for Domino and the capability of its A-Series range of ink jet printers to address all their coding and identification challenges with ease.
So when the company was looking to expand production to include five gallon polycarbonate water bottles, the company began to search for an ink jet printer that would offer them the capability to increase production output and deliver tangible OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) benefits, whilst being capable of performing in a very challenging, high humidity bottling environment.
“We already had an A300 integrated into our glass bottling line and coding onto the caps of our 1litre and 20cl bottles, which had proved to be extremely reliable and required little maintenance over the years. But for this latest investment we were really looking for a technology that would allow us greater flexibility to expand our core business without having to worry about meeting the ever-increasing legislative demands for product identification.
Having reviewed a number of products on the market, EVIDEL once again turned to Domino when it opted for Domino’s A320i, the very latest technology in its A-Series range of continuous ink jet printers.
The A320i with its QuickStep simplified operator interface, is capable of printing up to four lines of reliable, readable code, text, automatic serial and batch numbering, and real-time clocks. The printer also delivers tangible productivity benefits by using its i-Tech intelligent Technology, which monitors and managing the A320i for optimum performance. In addition, the new Qube ink system containing the working ink and ink filters which can be changed in less than 10 minutes and results in the A320i using 90% less system ink and 50% less ink solvent than its predecessor.
“We already had complete confidence in the reliability of Domino’s products and after-sales service and support, so we knew we weren’t going to be disappointed. But the A320i has really surpassed our expectations,” says Niko.
The A320i was installed into the glass bottling line which enabled EVIDEL to increase production speeds, while the A300 transferred to the new polycarbonate line.
“Since introducing the A320i in early June 2011, we have been delighted with its performance and our return on investment. We have achieved a 5% increase in efficiency on our bottling line which has resulted in a much greater production of bottles per hour and during this time, we’ve also benefitted from 100% uptime. In addition, the integral Qube ink system which houses the working ink and monitors performance means we still haven’t had to replace the ink,” continues Niko.
“The A320i really does deliver totally stress-free coding and has provided us the ‘switch on/switch off’ solution we were looking for. We can now concentrate on our product without worrying about the necessary coding requirements as the A320i does it all for us,” concludes Niko.
Leading coding and marking specialist Linx Printing Technologies is looking for a distributor partner to sell its versatile range of scribing laser coders in Germany.
In a growing market, the move underlines the commitment of Linx to provide excellent service and first class technical assistance that customers can depend on.
Linx distributor partners know they are backed by a leading player in the laser coding industry. Linx holds a large and growing worldwide market share, achieved by continual emphasis on engineering excellence and best in class products, outstanding support to marketing, sales and customer service functions, and professional management.
Comprehensive training is provided for Linx distributors and customers, to ensure full understanding of the products and confidence in operating them.
Martyn Ward, Commercial Director, says: “This is an opportunity for a world class distributor to join our global network of distributor partners, delivering a crucial element of our service to customers.”
Linx scribing laser coders are renowned for reliability, ease of use and low cost of ownership. The Linx SL range gives customers a range of features, for unparalleled versatility, longer tube life and service intervals typically twice that of the industry standard.
Linx laser products are easy to integrate onto the production line and can be easily tailored to specific coding applications. Linx lasers are also highly energy efficient – they can be precisely configured for each application, so only the appropriate amount of power is used.
This makes the Linx SL range ideal for coding many different types of packaging, such as glass bottles used for food and drinks, beauty care products and many other applications. Linx laser coders can also be customised to suit individual applications for optimum compatibility, and are suitable for coding onto a wide range of substrates from card and plastics, such as PET, to harder to mark products such as rubber and glass.
Domino Printing Sciences has introduced a new fast-drying, high performance black ink for use on a wide range of plastic-based substrates for its world leading A-Series range of CIJ (continuous ink jet) printers.
The MEK-based 299BK black ink offers excellent performance and readability qualities onto a host of challenging plastic materials where good adhesion and scratch resistance are often difficult to achieve.
Domino’s 299BK black ink has been designed and extensively tested within Domino’s research and development laboratory to ensure it delivers excellent coding performance on a wide range of plastics that are used increasingly in the food, beverage, dairy, personal care and other primary packaging applications. In addition, its fast drying properties requires no air dryer which reduces cost and increases production efficiencies.
The composition of the 299BK ink provides high adhesion properties on ‘low surface energy’ plastics including polypropylene, thermo plastic olefins (including BOPP, OPP), PET, Polyethylenes (including HDPE and LDPE) as well as an increasingly varied range of multi-layer flexible packaging materials. Designed specifically for use in the A-Series range of printers, the 299BK ink delivers coding text, batch and serialising numbering which can be easily applied to a host of plastic packaging formats including bottles, jars, pouches, caps and closures, films, wrappers, pots and tubes. In addition, it has been extensively tested to ensure it remains moisture resistant and delivers the highest quality output within challenging production and storage environments, such as those required in pasteurisation and chilled storage.
Says Andrew Gunton, Domino’s Product Manager – Fluids: “Having conducted a series of rigorous tests which outperformed comparative competitive inks on the market, we’re delighted with the outstanding performance of the 299BK ink. Its ability to deliver excellent adhesion on a range of challenging plastic substrates really gives our customers an excellent, all round solution for a range of applications.”
The new 299BK black ink engineered by Domino for maximum reliability and uptime in production environments, conforms fully to EuPIA recommendations for ‘inks for Food Packaging’.
Domino’s A320i, the latest addition to its global best-selling A-Series range of continuous ink jet printers has already proved to be a valuable asset to Belgian soft drinks producer EVIDEL, delivering100% production uptime, maintenance-free push button operation and increased output.