The new process uses Domino's K600i single-colour inkjet printer - the heads and ink system - which is housed inside an AB Graphic International (ABG) machine.
The K600i prints an adhesive and creates an image area which conventional metallic foil is laid over prior to UV-curing and delamination using an ABG web transportation system.
For cold foiling, the ABG line is configured with an unwind system, dedicated base for the K600i, cold foil lamination assembly, UV curing, inspection and rewind device. The solution is available in a range of converting and finishing equipment from ABG, including the company's Digicon range.
Domino said the process gives a higher quality finish and enables the use of security and decorative holographic images within the foil.
Director of the company’s digital printing solutions division Philip Easton said the combination of holographic foil with digitally created images provides additional product complexity and made counterfeiting much harder.
“I've been at Domino for 20 years and every other month I get an enquiry for digital foiling – and we've done it.
"The hologram foil is hard to get but flexo printing is everywhere and is relatively low cost. By having digital foiling, which is what we're offering, you have the opportunity to create high-level brand protection that's very complex to copy.
"Security printers are obsessed with finding ways of making products more secure, this is a very innovative way of doing that."
Depending on the substrate, foiling can be achieved at speeds up to 75m/min and Domino's new solution can be supplied as a standalone unit or be retrofitted to an existing foiling station.
It is offered in up to seven different foiling widths ranging from 108mm to 782mm.
Domino is also selling a new adhesive for the process, known as 'grey ink'.
Since the launch of the K600i monochrome ink jet printer in 2010, Domino has installed more than 200 modules in a range of different production lines, including label presses for hybrid printing, and finishing and sheet-to-sheet lines. The new K600i cold foiling solution is based on the same technology.
Easton said that turnaround times in the label and packaging market were now down to as little as 24 hours.
“The only way a label converter can efficiently respond to this demand is by digitally printing the labels. And, if the produce then needs foiling, our digital solution can be cost-effective but also an efficient way to quickly process multiple small runs.”
The K600i foiling solution includes the Domino i-Tech ActiFlow ink circulating system which ensures ink is always moving around the print head; the i-Tech CleanCap automated print head cleaning and capping technology which reduces the need for manual cleaning and the i-Tech StitchLink micro-motor controller technology, which automatically calibrates print heads to print as one.
Domino Printing Sciences plc achieved a turnover of £350m in the financial year 2013/14 and is listed in the FTSE 250 share index on the London Stock Exchange.
