New CIJ standards, now also in Italy
Nimax is launching the Domino Ax Series range printers on the Italian market, which marks a radical paradigm shift in inkjet for in-line inkjet coding and marking technology.
Milanese debut for Domino company’s Ax range, in the picturesque setting of the Branca Collection Museum... where Fernet and Stravecchio fans could literally “lose their minds”. And where, on February 16, Nimax welcomed customers and journalists with its usual, warm hospitality, to present the significant new proposals exclusively offered to the Italian market.
The encounter was split between formal presentations, user testimonials (including the selfsame Fratelli Branca) and parallel sessions going further into technology, featuring interactivity and dialogue.
CEO of the Bologna-based company Nicola Montanari was tasked with introducing the themes of the day, stressing the strategic importance of Domino’s latest solutions for the packaging industry.
«In a global scenario where traceability, univocal printing of information, brand protection and the fight against counterfeiting have become essential, Domino has been able to revive the key role of continuous inkjet technology, indispensable for printing durable, high-quality codes without compromising production rates. With foresight, important innovations have now been introduced in a sector by now considered mature, that for years has been awaiting to be reconceived».
Ax Series, the range
Milanese debut for Domino company’s Ax range, in the picturesque setting of the Branca Collection Museum... where Fernet and Stravecchio fans could literally “lose their minds”. And where, on February 16, Nimax welcomed customers and journalists with its usual, warm hospitality, to present the significant new proposals exclusively offered to the Italian market.
The encounter was split between formal presentations, user testimonials (including the selfsame Fratelli Branca) and parallel sessions going further into technology, featuring interactivity and dialogue.
CEO of the Bologna-based company Nicola Montanari was tasked with introducing the themes of the day, stressing the strategic importance of Domino’s latest solutions for the packaging industry.
«In a global scenario where traceability, univocal printing of information, brand protection and the fight against counterfeiting have become essential, Domino has been able to revive the key role of continuous inkjet technology, indispensable for printing durable, high-quality codes without compromising production rates. With foresight, important innovations have now been introduced in a sector by now considered mature, that for years has been awaiting to be reconceived».
Devised starting from the customer’s needs
Hence, in the field of industrial coding, what requirements need to be met to keep up with current production standards?
As Sales Manager Italy Andrea Noera stated, Domino set this question directly to its worldwide customers, who responded inequivocably: quality, reliability, ergonomics, usability, resistance, minimal maintenance, but also integration, connection, industry 4.0.
The design of the Ax Series started out from these very concepts. The new range of high-performance printers are easy to use, robust and reliable even in the most extreme conditions and, as much they can be, “service-free”.
Retracing the steps of the long phase of R&D which has had the British company collaborate with the researchers of the University of Cambridge, Nimax commercial director Alessandro Gardini cited some figures that give an idea of the extent of the commitment and resources fielded. All told, the project has required 73 years in terms of number of man-hours, more than 4000 tests being carried out in more than 120,000 hours, followed by a period of validation on a dedicated production line, monitored 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, to attain certifications valid in 36 countries.
Italy in its sights
The new series is therefore ready to meet the needs of the contemporary market, also in Italy, with 3 basic models AX150i, Ax350i and Ax550i, intended to replace and reorganize Domino’s multiple range of solutions for CIJ Marking (since 1998 to date featuring the Series A printers, for which Nimax has overseen 9000 installations).
The result of an effort of synthesis and simplification of the company’s offer, the Ax series has been designed to meet the requirements of extreme versatility and scalability: once they have chosen the basic model, users can subsequently customize the machine functions by implementing the optional hardware and software packs most appropriate for their needs and production conditions.
The three pillars of innovation
Common to all Ax models, some key features combine to create what are called the “three pillars” of innovation: the i-Pulse head, completely redesigned with a dedicated range of inks, the i-TechX platform for software and electronic components, and the Domino Design, or that holistic product design approach that enables max. productivity while minimizing maintenance and consumption. I-Pulse, the innovative combined frequency droplet generator installed on the Ax series, deserves a special mention.
As Lauro Stagni (Nimax technical director) recalled «since the birth of the CIJ printer in the 70s, the drop counter has represented a historic achievement. The science behind inkjet has been both the departure and arrival point in the development of this project. Indeed, for the first time in more than a century after their theoretical formulation, the capillary instability studies achieved by Lord John William Strutt, the nineteenth century English physicist and professor at the very same Cambridge University, are now being fully applied: hence we are speaking of the founding father of inkjet printing, and a fellow countryman of Domino, by no means a coincidence....».
i-Pulse. On Ax Series printers, the new print head gives 100% control of the physical variables that regulate the perfect formation of ink droplets, improving the quality and reliability of the print.
