Domino has developed Cx350i as a new coding and marking system for inkjet printing on to secondary packaging, designed with sustainability in mind.
The sustainability credentials of Cx350i are exampled by its use of vegetable-oil-based printing inks. Domino actively supports a move away from mineral oil-based inks and as such, is investing in sustainable alternatives to mineral oils, including vegetable oil-based options for all current and future product development. The new vegetable oil-based printing inks for Cx350i have been specifically developed to aid the safe recycling of cardboard packaging, and comply with current proposals for mineral oil regulations outlined by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. With less than 10% VOC content, Domino’s new inks are considered low VOC and represent a 70% reduction in VOC content compared with previous mineral oil-based products.
As further evidence of the printer’s sustainability credentials, Cx350i has been optimised to achieve a 33% reduction in ink usage for barcodes printed at 200dpi when compared with Domino’s previous generation secondary packaging printers. As barcode quality is a priority for manufacturers when printing on boxes, Domino has worked to develop a system that matches the resolution of previous generation coders but delivers a far superior code in terms of print quality.
In addition, Cx350i requires far less frequent purging than previous piezo inkjet printers, which further reduces ink waste. The printer also offers flexibility with respect to printer settings, with options to further reduce ink usage dependant on specific customer requirements. Customers can choose from a large range of text fonts and sizes and have the freedom to manually reduce ink drop size.
David Edwards, product manager, piezo inkjet at Domino, commented, ‘We recognise that sustainable production cannot be achieved in isolation. Product coding and marking is an integral part of all global supply chains – and as such we have an ambition and a responsibility to our customers, and to the world in general, to ensure that our products are consciously designed to minimise their environmental impact.
‘The Cx350i has been designed with these ambitions and responsibilities in mind – it offers our customers a sustainable solution for direct printing on boxes and sets a new standard for product development at Domino. The printer is optimised to ensure maximum code quality with minimal ink usage and has been designed to work exclusively with low-impact vegetable oil-based printing inks. The result is sustainable printing without compromising on quality.’
Mr Edwards continued, ‘While resolution relates only to the number of ink dots per inch, overall print quality is also determined by ink drop size, drop placement, and the ink itself. With the Cx350i, we worked to optimise all the factors which influence print quality – improved drop size and ink placement – and new and improved inks have allowed us to reduce the overall quantity of ink needed to produce high-quality codes time after time’.’
Read more about coding and marking in the November/December 2021 issue of Digital Labels & Packaging; register here to receive the magazine, for free
