Domino is building a scalable digital roadmap for Indian label converters

Domino Printing Sciences has spent nearly a decade and a half refining its expertise in digital printing, translating engineering precision into market credibility. Founded in the UK 47 years ago and now part of the Brother Group, a leading Japanese conglomerate since 2015, the company’s footprint now spans more than 120 countries, supported by both direct sales and carefully selected channel partners. This global spread has allowed Domino to gather operational insights from mature and emerging markets, feeding those lessons back into product development cycles.

Mark Herrtage, CFO for digital printing, explains that Domino’s global presence is more than just a sales network. “Our customers benefit from a combination of proven core technology and the local knowledge of teams who understand their market context,” he says. The result is a blend of reliability and adaptability which is critical for labels and packaging converters looking to expand or diversify their production capabilities.

The company’s installed base now exceeds 350 label presses worldwide, a figure that reflects both sustained demand and the longevity of the technology in production environments. That scale gives Domino the ability to benchmark performance across different geographies, identifying best practices that can be applied in India and other fast-growing markets. For converters, this means that investment decisions are grounded in a track record of repeatable success.

Domino’s long-standing reputation in coding, marking and industrial printing also carries weight when it comes to securing new business. Established relationships with multinational brands in areas such as packaging, security printing and product coding create a pathway for converters to engage with larger customers. By leveraging these relationships and the credibility of its installed base, Domino offers Indian label converters a gateway to participate in broader, more demanding supply chains.

Versatile product range
Domino’s product range for the label sector has been engineered to serve a spectrum of operational profiles. At the entry level, retrofit print modules allow converters to add digital capability to existing analogue presses without a complete equipment replacement. This reduces the upfront capital investment while providing a bridge to more advanced production methods.

For mid-range volumes, the company’s Domino N610i is positioned as a workhorse. With a native resolution of 600dpi and the ability to handle multiple substrates, it remains one of Domino’s most widely sold solutions. Herrtage calls it “the money-making machine” for converters seeking a balance between throughput and quality. The press is designed for durability, allowing it to operate with minimal downtime in high-demand environments.

At the high end, the Domino N730i offers 1,200-dpi resolution for premium applications. This level of image fidelity is essential for sectors where fine detail, brand protection features, and intricate design work are non-negotiable. Herrtage notes that the Domino N730i is aimed at converters looking to differentiate themselves in markets where quality can justify a higher unit price, such as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and speciality foods.

Seamless integration, upgradeability
A key element of Domino’s approach is ensuring that its presses and modules integrate smoothly into existing production environments. Herrtage highlights that retrofit modules can be mounted onto web-fed presses from a variety of OEMs, creating a hybrid production setup that allows converters to combine the efficiency of flexo with the flexibility of digital.

This modular design philosophy also extends to scalability. A converter might start with a basic configuration and add capabilities such as additional colours, embellishment stations or expanded web widths as demand grows. 
“You do not need to invest for tomorrow on day one; you can invest as tomorrow arrives,” Herrtage emphasises.

Such upgradeability reduces the risk of technological obsolescence. Instead of being locked into a fixed configuration, converters can adapt their production assets to match changing customer requirements, shifts in substrate availability or new regulatory demands. This is particularly relevant in markets like India where packaging regulations, branding trends and supply chain structures can evolve quickly.

By integrating with a range of OEM partners, Domino ensures that customers are not limited to a single-vendor ecosystem. This flexibility opens the door to best-of-breed solutions that can be tailored for niche markets or complex workflows. The result is a production platform that evolves alongside the business rather than holding it back.

Comprehensive support services
Domino’s proposition extends well beyond the press hardware. Herrtage stresses that the company’s consultative sales model is about understanding each converter’s application needs before recommending a configuration. This includes feasibility testing, return-on-investment analysis and total cost of ownership modelling.

Once a press is installed, the support continues through operator training, preventative maintenance and application troubleshooting. “Consistent colour across multiple SKUs and substrates is non-negotiable for brand owners, and we ensure our customers can meet those expectations every time,” Herrtage says.

Diverse market solutions
One of Domino’s strengths lies in its ability to serve the full breadth of the label printing market. For small converters, retrofit modules and entry-level presses provide an accessible pathway into digital without overextending capital budgets. These solutions are often used for short runs, private labels or localised product variants.

Centre of excellence
To consolidate its presence and deepen its engagement with the Indian market, Domino is establishing a Centre of Excellence in India. “It will bring all our expertise into one place, making it easier for customers to experience our technology firsthand,” says Ajay RaoRane, vice president – digital printing solution.

The centre will enable converters to test new substrates, evaluate print quality and trial innovative applications before making capital commitments. This reduces investment risk and accelerates the adoption of new processes in a live production setting.
In addition to technical demonstrations, the facility will provide structured training programmes for operators, pre-press teams, production managers and engage with educational institutions and government bodies to evangelise digital printing. By building local expertise, Domino aims to shorten the learning curve for digital adoption in India and raise the overall capability of the market.

RaoRane also sees the Centre of Excellence as a platform for collaboration. Equipment suppliers, converters and brand owners will have a space to explore new possibilities in packaging and labelling, fostering innovations that can respond to evolving consumer expectations and regulatory requirements.

Advanced inkjet technology
Domino’s inkjet technology is built around high-precision Piezoelectric printheads capable of producing consistent droplet sizes that directly influence resolution, ink usage and image sharpness. Smaller droplets deliver smoother gradients and fine details, while larger droplets ensure dense, solid colour blocks. This flexibility allows converters to balance quality and ink efficiency according to job requirements.

The company’s inks are formulated for compatibility with a broad range of substrates including papers, synthetics and specialised label stocks. Food and pharmaceutical safety standards are a key design consideration, with low migration inks available to meet global compliance requirements. The chemistry is tuned to deliver strong adhesion and durability without compromising recyclability or downstream processing.

Integration with inline finishing units is a growing area of focus. Domino’s presses can be configured to work seamlessly with die-cutting, varnishing, foiling and inspection systems. This capability enables converters to create a hybrid production line that completes print-to-packaging in one pass, reducing handling and lead times. The hybrid approach also lets converters allocate jobs dynamically between analogue and digital modules depending on run length and complexity.

Digital investment economics
RaoRane emphasises that the economics of digital printing are most compelling in short to medium runs where setup times and plate costs weigh heavily in analogue workflows. 
“For example, a 5,000-label job in flexo can require full plate production and machine makeready, meaning the setup cost is disproportionately high relative to the job size,” he says. With digital, that cost is negligible, and the press can move directly into production, often completing the work in less than half the time.

For a 15,000-label run, the benefit shifts from simply avoiding plates to accelerating changeovers and reducing waste. Digital presses can switch between SKUs in minutes without extensive wash-ups, so converters can process multiple small orders back-to-back instead of batching them into larger runs. At the 25,000-label range, analogue processes begin to close the gap in pure unit cost, but digital still wins on flexibility, particularly when jobs have variable data, multiple language versions or compliance-driven serialisation.

A total cost of ownership view reinforces these advantages. Beyond the initial capital outlay, factors such as ink consumption, substrate versatility, uptime, maintenance schedules and operator efficiency all influence the bottom line. 
“Many converters see profit per job increase once digital allows them to accept work that analogue pricing would make unviable,” RaoRane notes. 

The ability to run more jobs per shift, take on shorter lead-time orders and maintain consistent quality ultimately leads to stronger customer loyalty and higher revenue over time.

India’s label market future
Herrtage sees Indian label production becoming more automated in the next five years, with intelligent job scheduling, remote diagnostics and predictive maintenance reducing downtime. “AI-assisted colour management could further enhance consistency across SKUs and substrates, cutting the time and skill required to meet brand specifications,” he says.

Hybrid production lines combining flexo and digital modules are likely to become more common as converters seek the best of both worlds in speed and flexibility. The ability to switch seamlessly between technologies within a single job will allow converters to optimise each run for cost and quality.

Export opportunities are also expected to grow, particularly in premium and speciality labels. As Indian converters upgrade to meet international compliance and quality benchmarks, they will be better positioned to serve brand owners in overseas markets. For Domino, the goal is to ensure its technology and local support structures are ready to help converters scale to these new demands without disruption.