The seven-day marathon that was interpack 2023 certainly drew the crowds to the Düsseldorf Messe from 4th–10th May. Domino Printing Sciences’ stand saw more than its fair share of footfall, with excellent attendance and interest in its sustainable manufacturing solutions and “Journey to Zero” support for manufacturers.
Domino’s stand was host to visitors from a vast range of sectors, including FMCG, pharmaceutical, and industrial enterprises, with waste reduction and efficiency, variable data printing solutions, and flexibility emerging as key themes across sectors.
Waste reduction & efficiency
Waste reduction and the drive towards Net Zero are global challenges in which manufacturing processes are crucial. At interpack 2023, Domino’s Waste Calculator proved to be a great tool for helping decision-makers to identify potential hidden causes (and the associated costs) of waste on their production lines.
As Jeremy Jones, Global Marketing Director, Domino, explains: “By being able to visualise the difference between a production line running versus it functioning optimally, our Waste Calculator was able to elevate the conversation; to help manufacturers understand where waste could be hiding in plain sight and to demonstrate tangibly the financial burden that hidden wastes can cause.
Central to Domino’s conversations surrounding waste reduction was the role of vision systems in final code verification. Manufacturers recognise that integrating external vision systems into the coding and marking process eliminates the risk of waste by ensuring that codes are legible, and errors can be captured and rectified before waste can build up.
The benefit for Domino’s customers is in having access to a Domino-developed solution – the R-Series range of vision systems – which have been designed to match the speed of the faster Domino printer and optimised to work with Domino’s fonts and graphics.
Variable data solutions
Variable data printing for serialisation and traceability is playing a more significant role than ever in manufacturing – driven by regulatory demands within global pharmaceuticals and the US food and drink industry.
However, interest in Domino’s solutions for variable data printing extended far beyond these markets, with much interest from UK and European-based manufacturers across a range of sectors. A high proportion of visitors were looking to prepare for potential future serialisation requirements and take advantage of the benefits of greater flexibility and traceability afforded by more granular product coding.
“We saw significant of interest in our K600G and K300 solutions,” says Adem Kulauzovic, Director of Automation, Domino. “These are versatile technologies that can address a multitude of coding needs, and, through integration with our complementary automation, product handling, and code verification solutions, can help to increase accuracy, agility, and overall equipment effectiveness.”
Flexibility
Another topic of interest for visitors to the Domino stand was Domino’s options for flexible financing and product leasing to allow manufacturers to adopt new technology without capital investment.
“There is wide-scale recognition across the industry that we are in a time of fast-paced change,” adds Kulauzovic. “From new regulations to sustainability objectives driving packaging innovation, combined with the need to reduce waste and target Net Zero. As such, there is an understandable reluctance to invest significantly in new technologies when changing circumstances might require further investment in just a few years.
“At Domino, we have developed flexible financing options with exactly this in mind – to provide manufacturers with the capability to embrace new technologies when needed and grow their lines to suit changing requirements without necessitating significant capital expenditure.”
Perhaps the most evident theme at this year’s interpack was the need for collaboration and a move away from traditional supplier-client relationships towards long-term partnerships based on mutual goals.
“This is what stood out to us the most,” concludes Jones. “Our customers don’t want to be sold a printer – they want to be provided with a solution from a partner that will be there to support them on their journey, whatever that might be.”