Infusion GB pushes the envelope for tea packaging with Domino’s G-Series thermal inkjet solution

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Infusion GB is a leading tea packaging manufacturer based in Gloucester, providing services to well-known brands including Pukka Herbs, Twinings, Tetley and Lipton. After discovering a demand from their customers for the direct printing of best before dates and batch information onto individual enveloped tea bags, which would allow individual sale or repackaging for the gift market, Infusion GB began their search for a company who could meet their needs. 

The coding and marking solution would need to match the 250 bags per minute production speed of Infusion GB’s IMA C27 tea packing machines. Due to the short amount of time between printing onto the enveloped tea bags and packaging them into cartons, conventional inks would not be suitable for this application as this created a risk of smudging. After approaching the manufacturer of its IMA machines, Infusion GB was advised to contact Domino.

“Best before dates on enveloped tea bags was an application that we wished to offer to our customers. We believe that being able to print best before dates onto these envelopes is a real point of difference for Infusion GB.” Peter Barry, Technical Director Infusion GB

Rolling out Domino’s G220i printers

“With Domino’s help we have found a solution that the tea market has been struggling with for some time.”

Peter Barry

Plans to invest in further G220i printers

Infusion GB believe that demand for individually printed enveloped tea bags is set to increase, given their multiple applications. To meet the anticipated demand, Infusion GB plans to roll out the printed envelopes, aiming to have best before dates printed on all envelopes it produces.

“We have capacity for further G220i printers and we may well invest within the next few months. Thanks to Domino we are now able to offer complete traceability on every envelope.” Peter Barry

Out of all the solution providers contacted by Infusion GB, Domino was the only manufacturer able to provide a solution in the form of its G220i printers with their unique fast-drying ethanol ink, which would be integrated into the IMA packing machine. The complexity of the IMA’s machinery meant the installation presented a number of challenges that Domino’s UK team of engineers worked closely with Infusion GB to resolve, visiting the site and examining the IMA machine to develop the best solution for integrating the G220i technology. Using Domino’s unique, low-profile compact print head meant no disruption to the web path of the IMA, and allowed them to print as close to the bottom of the envelope as possible.

 
“Domino definitely had the edge in terms of the capability of its engineers, who were able to adapt one of their printers and create a new market for GB Infusion. The other manufacturers struggled to get the print heads integrated into the IMA machine, and there were other problems in matching the line speeds and getting the ink to dry quickly enough, We weren’t very clear on what we needed at the beginning of the process, but Domino’s team was willing to take the time to listen to our needs and tailor a solution.” Peter Barry

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