The Cambridge-headquartered commercial inkjet printing and industrial coding, marking and labelling equipment manufacturer held a foundation stone laying ceremony to mark the start of construction of the new facility in Changshu, in south-east China.
The circa 26,700sqm facility, which will operate as Domino Printing Technology (Changshu), will incorporate three production lines including ink production, inkjet printer assembly testing and thermal transfer overprinting assembly testing. Plans for the site, which is expected to be fully operational in autumn 2017, include the production of 14,000 labelling devices and 2,500 tonnes of ink annually.
“China is a significant market for us and we need a factory big enough to support the expansion we see over the next 10 years,” said group operations director at Domino Printing Sciences, Rachel Hurst.
"We were first into the market and have a very established and loyal customer base, and to service them adequately and give them very short lead times we need a presence there,” she added.
The factory would employ around 60 staff, Hurst added.
Last year Domino, which has an annual turnover of around £350m and employs around 2,300 staff worldwide, was acquired by Japanese technology giant Brother Industries in a £1bn deal approved by the European Commission.
The UK-based company has 10 production site across Asia, Europe and the US and, following its acquisition, operates as an autonomous division within Brother.
Domino opened its first site in China in 1995, with a presence in Beijing, and went on to establish its Asia Pacific headquarters in Shanghai in 2002. The business employs around 400 people in China.
“China is one of Domino’s biggest regional markets. In order to support the company’s development strategy, we chose Changshu, which is close to our Shanghai headquarters,” said general manager at Domino Printing Technology, Johnny Tan.
“With this location for our new factory, we will be able to serve the Asia Pacific region more effectively, especially the Chinese market, by improving the efficiency of productions and logistics,” he added.
