

A complete redesign for an industrial Continuous Inkjet printer.

Domino Printers

The Challenge

As a world leader in the manufacture of Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) Printers, British based company Domino asked GX’s product design team to generate a low cost industrial Inkjet printer which in time would replace their existing product range.  Domino printers are widely used by many different industries to print both text and graphics onto all types of materials including packaging, glass, plastic, metal or rubber. With increased competition in their market, Domino enlisted GX to reduce manufacturing costs which would lead to an increase in their profit margin and ultimately help the company stay ahead of competitors.

The Solution

For GX the first step in value engineering the Domino printer range was to conduct a thorough technical review of every element in order to generate ways of refining and improving the functionality and construction. 

Since these printers are frequently used in dairies and industrial settings the exterior was designed primarily in stainless steel with a single, robust but ergonomic front panel moulding housing the user interface. Working with a dedicated development team at Domino, GX focused their attention on the stainless steel cabinet, seeking ways to produce it with little or no tooling, knowing that this would drive down production costs. The user interface area used a single moulding utilising low costs tooling in order again to reduce capital expenditure and production costs

The Result

GX’s review of Domino printers resulted in them abandoning their existing moulding and metal casting approach in favour of stainless steel cabinets. By developing a core design that could be configured to produce alternative models of printers the same tooling and parts are used repeatedly which has had significant cost benefits. Since the A300 series printer entered production in 1995 it has been manufactured continuously and has been the backbone of the Domino product range proving to be a world leader sold in over 120 countries.