Dotrix provides innovative digital printing solutions for various industrial printing markets. Printers and converters of today face an increasing demand for shorter production runs, shorter lead times, customized designs and more product variety. Dotrix has developed the.factory, a high-speed web-fed digital color press for profitable short and medium run industrial printing.
Together with the.factory or SPICE, dotrix offers dedicated application specific workflow and pre-press tools, streamlining the whole digital production process.
the.factory comprises of 3 units: SPICE & Peripherals, Base Unit & UV Curing and Digital Front-end (DFE)
Base-Unit & UV Curing System
The base unit is the compact industrial web transport system used in the.factory. In its standard configuration it includes a unwinder, web tension control system, anti static sytem, UV curing system and a rewinder. Optionally a web cleaning unit, corona pre-treament unit, web guiding module, and nitrogen chamber for the UV curing system are available to support a wide range of different substrates used in the industry.
The UV curing system eliminates the drying time by transforming immediately the jetted wet ink layer into a dry and robust but flexible film with excellent physical properties. The UV curing system is designed for printing applications on a whole range of plastic, PVC, uncoated, coated and foil-coated paper materials. By eliminating the drying time, output from the.factory can be backed up and finished immediately which can cut days from the delivery schedule.
Digital Front-End
The Digital Front-end or DFE has three functions. Press Server, Image streaming & Press control
Press Server
The Press Server is a separate hardware platform connected to SPICE, which runs software to prepare incoming jobs. Dotrix unique color management system can convert multi color separations and specified designer colors accurately into SPICE specific CMYK. Dotrix has also carefully chosen the CMYK base colors to create the widest possible color gamut with a CMYK printing process.
Image Streamer
This part of the DFE generates the continuous stream of RIP-ed print data from its local image buffer towards the printing heads. Still during streaming and printing, screening can be changed and tone curves can be applied for last minute corrections and optimized color matching and print quality. Because of its scalable architecture, the image buffer can be extended whenever larger hard disks become commercially available.
Press Control
The DFE also acts as the controller of the digital print engine. The operator touch panel with an easy and comprehensive user interface enables full control over the press. Maintenance cycles like loading/unloading paper, ink filling, and cleaning scenarios are started and controlled via this application.
the.factory
the.factory is a single sided web-fed digital color press aimed at demanding industrial printing markets. the.factory is designed for short and medium run production, sampling, customized printing, on-press proofing and variable data printing.
With a short set-up time, no change-over time and no need for plates or films, the.factory becomes the most cost effective solution for short & medium run industrial printing applications.
SPICE & Peripherals
SPICE or Single Pass Inkjet Color Engine, is the actual printing engine fully developed by dotrix. Single pass means the printing stations cover the whole width of the web so the substrate passes the printing stations only ones for each color. This concept is the only digital printing technology delivering such productivity at industrial reliability and quality.
INKS
The piezo technology of the.factory and SPICE allows various types of inks, depending on the application and thus on the substrate.
UV Ink
Combined with the appropriate UV curing system, UV curable ink has many advantages for industrial printing applications.
The main characteristic of a UV-curable ink is its ability to be transformed into a hard polymerised film. This enables good adhesion to a wide range of substrates, excellent light fastness and high scratch & rub resistance. UV curable ink does not contain hazardous components like Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) or solvents and thus does not evaporate. Besides that, with UV-curable ink the printing nozzles remain in perfect jetting condition. UV-ink does not dry in the nozzles and consequently allows easy and minimal maintenance. Dotrix uses free radical UV-ink, which is known for curing fast and entirely in such a way final substrate properties are obtained immediately after curing.
Oil Based Ink
For some specific applications, a polymerised film on top of the substrate like with UV curable ink is not compatible with some finishing processes. dotrix offers therefore also a oil based ink, suitable for absorbent substrates.
Original Equipment Manufacturer Solutions (OEM)
The core of dotrix’ digital printing technology is SPICE, or Single Pass Inkjet Color Engine. SPICE is a modular printing system available for integration by OEM’s on any kind of media transport system. SPICE allows machine builders or OEM’s to enter the digital printing era with reliable state-of-the-art inkjet technology.
Dotrix can provide either SPICE as a separate component or combined with the Digital Front-end containing a complete job management and processing solution. Furthermore, dotrix has a experienced integration team to assist the OEM on the level of workflow, electronics, inkjet technology, color management and ink.
