In 1978 Domino founder Graeme Minto was project leader and responsible for researching multi-jet printing at Cambridge Consultants Ltd (CCL). Recognising the potential of a single Continuous Ink Jet (CIJ) application, a prototype was developed and shown at the international packaging show Interpack. Following this, Graeme Minto left CCL and set up Domino with a small team.
Expanding market
A significant breakthrough came in 1980 with the EEC Directive for Product Identification which introduced labelling of perishable goods with ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ dates. This rapidly expanded the market for Domino’s ink jet printers into many different sector applications such as food and beverage.
Over the years, the company has broadened its product portfolio to meet customer needs for printing onto different substrates, outer packaging, in harsh production areas and clean room environments.
Delivering solutions
Today, Domino is a world-leading designer, developer and manufacturer of a comprehensive range of product coding and marking devices, printers, inks and consumables, from cost-effective coders through to traceability coding solutions, for printing onto products ranging from a single egg to large aircraft parts.
The Digital printing industry is fundamental to Domino’s continued success. Digital printing solutions, a separate division within Domino Printing Sciences, provides solutions to the commercial printing industry including high speed, high quality digital ink jet printers and control systems for a complete range of labelling and variable data printing applications.
International reach expanded too and Domino now operates on a truly global scale through a network of 25 subsidiary offices and over 200 distributors. With manufacturing facilities located in the UK, China, Germany, India, Sweden and the USA, it sells to over 120 countries and employs 2,700 people worldwide, including 850 at its Bar Hill headquarters. On 11th June 2015 Domino became an autonomous division of Brother Industries.
Accolades
During its 40-year history the company has won numerous accolades including six Queen’s Awards: most recently the Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2017 for its A-Series i-Tech range of industrial continuous ink jet printers which have increased customer efficiency and driven market share growth. Its Queen’s Award in 2012 was for Continuous Achievement in International Trade, in recognition of its continued and growing success in trading in overseas markets over the previous six consecutive years.
Other accolades have resulted from the company’s commitment to ‘Do More’ and recognised all aspects of Domino’s business successes, including awards for customer service, international packaging, innovation and technology, operational efficiencies in manufacturing, plant and facilities management and accreditations for an ongoing commitment and investment in its employees.
Notable successes have included receiving the ‘Developing People’ Award at the Future Manufacturing Awards ceremony and being recognized for its structured Apprenticeship Scheme which is now in its third year and going from strength to strength.
Recent developments
Two years ago, Domino launched the Ax-Series, a new range of continuous ink jet (CIJ) printers suitable for the most demanding industrial packaging environments, designed and built at Bar Hill. Earlier this year if manufactured its 10,000th printer at its Cambridge headquarters proving it to be the fastest selling Domino printer, selling more quickly than any other product in the portfolio.
In July 2018, Domino officially opened its new 172,000 sq ft state-of-the-art fluids facility in Liverpool, underlining its ongoing commitment to a presence in the city, and continuing as the epicentre of the company’s fluids business as it has for the last 35 years. New facilities have also been built in India and China.
Contribution
Domino’s people have always been at the heart of the company’s success, with a range of initiatives to support staff to develop their skills and careers.
Earlier in the year, Nigel Bond, Domino CEO said: “We are extremely proud that 43% of our team have worked for Domino for more than ten years, and 15% for over 20 years. We recognise the importance of having a shared corporate vision and values, whereby every member of staff is made aware that they each have an important role to play in helping us achieve our corporate goals.
“People are a company’s greatest asset and we believe that we have such high levels of staff retention because we recognise achievement, reward performance and provide training, support and encouragement for them to progress within the business. Hopefully by creating a motivational and aspirational workplace environment, we encourage our staff to ‘Do more’ for our customers.”