Domino said the new investment would enable it to take full end-to-end control of the digital printing process, encompassing the design and manufacture of digital printing presses, printheads, and UV digital printing inks.

The spend will support the company’s existing 16,000sqm facility in Liverpool.

Rachel Hurst, chief operating officer at Domino, said she was delighted the firm could now manage the manufacturing process for both inks and technology.

“This investment will mean that our customers can trust in a single supplier for all their digital printing needs, with the confidence that inks have been specifically developed and optimised for our digital presses.”

In addition, by controlling the development, design, and manufacturing process for its UV digital printing inks, Domino said it would be able to adjust more easily to changing requirements, including customer demands for new inks, and reformulations due to materials shortages and reclassification.

“Designing and manufacturing our inks in-house gives us much greater levels of flexibility than if we were to rely purely on external providers for our inks, which is of great benefit to our customers,” Hurst added.

“Supply chain challenges, and materials reclassification can prove very challenging when it comes to ink supply – but owning the development process allows us to more easily look ahead to source alternatives, providing greater assurance for customers of continued availability.”

As part of the investment, Domino has installed a new automated production line to manage materials handling, formulation, processing, filling, inspection, and packaging of its high-volume UV inks, with the use of vision and robot technology “to ensure finished product quality”.

The business said the new production line would significantly improve capacity and efficiency in the production of inks, with processes designed to give maximum efficient use of raw materials.

Dedicated holding vessels and piping for each individual UV ink colour will reduce the need for changeovers between ink batches, increasing capacity, while reducing wastage from cleaning, the company added.

“The new line is set up to manage production of the most popular UV inks for our N-Series label presses, with production of smaller-batch and experimental inks taking place on a parallel line,” commented Pete Weaver, group fluids operations director at Domino.

“By having the two facilities working in tandem, we have also increased our overall ink development capacity, which will help us to respond more easily to customers’ needs going forward.

“And it’s not just customers who will benefit from the upgrade. With any development at Domino we always put our people first, with health and safety principles at the heart of our designs.

“The new plant includes state-of-the-art materials handling technology that lessens the need for manual handling of the raw materials and finished product, reducing risk while improving the process for our workers on site.”

Domino has been owned by Japanese group Brother since 2015.